Yes, You Should Learn to Code. Here’s Why.

Everyone should learn how to code — but that doesn't mean everyone needs to be a programmer.

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People who aren’t too curious about software have the craziest ideas of what programming is like. A few months ago, I told my dad I was interested in learning how to code, and he gave me the strangest look I’ve ever seen on his face.

— Hey dad, I think I’m going to sign up for this online Harvard course, it looks great and it is free.
— Sounds good, what’s it about?
— Programming.
— …??

His reaction wasn’t about not supporting me (which he always has) or disregarding the value of the field. He just couldn’t understand why I, a person who had never written a line of code before, would ever want to do that. After talking a bit about it, he told me exactly why: in his mind, programming was practically writing ones, zeros, and tons of cryptic text on a black and white screen.

At that moment, I realized I had been thinking the exact same thing for the better part of my life. And no, we had never spoken about programming before. The fact was I had never actually seen code until I got a writing job at a local software outsourcing company during my early college years…