Crack code to future
CODING can help workers future-proof their employment, even if they have no intention of working in information technology.
Understanding the basics of coding and how it works can improve communication between sectors of a workplace and provide evidence of a worker’s problem-solving skills.
“When you learn to code, it’s not just about being a coder — it’s about encasing your employability for the future,” Code Like a Girl chief executive and founder Ally Watson says.
“I don’t think you are going to lose your job tomorrow if you can’t code but, if you do learn to code, I think you will absolutely be promised a job in the future,” she said.
“Forty per cent of jobs will be dramatically affected by technology by 2030 and many will be obsolete. When you learn to code, the world is your oyster.”
Queensland has already introduced mandatory coding into its primary school curriculum, while similar moves in other states are underway.
Just Coding founder Brendan Kelly believes, however, more attention must be given to teaching coding to the existing workforce.
He says understanding coding, and its associated jargon, enables workers to better communicate in an increasingly technical world and to liaise more efficiently with their IT colleagues.
“Having a worker who has skills for their current role, along with coding [skills], and who can tie those two [skill sets] together, can really help the business that they’re working for,” Kelly says.
“Coders do use a lot of jargon so if you know what coders actually do, and you know all the jargon, it helps you communicate [with IT workers] better.”
For example, if you’re a business analyst that deals with coders all the time, then you learn how to communicate with them and understand what they’re saying.
“The other thing coding really helps people with is problem solving because, essentially, that’s what coding is — it’s problem solving.
“Once you’ve learned coding, you can apply those problem-solving skills to any area that you work in.”
For the past two years, weekend coding courses run by Kelly have been regularly oversubscribed. They have been attended by myriad workers including project managers, lawyers and university professionals.
“Coding is an essential skill,” Kelly says.
“Depending on what sort of job you’re in, a lot of those jobs won’t be here [in the future] so coding gives [workers] an extra skill set that makes them more attractive [for employers] to keep on.”
An extra 15,000 software and application programmers are forecast to be needed between 2017 and 2022, Federal Government data shows.