Why I Don’t Think Tech Entrepreneurs Should Learn to Code

It’s all over the place: Tech entrepreneurs should learn to code. Apparently, it “helps boost their credibility, provide them with a deeper understanding of their businesses, and transform their abilities to lead their troops”.

But of all the things these tech entrepreneurs should learn, why coding? I am a “tech” kind of guy: I’ve been coding since 2003. I am also an aspiring entrepreneur. I have ran a few small businesses, and have had a passion for business for as long as I have been coding.

So from my experience as a tech and business person, something more important is worth learning. This is a trait that is common with good programmers. It is this trait that makes them good programmers in the first place, and not the opposite.

What I am saying is this: because they posses this trait, they are able to become good programmers. But the trait was neither developed from years of writing code, nor from knowing “how to code”. That means tech entrepreneurs will not develop this trait from learning to code, and that is just my own opinion on the subject matter.

Good programmers are problem solvers. My passion for solving problems, in the real world, is what makes me a good programmer. I find that computers are much easier to teach and control, than human beings. That is why I love to code because I can extend my problem solving abilities through the use of computers.

So, I think it is more important for tech entrepreneurs to develop their problem solving abilities, rather than learning to code. Learning to code is like learning to speak a new language. But if you have nothing to “say”, the language is useless.

It is fine if you can put words together in another language. But you can never compose beautiful poems in that language if you do not first know how to compose beautiful poems. So you see, developing problem solving skills is like learning to compose beautiful poems. Learning a new language will not help you compose better poems, like learning to code will not help you develop good problem solving skills.

So do not waste your time learning to write a few lines of PHP without fatal errors. Rather, invest that time in developing your problem solving abilities. You will be a much better entrepreneur than those who know how to write a few lines of code.

This article was first published on my LinkedIn Pulse.