My generation(s)/age group late 20s/early 30s — I'm a Millennial in the West and a Gen X when I'm from — was the very first to go through school and be taught some basic coding or, sadly, the very last to go through school and be taught absolutely no coding.
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Some/most(?) of us have been exposed to some Pascal, some VB, something! Maybe a little Java, maybe some C++, Javascript... At school in Cyprus we were taught a surprising amount, since my specific lyceum class had opted in to Informatics. So I'm very lucky.
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I'm also extra lucky because I did an undergraduate degree in CompSci — and that only makes me more certain of my advice: please learn to code. I implore you all, all my peers, to learn how to code, even if just a little.




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I promise you it will only open doors, in your mind, imagination, doors to better job opportunities, & on & on.
Recently, it's been playing on mind cos I've noticed the stark contrast between my peers/friends who know how to code (even if just a wee bit) and those who do not.Show this thread -
Really intelligent and kind people who have never been given this advice have been affected seriously, professionally, personally, by their lack of programming skills. And there is no reason for this — they just never had somebody say: "learn to code — trust me just do it."
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So here I am saying: trust me — just learn how to code. Open up a tab in your browser and go through the basic http://codecademy.com stuff. Yes, it's really important.
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In fact being able to code is what saved my life (100% literally) at least twice. It's why I still have a job in science, it's also how a landed a PhD place.
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So yeah, just do it. Even if you get stuck on what a for loop is or have trouble understanding logic tables or object orientation. It is worth it. Learn how to code.




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Sorry to all those who have missed out on careers because your undergraduate courses didn't bother to stress coding.
I am trying to change this for the next generations, and you can fix this for yourself too. It's never too late.





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Is it worth trying to call it "Programming"? Or has that horse bolted?
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What's the difference in using a different label in your opinion?
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To me a "code" means a cipher, its cryptic, illogical almost, whereas "programming" is more descriptive - you are giving a computer a programme of work to do, not a "code" to solve. But hey, "coding" is the new hotness and "programming" is for us old Fortran guys.
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Maybe the "old guys" are also part of the problem? Or are you including women under "guys"? I think "guys" is def not the most inclusive term even if you were personally including women.
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Hey! One of the people in your tweet. Did some "informatics" as we called it in school, hated it thoroughly, considered it 2nd hand math (which was my thing). My high-school concentration let me choose a Math only profile and there went coding. All ur points r super convincing.
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Math and Coding have points of similarity: both require very precise thought about intricate abstractions. Differences include: Coding has a lot of non-abstract practical details (and dependent on computing platform), and Math has a deeper hierarchy of knowledge to master.
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I was young, math was hours of pen and paper and coding was Pascal :-|
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Did you go to lyceum too?
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:)) Yeah!
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Right — explains the Pascal.

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I think I am- sadly- also a bit older too ('83)! Or- definitely- Romania is backward!
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Cyprus is very backward. You are only 4-5 years older.
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