SIZ Education | Why everyone should learn to code? by @faizan2sheikh

Hey, hope you all are doing good. In this post, I will present you with logical points that why you should take some time to learn to code. Let's begin with a quick intro to guide you on what is coding/programming.

What is a program?

A computer program is simply a set of instructions that dictates the computer to perform specific computations to yield the desired result. As we humans need a language to communicate with each other, in the same way, programming languages provide us a medium to communicate with computers.

Why should you learn to code?

We are living in the age of technology and the fourth industrial revolution is in process. Unlike, the previous revolutions this one will magnify the inequalities to an unprecedented level, and the people who will be left behind might not be able to catch up with its pace later. Technology namely the computer which laid the foundation for this revolution has taken over almost every aspect of human lives. There will be a time when computers will be so abundant that the ones who don't know how to code or i.e. communicate with these devices around them would feel like a stranger on an island where people speak a different language.

• Problem Solving Skill

Programming requires a deep understanding of problems that are desired to be solved. In the process, individuals develop an ability to bring out of box ideas and implement them in unique ways to yield desired results, this ability might seem trivial, but is regarded as one of the most sought after soft skill.

• Attention to detail

Any one of you who is familiar with the coding environment knows very well that programming requires a lot of focus and attention to every tiny detail that can cause errors, programmers try to implement every possible case that can cause any potential error, this ability allows them to make better decisions in their daily lives taking into account every possible outcome that decision might cause.

• Efficiency

It's a well-known fact that computers can perform very complex tasks in a matter of seconds unlike humans who require more time to solve them, we should not try to compete with computers in this regard, instead, we should equip ourselves with the ability to program the devices to perform those complex tasks for us, this not only saves our time but also provide more accurate outputs. For example, consider that you are given a data entry job and you need to fill spreadsheets, even at maximum efficiency you will not be able to produce any remarkable results, maybe you can fill 100 sheets in an 8-hour shift, but if you can spare 8-10 hours to develop a program to teach a computer to do that job, with the computers help in 8 hours you will be able to process more spreadsheets than you can do in your whole lifetime.

• Code, a new leverage

In the industrial revolution, more labor was required to scale up the production and yielding wealth, that labor had its downsides, in a capitalist system you required capital as leverage to increase the size of the economy and creating wealth. But the 21st century brought us new leverage that is code, most of the top billionaires in this century had created their wealth by this new leverage, they did not have any man labor working for them, instead, they used code as their leverage.

Some famous programming languages

• Python
• JavaScript
• C++/C#
• R
• Php
• Ruby
• Kotlin
• Swift
• Java

Conclusion

In this era, learning to code is not an option it's a necessity to equip us with skills to survive the world of tomorrow. You don't need to learn this to pursue it as a profession but to develop a basic understanding of your surroundings. You can create applications or programs to live your life in a more productive way, these applications can also generate you a passive income if you come up with any product that society can pay for!