Crack coding and you’re in

We study English at school not because we all want to become authors or journalists, but because it’s a language we use to communicate.

In the same way I’d like to argue that, as managers and executives, we should all learn some basic degree of coding.

Coding is the ‘new language’ and to an increasing degree we all interact with code and coders in our daily and business lives.

There are now several places in Perth you can learn to code, from a beginner level.

Jon Feldman runs the Codemaster Institute in Osborne Park and has helped guide several thousand people through his courses.

Some want to switch career, but most just want to do it out of interest.

“Imagine if I said to you [that] you could learn a new language like Mandarin or Japanese and be useful at it in a day. Would you jump at it? I’ll bet you would,” Mr Feldman told Business News.

A year ago, I signed up for a course at his school, learning the basics of Python in a day.

By the end of it I could write programs that could solve logical problems, including telling me in a split second how many times the word ‘wizard’ had been used in a whole Harry Potter book.

Yes, I know, but it’s a start.

Kate Kirwin founded She Codes six years ago, with a mission to teach 100,000 women to code by 2025. (At the time of writing, 4,043 women had done the course.)

“We see a lot of women in our programs who work on the fringes of tech – in digital marketing or project management – who currently don’t possess coding skills and have experienced frustrations or limitations in their careers because they lack a deeper understanding of code,” Ms Kirwin told Business News.

“Three-quarters of the fastestgrowing roles require at least a basic understanding of tech skills, so understanding the fundamentals of how code works sets you up for success.”

Based in Northbridge, Alex Shi is the CEO of Codekids Australia, teaching programming to years one through six and Python to years four and above.

“By 2030, artificial intelligence and robots are expected to replace as much as 30 per cent of the world’s current human labour force,” Mr Shi said.

“To stay ahead of the curve, we have to equip children with coding and programming skills in their formative years.”

Coding benefits

• Learning to code can help you break down all kinds of problems into bite-sized elements and see the flow through of logic to an ultimate end.

• Open your eyes to how lines of code work, and how software is developed: what is easy and what is hard, why it’s important to get the design right up front, and how bad code and design affects performance.

• Just as learning basic language is useful when you visit a country on business, learning basic coding can help you select, manage, and even develop software projects. Communicating your ideas to the developers will become much easier and more productive.

• As you learn some coding, you may be able to develop your own websites, develop elements of blog sites and generally become more confident in the digital world.

• Demand will remain strong for various coding-related jobs. You may discover a flair for it and programming could be a new career. You could code a friend’s IT project or develop your own passion project.

• It’s a pretty cool thing to add to your CV. Why not make your resume stand out?

• Add some productivity to your own life. Understanding how coding works, and programs are written, can help you work more confidently in Excel, Airtable and Slack, for example. You could automate all kinds of data-rich tasks and free up your life. It’s not just for Harry Potter aficionados.

• Charlie Gunningham is founder and principal of digital strategy advisory business Damburst