<story><title>Learn to Code, It&apos;s Harder Than You Think</title><url>http://mikehadlow.blogspot.com/2015/12/learn-to-code-its-harder-than-you-think.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>paulcole</author><text>There&amp;#x27;s a big gulf between knowing how to code and working as a professional software developer.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m a writer for a marketing agency, but I write Google App Scripts, JavaScript, and PHP on a regular basis to automate tasks, try out ideas I have, etc.&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s no way I could work as a professional software developer, but I know how to code enough to help make my professional&amp;#x2F;personal life easier and more fun.&lt;p&gt;Isn&amp;#x27;t there something to be said for that? Not every skill needs to lead directly to a job. Can&amp;#x27;t it just be another skill to have when you need it?&lt;p&gt;I learned to code through Codecademy and trial and error with frequent Stack Overflow searches. If I can figure it out, anyone can.&lt;p&gt;Edit: For anyone saying they would hire me, I&amp;#x27;m flattered but am very happy working as a writer who gets to program occasionally. If you&amp;#x27;re interested, here are two little projects I&amp;#x27;ve put together: &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;playRollo.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;playRollo.com&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;WriteByNumbers.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;WriteByNumbers.com&lt;/a&gt;. Feedback? Email me, paulcole@gmail.com.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>empath75</author><text>As someone who &lt;i&gt;is&lt;/i&gt; a software developer, I can assure you that this is enough coding skill to get a job as a software developer.  Being able to learn how to code is the important bit.  A lot of places will expect you to learn how to do most of what you&amp;#x27;re doing as you go.</text></comment>
<story><title>Learn to Code, It&apos;s Harder Than You Think</title><url>http://mikehadlow.blogspot.com/2015/12/learn-to-code-its-harder-than-you-think.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>paulcole</author><text>There&amp;#x27;s a big gulf between knowing how to code and working as a professional software developer.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m a writer for a marketing agency, but I write Google App Scripts, JavaScript, and PHP on a regular basis to automate tasks, try out ideas I have, etc.&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s no way I could work as a professional software developer, but I know how to code enough to help make my professional&amp;#x2F;personal life easier and more fun.&lt;p&gt;Isn&amp;#x27;t there something to be said for that? Not every skill needs to lead directly to a job. Can&amp;#x27;t it just be another skill to have when you need it?&lt;p&gt;I learned to code through Codecademy and trial and error with frequent Stack Overflow searches. If I can figure it out, anyone can.&lt;p&gt;Edit: For anyone saying they would hire me, I&amp;#x27;m flattered but am very happy working as a writer who gets to program occasionally. If you&amp;#x27;re interested, here are two little projects I&amp;#x27;ve put together: &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;playRollo.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;playRollo.com&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;WriteByNumbers.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;WriteByNumbers.com&lt;/a&gt;. Feedback? Email me, paulcole@gmail.com.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tfinniga</author><text>I agree.. I was talking with a CFO about one of his employees, who he called his secret weapon - an accountant with coding skills.  The ability to do a regular job plus the ability to code is extremely valuable.&lt;p&gt;In architecture there is a trend of computational design - if you google for &amp;#x27;designed with grasshopper&amp;#x27;, you&amp;#x27;ll see some amazing shapes.  The best designs don&amp;#x27;t come from the best programmers, they come from the best architects and designers who also know how to code.&lt;p&gt;Maybe it would be possible for them to become professional programmers, but I think it&amp;#x27;s much more valuable for them to be hybrids.  Not every job can benefit from coding skills, but software is eating the world and learning how to code is becoming more and more widely applicable and useful.&lt;p&gt;That said, I think most people can learn to code, but I don&amp;#x27;t think _everyone_ can learn how to code.  I have worked with a few people in menial jobs that I honestly don&amp;#x27;t believe could learn how to code.  I realize that this is a pedantic assertion about corner cases, but I am a programmer.  :)</text></comment>