| Different parents may have different reasons. I'm gonna be one soon, I will encourage my kid to learn how to code, and here's why: - I want them to be confident in interacting with technology. To understand that none of this is magic, and that it can be bent to one's will given enough (usually not much) knowledge. - I want them to learn that they can, and should, automate their tasks on the fly - whatever those tasks are. I want them to know it doesn't require (though can involve) buying ready-made single-purpose solutions, but a little bit of thinking and (sometimes) skills. This conceptual block is what I see in most of non-computer people around me. - I want them to acquire the ultimate tool in learning and communication: trying to make a machine to do something. There's no better way to realize what you don't know than trying to model it as a computer program.[0][1] I don't necessarily want them to be a programmer in the future[2]. I want them to find their own career, but I also want them to go through life confident in their ability to truly understand whatever they're curious about, and to shape the increasingly digital world around them. -- [0] - I used to use this approach as a teenager to verify my understanding of physics. The act of trying to write a simulation quickly revealed which parts of the topic I only thought I knew. [1] - Incidentally, that's the primary source of frustration in job - a lot (often most) of time is spent debugging and fixing lack of understanding of stakeholders. Most people aren't aware how imprecise (and in a way, wishful) their thinking is. [2] - Honestly, I doubt that in 20 years, this will be a well-paid job, due to sheer scale of mass-manufacturing of "programmers" that universities are now engaged in. I expect the supply to exceed demand in 5-10 years. |