Why Executives Should Learn to Code
Executives who learn coding and understand programming fundamentals are better equipped to take maximal advantage of digital transformation opportunities.
A Forbes article about the Digital Evolution Index found Australia’s economy was ‘Stalling Out’. This means that though it achieved a high level of evolution in the past, it is losing momentum and risks falling behind.
Australia’s executives are at a loss with the transition to a digitalised economy.
A survey into executives found that mostly those in industries that already faced significant digital disruption anticipated moderate or massive disruption in the next 12 months. This suggests that executives in other industries are severely under prepared to face the challenges to come, as they are only anticipating what has already happened. The implication is they have no concept of oncoming changes, and so they are hoping for more of what they’ve always known.
It’s time for executives to learn to code. Why?
For executives to truly understand what digital transformation can do for their line of business, their company, and their industry, so that they are able to understand and pre-empt opportunities, they will eventually need a knowledge of coding.
Is your company in need of coding and digital literacy training? There’s a class for that.
Hiring
Hiring the right team for a digital transformation project is fundamental. If they’re a HR exec, it should be a particularly high priority. Having gone through the process of learning to code, they’ll know what it sounds like when someone is merely pretending to know how to do something. Recruitment executives will have an increased understanding of how to hire staff capable of of differentiating impressive, highly skilled candidates from mediocre, useless technical talent. Thus, they’ll create an interview process that can truly filter the best of the best.
Technical Debt
If executives learn to code, they will also grasp how the development process works, and the resources and time required to build an optimal solution. They’ll understand why one proposed solution is hard to implement, while another is much simpler, as well as the value of taking the time to implement the harder solution. In other words, how and why to avoid technical debt.
Increased respect & empathy
This knowledge will equip executives to plan out a realistic product development timeline with their development teams, and understand how their developers are using software development paradigms like Agile to build a product continuously from the ground up. This newfound dynamic will lead to mutual respect between management and digital transformation teams, leading to better morale, teamwork, and, ultimately, productivity.
Lower expenses
Knowing if someone is talking nonsense when sorting out costings for a technical project is important. Many web development agencies take advantage of the fact that executives have little to no understanding of the actual complexity (or lack thereof) in the projects they are requesting, and as a result, charge exorbitant fees.
Automation
Learning programming fundamentals and scripting will help executives better understand the types of work that can be automated and the value of automation. This will make it easier to organise their non-technical staff and their internal tools team to work together to set up systems, so more time can be dedicated to strategic work, crucial now when the business work moves so fast.
Understanding
The resulting improved understanding of the capabilities of technologies like artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, data analytics, e-commerce, closed-loop marketing, social media marketing, process automation, and collaborative technologies will alleviate concerns around disruption and change, and offer increased comprehension of the possibilities of a digital transformation process.
Case Study
Susan Kish, who is Head of Cross Platform Initiatives at Bloomberg LP, manages a strategic portfolio of projects across new products, sales, finance, and media. She decided to learn to code after finding that she wasn’t able to have strategic conversations with technology teams, in terms of media and project scheduling.
She said she is now able to understand the jokes and allusions in team work sessions, and walk into meetings with other senior execs and speak knowledgeably about timelines, costs, and prices. She says knowing technology is a tremendous advantage in today’s business world.
“In the professional world of tomorrow, you have to know two things: the basics of business, and the basics of coding. Without both, you are taking an enormous risk. And if [you] start with the technology side, [you] have a tremendous advantage.”
Coder Factory now offers digital leadership and technology workshops for employees of companies seeking tech, innovation, and digital literacy. The training sessions function as mini-hackathons, where employees work to use technology in solving real problems within their company.
Learn more about our corporate training workshops.
About Coder Factory Academy: Meet Australia’s first and only accredited fast-track coding bootcamp! Our immersive course helps students acquire in-demand skills through hands-on, project-based training by industry experts over 24 weeks. Become an employable full-stack developer in only six months.
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