Coding, Everyone?
There’s been an increasing call in the US that everyone learn how to code (write computer programs). This call comes even from Obama. Part of the reason is to improve the employability of people as software continues to step into more and more fields. A software engineer, Chase Felker, argued against this call . He correctly points out that there is a world of difference between knowing the basics of programming v/s being a good, employable programmer: “Without knowing more of the bigger picture, you’re forced to hack away at a problem, which can take you pretty far until you run into one that is better solved by more careful design.” Then there’s the problem of identifying who you would learn from? Because software expertise is not tied to degrees: “Your credentials are primarily the programs you have written, not the stature of the professor whose lab you cleaned.” Unfortunately, you can’t see the programs anyone else wrote (they’d be owned by the company that guy wo...