Learning to code is the best way to protect your job, warns technology firm boss

“You can choose to be terrified or you can choose to embrace change and go with it. Technology is having a seismic impact on dismantling big business globally, for example high street retailers competing with the growth of online, the use of drones as delivery vehicles, and automated driving. There are three million people employed in truck driving jobs alone in the US.

“The companies that employ people in millions of jobs, how many of those are at risk of automation and are creating education systems that are giving us the best chance of creating a pipeline of skills and innovators?

“We’re at risk of automation and we’re not doing enough in any single geography in the world to prepare ourselves for that change.”

Ms Parsons, 33, who studied Classics at Cambridge, campaigned to get coding on the National Curriculum and wants more women to learn how to code. She believes a fear of maths should not be a barrier to mastering the language of computers. “There’s this blanket fear and a lack of understanding about technology,” she said.

“When we launched Decoded, it felt very hard to convince anyone to learn with us. The response I would often get from a CEO was, ‘Why do I need to understand what’s under the car bonnet in order to drive the car?’

“Our pure mission is to bring these black boxes to life for people in the most compelling, amazing hands-on way.”