McDonald, in the WSJ, said that if you don't at least try to understand some of the tech behind the scenes, you are basically a tool and won't get hired by him and other modern CEOs for any of his business roles. He didn't say that you have to BECOME a programmer, or even try; he just said to walk a mile in developer shoes to recognize some of what it's like.
TypicalProg says that there is more to programming than just hacking on python for a weekend...
Both are true, and both are different points.
So many comments on HN about "clueless bosses", yet here's a guy who says, in the WSJ for all to hear, that he wants to eliminate that. He doesn't say he wants to replace real devs with weekend-warriors. He says that if you want to work in the real world, you need to understand some of the tech behind the scenes.
How is this different from bankers learning finance, or doctors learning about medicine? B/c, as it turns out, EVERY job touches tech, and his point is that if you don't suck it up and learn some tech, no matter what job you do, you won't do as well as you could in it. He's not expecting everyone to code, he's expecting everyone to have some appreciation of _what it takes to code_.
I'm kind of astonished at the defensive comments, actually. I too require that anyone working for me learn about the tech behind the magic. Why? Because it creates RESPECT for the developers. Every negative comment about clueless bosses reflects a time when a developer has been subject to a lack of _respect_ and _appreciation_ for what it takes to make production-level digital experiences.
McDonald appear to recognizes that flaw, and is trying to fix it. He admits he's not a dev, and so he tries to understand enough to do no evil. Isn't that the level of respect we would want from any boss, esp a CEO outside of the "tech" or "engineering" group in a company?
I don't know him, but I agree with him. I'm surprised to see some of the vitriol. We should be encouraging more folks to try programming to learn that it's harder than it looks in some cases, easier in others, and overall, deserves some more respect as both a technical but also creative art. And that it's rapidly becoming a necessary knowledge for working in the modern age.