Coding - at any age!

During lockdown, there were numerous posts around an education company promising a bright career for kids, who join their coding curriculum.?

Everybody has a different perspective on the subject, here is my honest view on the same.?

Learning coding ( IT Coding ) is as good as learning a new foreign language. And it should be treated like that only, nothing more. One of my cousins can speak/write/read around a dozen of languages, and yet he has a very bright established career in an Indian Insurance Company.?

There is nothing wrong with learning OR not learning a language, it's just how much it interests you. I never thought I would be interested in learning German/Deutch, but one of my prev. organizations had an impressive course designed for us. And we all learned a lot from the same. Forget language, I learned so much about the culture itself. It's always fun to learn a new language.?

As much as coding as a language is gaining popularity, I think the core reason for it, is that non-IT crowd thinks that it's easy money, sitting on a chair, with a laptop in an AC room and all that glittery dream. What they don't know is not everybody in an IT company can code. Also, not everybody who can code gets to be Mark Z or take home a mighty salary. This is something that the education companies won't tell.?

Let me attempt few common questions -?

Should everybody know coding?

Answer: Not really! Think of it like this - I can roam in a car without driving it myself. All I would need to know is how to hire a driver, and choose a car based on some preferred features. Knowing about features of car is important here. Same principle applies for coding. If you can't code, you get it done from somewhere/someone else. All you would need to know is your preference of a language, and some money. Again, when choosing a coding language, if you don't know how to code, you must know what are the pros/cons of the same, just like car's features.

Should coding be included in schools curriculum?

Answer: Absolutely! Kids learn language much faster than grown-ups. At least basic level of coding/computing is beneficial for them. A lot of schools have already adopted some level of coding/computing in the curriculum already. And not with the goal to create the Mark Z's, but to enable them to make sense of 'How things work?'

Should we force/push children to learn coding?

Answer: Not at all! Unless children/kids are really interested in learning something, they will forget what they have learnt in any subject. Plus, you really can't force somebody to learn something, even kids will do it for the sake of it initially, and then resent it for their rest of life. And nothing good comes out of it.

Should adults learn coding?

Answer: Do learn if it interests you, it would be easy. If it goes bonkers, you are only going to hurt your brain. Take an adult decision.

Should we set targets of salaries/careers based solely on coding?

Answer: The question itself is very dangerous. You won't set yourself a target salary for any job. Be it Doctor/Engineer/CA's/etc. Then why to do that with coding. It's just another language. You will find all sorts of variants in IT industry itself. A copy-paste coder, at times get's paid high for the risks associated, than a genius coder who never refers google.com for the kind of code they write. All permutations/combinations are in play.?

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While I am a big-advocate of 'learn to code', I personally believe, that it should be left with individual's choice. We do live in a world now where almost everything around us can be run by a code, and hence a little know-how is not bad for any of us.?

I have been lucky to learn my professional coding from some of the brilliant minds across the world. I have seen a person write a 200 lines of code under a min, and compiling the same without any errors. And no, it wasn't a 'Hello World!' program.

All of these wonderful people will never agree to promise a safe-secure-career in future if you/your kid opts for coding, but they will definitely vouch for upskilling and to keep learning something new.?

At last 'age' - it's just an 'integer' for them!