By Shannon Edwards
I was having lunch with a highly respected tech industry 50-something friend who was pondering her next career move. Between bites of arugula she told me that ‘in the meantime,’ between advising start-ups and beginning her own business, she was going to learn to code. Okay, I thought, of course someone so cutting edge would be pushing the boundaries of learning. Then two days later, a well-heeled corporate finance advisory firm partner told me, between sips of espresso, that he too would be learning to code the next week. Now I was sure something was happening…
I actually started feeling the momentum last year as a friend excitedly signed her girls up to a kids ‘coding camp.’ The idea that children would find coding fun and start building it into their daily learning gave me so much hope for what my daughters might accomplish.
While coding ‘boot camps’ have become readily available, they have historically been geared toward those who want a job in the technology industry. What’s different about this new ‘generation’ of computer science enthusiasts is that they include bankers, marketers and business entrepreneurs who just want to learn for the sake of learning.
Why with the endless requirements of our 24/7 lives and multiple devices that already take up too much time and space would we care to tackle the mysteries of ‘coding’?
Well, think about this: many of us GenX and Baby Boomer executives have seen the twilight or ‘mid-light’ of our careers dedicated to the blossoming dominance of technology but often with just one eye open to it all. We began our careers briefly befuddled by things like ‘email’ to later confront the reality of managing functional areas we didn’t start our careers doing ourselves. For instance, I know many a Chief Marketing Officer who squirms at their inability to fully grasp the nuances of online marketing. And how many CEO’s are self-professed luddites?
Unfortunately what we are seeing is not just an age or generation issue, but something more disconcerting: the complete acceptance of coding as the purview of young Mark Zuckerberg-types. Need an app created, ‘I know this young guy,’ is a common refrain. Can’t figure out WordPress, well there is ‘this agency,’ I often hear. One of my clients said that if he never saw another ‘hip, red-rimmed glasses guy’ purposely explaining technology in terms to confuse him, it would be too soon.
So why do we accept this? Just because we aren’t in formal schooling anymore does not mean we should accept that the language of technology is beyond our grip.
How to get started? There is a growing movement and a whole host of resources to get you to a simple level of coding competency.
Try a one-day course. Decoded, with locations in London and New York and ‘pop up’ courses available around the world, is a great example of the movement toward ‘demystifying the digital world’ with no bias of judgment around industry or level of proficiency. A one-day course is enough to build your own app.
Make small commitments of time. Instead of de-stressing with a game of Angry Birds on your Iphone why not get started on your own fun, quirky HTML and CSS project via Codeacadamy. The site offers quick, easy and time-sensitive learning projects (e.g., ‘build your own solar system in 30 minutes’). There is a large community that you can interact with as well.
Take an online course. Online learning overall has not only become easier to access you can do it at your own pace and often for free. I’m a fan of Udacity; a great way to learn from home on a range of topics, including computer science. You can start with an intro to programming course and do it at your own pace at home, work, or on the go.
The key is that right now there are online and offline resources to guide us into this new frontier without judgment. Female, male, young, mid-career, near retirement; in any industry or locale, everyone needs to learn the language of technology and the time has come for us to get started.
Shannon Edwards is an experienced marketing and business development veteran with 20 years of experience across a range of industries and geographies. She currently runs her own digital consultancy, Crystalline Strategy, focused on helping online companies in growth or turnaround mode. Shannon is regarded as an online shopping expert regularly contributing to television and radio having appeared on CNN Worldwide, BBC Breakfast, BBC News, Reuters International Business TV, MSNBC,
