If you land in this article, probably this topic has come crossed your mind recently. It could not be denied that learning a programming language is a valuable skill nowadays. So, should you learn programming?
This article may give you some insight before you start your learning.
You should learn programming if:
You are interested in programming
The meaning of ‘interested’ is not because you are amazed by some hacking movie you are watching. Yeah, most of us might probably be amazed watching the hacking scene, especially during our teenagers. Interested here is you are curious and passionate enough to learn about programming. Because it is not a ‘one-day’ course to be learned to have a good understanding and apply the logic.
You find programming is fun
If you find programming is fun, go for it! You definitely will enjoy the learning process. Understandably, you may be in the middle of confusion during the first few lessons. However, it will start to be fun once you understand the logic and architecture.
You want to polish your logical thinking and problem-solving skill
Many activities may enhance your logic/critical thinking and problem-solving skills and programming may be one of your choices. Through programming, you need to have an understanding of the data structure and logic. The basic fundamental of programming is input-process-output. Here is where your logical thinking plays the role. You need to understand how the input is being processed to produce the output. You may learn this once you have decided to learn to program.
If you want to pursue your career in a related field
If you would like to pursue your career as a programmer, you should learn to program. Before you get started, you may want to choose what type of programmer you would like to be. There are various types of a programmer including front-end developers, back-end developers, full-stack developers, mobile application developers, games developers, and the list goes on. Once you’ve decided, it is much easier for you to choose which programming language you would like to kick-start.
You should not learn programming if:
You have a mindset of “IT is easy”
There is a story about why you should not have this kind of mindset.
There is one time John Doe was asked by Jane Doe why did he switch from his previous field to the software development field. John Doe said he thought that it was easier than his previous field and that he could excel in it. However, he is now nearly giving up on his current path. Jane Doe then asked, “So now, how are you feeling?” John Doe said, he never imagine that this path was not as easy as he think before.
Looking for a short-term course
Are you looking for a new skill as your added value and thinking of enrolling in a short-term course on programming language? I would like to advise you to find other skills/courses as an alternative. Even when you land a job as a programmer, every day is still a learning process as you may encounter new challenges, issues, and bugs throughout your daily tasks which are not covered during your learning course.
You did not have strong logical thinking
It is not you could not learn to program at all, but it will be a bit harder than others with strong logical thinking. Remember how programming is about understanding the input being processed to produce the output?
To follow trend
People who learn programming just to follow trends rarely make it very far. It is a challenging path that is non-suitable for a ‘trend-chaser’. Nowadays everyone can be a ‘website developer’ as there are a lot of website builders which are also easy to use even for both tech and non-tech people. If you are a ‘trend-chaser’ looking for a fast-track trend, the website builder is an option.
Just because you heard it is a highly-paid income
The common reason I have heard from people who would like to switch their career to/be a programmer is that it is ‘highly paid’. You may proceed to learn to program if you have a passion for learning to chase the ‘good income’.
However, it is not a very strong reason for you to learn to program. Some of the programmers do have highly-paid income, while there are many whose still underpaid. You should also consider the challenges and the job scope before you proceed.
How is it? Have you decided whether to learn or not to learn how to program? All in all, it is up to you as I believe if there is a will, there is a way. All the best to you!
