2 min read
It’s the must have skill of the 21st century, the skill that could make or break an executive’s ability to solve problems in a rational manner incorporated with design thinking. Many swear by it and non-technical executives have sought to master it. I asked four technology experts their view on coding:
1- “Learning to Program teaches essential skills. esp how to problem solve and also how to break up complex problems into bite sized easy to solve pieces. It’s also a great way to teach the essentials of teaching. Those same break up the problem into pieces also apply to teaching. Learning how to program is really a way to introduce a skill set that can and will be used in every part of a person’s life. Also we don’t need to teach complicated coding languages, just ones that will teach the mindset that is required to program.”
– Osman Arfeen, Security Software Developer at Blackberry Canada
2- “Breaking up complex problems is a basic, common sense thing to do in today’s world. It wasn’t always that way. When I learned coding, spaghetti coding was the norm. A 6000 line subroutine wasn’t unusual. Sometimes I believed the code was intentionally designed to be incomprehensible. Then I found out I was right.”
– Ali Zaidi,
Assistant Vice President at Pak-Qatar General Takaful
3- “Programming teaches metaphors that can unlock a student’s comprehension of the real world. It teaches a manner of logical reasoning that can probably help with literacy. It also demonstrates to students that the math they think they’ll never use is actually valuable. I certainly didn’t apply myself academically until I got into programming, no thanks to my primary education.”
– Altamash Javed, CIO at ALJ Investments.
4- “Teaching coding and improving reading abilities don’t have to be two mutually exclusive alternatives as mainstream media suggests. Nowadays, kids are so enamored with technology that learning coding can actually have the halo effect on their basic math and reading skills.”
– Ali Nasim, CEO at Ephlux.
5- And of course, if Bill Gates says so, you should listen.
