[lordnacho]

Coding is the 21st century version of what literacy was in the 19th century.

Not everyone back then knew how to read and write, but enough people did to substantially change society. If you could read and write there was work that only you could do in the new economy. At the same time, being literate did not mean you were the new Shakespeare, you were probably using it for something mundane like sending letters on behalf of a business.

Likewise with coding. There will be loads of jobs that only a code literate person can do. It's also quite possible that you don't write any large or important piece of software, your whole life's work might be a bunch of python scripts that glue together other people's contributions.

Knowing how to code is also similar to literacy in another sense. The literate will be the first people to access new ideas. Want to read Das Kapital? Gotta know how to read. Want to know how an AI assistant works? Gotta know how to code.