5 reasons why you should learn to code. (Yes, you.)
“The opinions, facts and interpretations expressed in this publication have not been reviewed in any way, are the sole responsability of the authors and may not coincide with those of Adalab.”
I recently discovered that women were involved from the very beginning of programming (Ada Lovelace — ‘Mother of ̶d̶r̶a̶g̶o̶n̶s̶ programming’). This was a surprise to me, considering the low number of women who work in the computing occupations nowadays. According to a report in 2016 by the National Center for Women and Information Technology (an American organization, but let’s use it as an example), the number of women in technology has been steadily declining since 1991.
Whatever the reasons for this decline, I want to look at why more women should choose to go into the world of programming. I have recently started learning to code and I want to encourage you to join me! I was a primary school teacher in England, then an English teacher here in Madrid, but I’ve always been searching for a profession that I truly love. So when I heard about Adalab, and their intensive front-end development course (just for women aged 18–37) I knew it was time to take the leap and try something new. This leads me to my first reason:
- LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY (FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE)
What I’ve discovered so far on the course (I’m currently five weeks in) is that we are capable of learning. And while the sheer volume of ‘things-you-don’t-know-yet’ is enormous, with some time, effort and (a lot of) determination, you can achieve great things. If you’re not interested in learning new things, and don’t want to be challenged on a regular basis, then coding probably isn’t for you. Technology is changing so quickly, that even people who’ve been doing this job for years have days where they don’t know how to do something and have to look it up!
2. YOU CAN DO IT
Okay, maybe you have no experience working in computing, but neither did I and here I am, five weeks later, creating websites and making little animations for fun! If you think you’ll enjoy it, and you want to learn, then you’ll succeed.
For some reason we’re hardwired to believe that we aren’t capable of doing certain things, or that we aren’t as good as other people (at anything, not just computing)… but it’s just not true! Let’s build that self-esteem up and believe: I am strong, I am capable, I can do whatever I set my mind to.
3. CODING IS A COMMUNITY
From what I’ve seen so far of the technology sector, and from what I’ve been told, people are always willing to help you. This is clear just from looking at the description on GitHub’s website:
“GitHub brings together the world’s largest community of developers to discover, share, and build better software.”
GitHub is a code hosting platform for version control and collaboration. Basically, people can post their code online for anyone to see and use… in what other sector do people say, “Hey, here’s what I’ve created, this is how it works, use it however you want and ask me if you have any questions about it.”?!
I think this is partly because of how quickly technology is evolving and developing; people within the coding community are constantly having to learn new things. But it’s mainly because they are so generally so open about sharing and helping each other. Genuinely, it is such a welcoming community.
4. ENCOURAGE THE NEXT GENERATION
Let’s encourage diversity within the sector! For the sake of future generations, we need to open up coding as a profession and make it more accessible. In the UK, children from the age of 4 are learning the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science… we should make sure that all children are encouraged to learn these things and develop their knowledge in computing. According to a report published by Dell Technologies, around 85% of the jobs that today’s learners will be doing in 2030 haven’t been invented yet. Most likely they will be within the tech sector, and if we don’t encourage all children to develop these skills they won’t be able to access those professions. They’ll get left behind.
5. IT’S FUN!
I’m sure that not every day at work as a programmer is going to be fun, but if you love what you do then there’s more chance that it will be! Generally coding involves solving problems that need to be solved… so sometimes there will be days where you can’t solve them, and that’s okay. Just get a good night’s sleep and try again the next day. Rise to the challenge. Solving the unsolvable is satisfying, and with a little imagination you can do some really cool stuff!
So, here are my five reasons why you should learn to code:
- Learn something new every day (for the rest of your life)
- You can do it
- Coding is a community
- Encourage the next generation
- It’s fun!
Why not give it a try, and see what you can do?
