Most People Should Learn How to Code | Hacker News Reader

Most People Should Learn How to Code

6 pointsrokhayakebe8 comments

This short post is for everyone who does not know how to code, or who is thinking about giving up on their attempt because it is too difficult or they may have reached a plateau.

Everyone should learn how to code.

A friend of mine, Afshin, told me years ago Programming is like Mathematics. No one expects me to solve complex problems, know trigonometry, or even pre-calculus. Instead, I was just expected to know some Arithmetic. Because that is what most people need on a day to day basis. He simply believed most people have a better life because they understand how basic math works. "All you need is to know you have 10 dollars, this item cost 8 dollars, and upon purchase you should get 2 dollars in change. This will save you a lot of headache in life. Programming is the same."

We do not expected everyone who learns to read and write to become a fine journalist or a skilled writer or to even understand everything they read. Same with programming, not everyone needs to become an engineer. Buut they just need to know enough to empower them. A marketing analyst who knows a little bit of HTML coding is going to benefit. A secretary who knows a little bit of javascript is going to benefit. A web designer who understands SQL queries is going to benefit. A manager who understands some programming will certainly be more relaxed on set deadlines.

So if you find yourself wanting to quit because you are not as skilled as 99% of the engineers you meet, remember you also are less skilled than 99% of journalists, writers, mathematicians, doctors, yet you know a little bit of Math, you know how to read, you understand how your body works, and all this elevates you.

Learn how to code. Nothing is too small.

> A marketing analyst who knows a little bit of HTML coding is going to benefit. A secretary who knows a little bit of javascript is going to benefit.

You'll need to explain both of these because it isn't obvious why or how. Neither one would ever need to utilize those skills in their normal performance of their work.

> A manager who understands some programming will certainly be more relaxed on set deadlines.

A manager of what? If they're running an industrial size stamping press, I kind of doubt it.

I feel like as a core skill knowing intermediate Microsoft Excel is more likely to result in productivity increases and personal enrichment for most non-IT people. Lists (sort, filter, input validation), calculations, statistics, automation, graphs, all a few weeks away in Excel as opposed to years away with programming.

This type of "programming is a panacea" arguing is rarely explained from end to end. Instead, it is just an arguing thrown out without exploration or explanation, and we're just meant to buy it because programming is cool or whatever. The real reason programming has such a halo right now is that it is well paid, and the subtle implication is that everyone will eventually "see the light" and become a programmer and get a big pay/career bump.

If programming is really a panacea imagine a world where it isn't a well paid skill/job/career, and then ask yourself why you're really arguing what you're arguing. People can make this same shallow argument about: accounting/finances, vehicle mechanics, cooking, medicine, sales/marketing, etc. And they're just as right about those as programmers are about this.

How a farmer would benefit from learning how to code?

How an actor/actress would benefit from learning how to code?

Barman/barmaid, TV host, politicians, journalists, archeologists, ...

I can think of many more professions were coding would bring nothing.

Yes, every one learns basic math, reading and writing. Did you learn how to draw? Did you learn how cultivate land? Did you learn how to build a house? Surely to someone out there, this would be basic skills that "every one should learn".

Farmers have to load cracked Ukrainian firmware on their tractors these days so that should be obvious.

I was taught how to draw, basic gardening and the concepts of agriculture, and construction through various educational programs. It was all public and paid mostly by taxes. This was in a middling suburb of America, and I think if we have a holistic education for our children like I received then coding should be there - it would have served better than the mindless "computer concepts" and typing courses I endured as a child.

That said, a plurality of students in my high school learned some code through their mathematics education. It's already there.

And regardless, code is just a shared language for problem solving. Everyone should learn that, and I think it's better than rote memorization of formula in math class that is paraded as critical thinking.

Wrong audience, buddy. People here don't like this kind of empty motivational content, and the vast majority of them are decent programmers already.

Some universities (at least in my country) requiring non-IT students to take mandatory programming courses. Those courses are tailor made for their degrees.

How many things most people must learn ? In theory, everything. In practice, very few things.

Wrong audience

I agree.

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