10 Things You Didn't Know About Hadi Partovi

Who is Hadi Partovi? You might be scratching your head, especially if you aren’t really into computers and you don’t have kids. However, if you do have children, there is a fairly decent chance that he is responsible for some of the material that your child learns about in computer science classes. By all accounts, he is a rather unique individual who has the capability and the determination to make his little corner of the world a better place, all by helping others who are coming behind him. Below are ten things that you probably don’t know about him. Once you find out what he is really all about, you will undoubtedly be surprised.

1. He wants everyone to have the same opportunities

He believes that the best way to make sure children thrive well into adulthood is to give them all the same chances at success across the board. As such, he has worked to ensure that everyone has the same opportunities, regardless of where they live or what their parents’ bank account looks like.

2. He believes every person can succeed when they have the right tools

No one plans to fail at their dreams, nor do they plan to struggle through life with little or no direction. As far as he is concerned, these things sometimes happen because the person in question wasn’t given the proper tools to find success at an early age, if at all. He thinks that when people are given what they need to make success their own, they are much more likely to do exactly that.

3. He knows how to make learning fun

He teaches kids how to learn coding, but he makes it feel like it’s all a game. In fact, he uses things like Star Wars to make it all feel like more fun. It seems that he’s figured out what many teachers never could- that when you make something fun and interesting, kids are more likely to learn.

4. He’s self-taught when it comes to his specialty, coding

When he was growing up, there were no classes on coding in his school. However, his family had an old computer. He wanted to learn how to do it, so he taught himself during his own time after school.

5. He was born in Iran

Partovi was born in Tehran. He also attended school there for much of his young life. It wasn’t until later when he and his family immigrated to the United States. By then, he had already taught himself how to code.

6. He graduated from Harvard

He definitely puts his own opportunities to good use. Not only did he get accepted to Harvard, but he graduated with a Masters degree, specializing in computer science. This is not something that too many people can claim, but he wanted this achievement so he went after it with everything he had.

7. He cut his teeth at Microsoft

When he first graduated from college, he learned the ropes of the business world by working at Microsoft. He obviously learned quickly, because he rose up through the company in a relatively short amount of time.

8. He’s an entrepreneur

After working for some time at Microsoft, Partovi decided it was time to develop his own company. He did exactly that, and he did it twice. One of his companies did not succeed, but the other one was a hit, so much so that he ended up selling it for a very large sum of money.

9. He has a twin

He works with his brother Ali at Code.org. It’s great that the two have shared interests and that they can put those interests to good use in order to teach others.

10. He runs a non-profit to help others succeed

Today, he operates Code.org, which is a non-profit organization that exists to teach kids all over the world how to learn coding. This in turn gives them the tools they need to get a good education and find good-paying jobs.

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