I’ve seen for long lots of blog posts and YouTube videos addressing this topic, invariably answering a loud NO. However, considering how far technology has changed your lives and how important Computing knowledge has become to us, I must disagree just as loudly.

But it would be shallow if I’d stay stuck to the beginning question, so let’s dive deeper.

Should everybody learn how to code?

Of course yes: coding is the new times table, who can’t code is held hostage by how can… and also by technology companies.

You need to know the basics of Computing and programming to break free.

Those people saying you don’t need to learn how to code are bad developers afraid that, if everybody learns to code, they’re gonna lose their jobs.

Keep it in mind.

How to learn?

Once you’ve decided to learn to code, you may ask how. Well, there’s only one way to do that: practising.

Start by choosing a programming language – try a few ones, write some “Hello, World!”’s, see which language feels more natural for you.

Do some coding dojos. Practice, practice, and practice.

And buy books! Acquire books about any technology you like. Don’t be afraid of complex concepts, they usually are simpler than they look at first sight. You just need to get used to them.

Should I stick with a programming language?

Definitely NO.

Bad programmers are gonna try to entice you into a programming community, avoid them!

Those guys are passionate about technology, and programming is NOT about technology, it’s about solving problems.

When one’s in love with a programming language or community, it starts believing in lots of misconceptions, which leads you to non-sense technology wars.

Run away from them!

Learn your first programming language, then the second one, then the third… learn as many as you can. Until at some point you’ll stop learning programming languages and start understanding programming patterns.

It’s all about programming patterns.

🚲 → 🏍️ → 🚗 → 🏎️

Nope… nope… nope…

This is lie programming gurus tell to fool their managers. It’s impossible to turn a bike into a motorcycle, or a motorcycle into a car! You end with a wagon pulled by a motorised bike – a real mess.

You can build a bike as PoC, and put it online, but you’ll have to start from scratch to create the definitive car (or app) if you want an actual production product. What you get when you create a PoC is time to create the product and, more importantly, the knowledge to do it.

But I don’t wanna work programming!!

That’s okay. You don’t need.

As well as you don’t need to become an accountant just because you’ve learned basic math.

Learn to code just because. It might be useful at some point – or not.

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