The real reason everyone should learn to code

Technology is reshaping the way we live our lives. So it’s too important for such large swathes of society to be excluded from meaningful conversations about it. So much, so obvious. But it’s a big conversation and the barrier to entry is high. That’s why I think learning, not necessarily with the aim of mastery, to code is so important — it lowers the psychological barrier to getting involved. It’s one of the reasons I’m really into Free Code Camp despite stories of its low completion rates.

It’s not just the digitally excluded who are psyched out

Some time ago I wrote about the importance of trust in teams and how it’s a function of a common goal and mutually acknowledged competence. But making a judgement call about the competence of someone from another discipline isn’t always easy. And it’s harder with some disciplines than others. Many non-developers find assessing the competence (and the decisions that flow from it) of their developer or technical architect colleagues a daunting prospect. This has a negative effect on multidisciplinary delivery. It skews the dynamic of discussions and the quality of challenge, making them poorer.

More recently I saw a tweet that questioned a commonly held view in the tech-skewed bubble that I often inhabit: that learning to code, especially for children, is an unqualified good. I was initially dismissive. But I’ve learnt that forcing myself to re-examine my own viewpoint is a more helpful response. I did, and while I still think teaching kids to code is a worthwhile activity I am a lot clearer about why.

Loads of well-reasoned stuff has been written about how coding teaches kids to think computationally and why that’s important. And at least as many things have been written about the financially rewarding careers that await kids who can code and the valuable contribution they’ll make to the wider economy. I buy the former but don’t think it’s a good enough reason to push for all kids to learn to code. And to be honest, I’m not convinced that the promise of high earnings will endure anyway — after all, the way we communicate with and instruct computers continues to evolve. The pace of this evolution will only increase; I think in the future more and more of it will be done by computers. I also think the trend towards more human friendly programming languages will continue, so coding by humans will get easier. Whatever, I just don’t think coding will remain such a relatively scarce skill set for much longer.

Making tech ordinary

But there are other, more important, reasons kids should learn to code. I think kids having a basic grasp of coding will help dispel some of the mystique about the workings of the increasingly digital world they inhabit. And I think that will lend them the confidence to dive into organisational and, more importantly, civic discussions about the what, why and how of the technology shaping the way we live, work and run our society.

About a year ago, I asked a few teacher friends for their thoughts on creative ways to integrate coding into an already full curriculum. Did they think it was possible or was teaching kids to code better addressed in school-run after school clubs? They quickly pointed out that either approach would further burden already stretched teachers.

But they also cited two, more specific, counterarguments to teaching kids to code at school: lack of requisite coding skills amongst teachers and lack of necessity. Children already engage confidently with technology — they’ve got Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook down pat. Kids use technology to connect, communicate and create, all without any formal teaching.

I agree that the skills gap is an obstacle to teaching kids to code at school but I fundamentally disagree with the second point. There’s a huge difference between knowing enough to be a good consumer of technology and knowing enough to confidently engage with and influence its operation and creation. In the same way that being a savvy shopper doesn’t equip you to lobby for changes to the ways the goods and services you buy are sourced or manufactured.

Coding is the start not the end game

Obviously, a knowledge of basic coding is not the end game. What we want to get to is the kind of systems thinking Kishau Rogers talks about in this podcast interview with Scott Hanselman. But like I said up top, I think being able to code makes it more likely that kids will have the confidence to delve into the technology and develop this important capability.

Technology shapes implementation; implementation shapes reality

I’ve focused on kids learning to code but, and I haven’t always thought this, I think my arguments apply as much to adults. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen thoughtful and knowledgable people get psyched out of discussing what good (digital) outcomes should look like. Not feeling they knew enough to be able to sensibly probe or challenge was often the root cause of their reticence. At the other end of the spectrum, I’ve seen way too many people making ill-informed suggestions or demands and then becoming suspicious that the ‘techies’ are being obstructive when those suggestions aren’t adopted.

The upshot is poor implementation or too many implementation decisions being made by ‘techies’. I know that some people feel okay about this because they believe that the ‘what’ is a matter of strategy and the ‘how’ matters less because technology is somehow neutral. But it really isn’t. In all its forms, it reflects the worldview of its creators. And ultimately, our lived experience is shaped by implementation and over time, that matters at least as much as strategy or policy intent.

Improving the quality of the discussion, now

So what will it take to help more non-developers get involved in discussions about how things get built? I do think learning to code is a gateway into the conversation but I recognise that it still presents a barrier to entry. Also, even if we do find ways to plug teachers’ coding skills gap we can’t wait till the next generation of coding-literate kids grow up. The digital and data infrastructure that will run our lives for decades to come are beginning to solidify so we need these discussions to start now. I’d love to hear your thoughts on some good ways to kickstart that.