When you move a mouse on a computer, there are a series of codes executed on the computer to move a cursor on screen. When you set a timer on the microwave, a code is written to deal with the timer. Doing anything on mobile, listening to music in your car, watching your favourite movie and washing your clothes, code is everywhere. Code is not just used in computers, code is everywhere to make our life easy. So before jumping to the reasons to learn to code, let’s understand what is coding. Coding is nothing but just a series of statements used by machines to do a particular action.
Now the question is why you should learn coding or programming. Steve Jobs once said “Everybody in this country should learn to program a computer, because it teaches you how to think”. Programming is not just for the computer geeks. It gives the ability to solve complex problems, problem solving ability can be improved by understanding logics deep down. For every problem you face, you start to brainstorm ideas on how to solve it.
I’ve seen people start working on ideas which they can not even imagine before this pandemic. Covid changes the world and the situation we are in is the new normal now. We have to change our thought process to align with this new normal. Creativity, problem solving and thought process are some of the abilities which should not be the same as before.
There was a time when people got rich by using their capital to invest like the Warren buffets of the world. But if you look at the last 2 decades all the fortune, world making is by code like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Elon Musk and there are thousands to count. Remember Code is everywhere.
So I compiled some of the reasons why everyone should learn to code or program to look at this pandemic like an opportunity.
Problem Solving
We face problems in day to day work which require ability to solve problems. There are Thousands of ways to solve any problem, but there are few to do it in a better way. Mathematical and logical reasoning can be enhanced by learning programming languages. These abilities will definitely help you in all areas of life, like making decisions and solving complex problems. By learning this you act like an analytical mind which can solve big problems by dividing into small parts and focusing on the difficult one.
Inventions
GIven this pandemic, we see hundreds of ideas floating around the internet. Those ideas were never there before this new normal. Almost all inventions we see from the last 2 decades are because of code. Mark Zuckerberg invented facebook from his hostel room by coding it, without coding it was just an idea. Larry and Sergey invented google by connecting web pages to determine which one is important. In programming, we used to say that one line of code can impact millions of lives. We are completely dependent on the technology for day to day work. You can code your idea if you know how to code.
Children need it most
It is easier to learn any language earlier in life. Programming teaches us logical skills in thinking, processing and communicating. Children are the one who can think about future technology. They could do more if they knew from their teenage years. It can drastically improve academic performance as well. It changes the perception of looking into the study problems, general day to day problems.
Career Opportunities
Programming is a demanding occupation these days and it will grow exponentially in the coming future. As the use of technological devices is growing every year, there will always be a high demand for programmers. Industries are doing development in machine learning, artificial intelligence and space science. To accomplish this, the development industry needs programming minds. You don’t need to relocate to work because this is the new normal. You can work from anywhere which gives this industry more flexibility. What you need is just programming.
Entrepreneurship
Most of the good ideas died because they didn’t develop or execute well. People have good ideas but they don’t know how to code. Either ideas fade away in search of good programmers or the cost of programmers is not affordable to entrepreneurs. You can code your ideas to the presentable level (MVP) at least if you know how to code. You can make a good team of programmers if you know code because you know all in and out.
There are hundreds of more reasons to learn code but I tried to compile only the few which are on the top of my list. You can kickstart from the below links.
Code Academy
WiT-ACE
Udemy
FreeCodeCamp
Image credit – Flickr