Coding is the translating tool that lets binary talk to English (or the language featured on your website) and back. If you’re just looking to build a simple website, some programs can help you build your site with no coding skills at all. However, knowing how to code can greatly increase your website speed and even increase your SEO benefits.
You Can Get a Better Job Without Getting Another Degree
People who can code can earn more money and get more respect on the job. Your problem-solving skills will be greatly enhanced as you learn to recognize problems in binary code that are slowing down your company’s website or slowing down the load time.
Like wine and chocolate, you may not know what you don’t know about coding. Until you dig into it, you don’t know what questions to ask. As you start to build your skills, you may notice challenges specific to your industry that you can fix. If your employer doesn’t need those skills, you are well-positioned to find a better job and make their website more user-friendly and quick to load.
Many older workers are thinking about retirement but would like to keep some cash coming in. Learning to code in your later years can be very good for your brain and great for your encore career. If you learned to work numbers in a ledger book with pencil and paper, you know how to focus your attention and watch the details. You’re ideally positioned to learn to code.
You Can Increase Your Brain Power and Creativity
Coders are natural problem solvers. The ability to find problems in a string of binary code takes focus. It also requires you to be able to isolate issues that could be problems, fix them and move on.
Breaking down big challenges into small chunks that can be quickly fixed is a big part of the featured training in an intro to Python course. You can start studying coding with very simple projects that will help you fully understand what shows up in binary and how it appears on the screen before you advance into larger projects.
There is a big difference between creativity and craft. Craft is the output; creativity is the process. It can take a lot of creative work to come up with just one craft. Learning to code will help you turn your brain into a well-focused, idea-generating machine.
You Can Work From Anywhere
Recent world events have taught us that having a great job doesn’t have to tie you to one city, one state, or even one country. You will need a great computer to learn to code. You will also need a strong internet connection to be able to work remotely. After that, you need shelter, clothing, food, and a sense of adventure.
Think about your long-term financial goals. If owning a home has always been a goal, you can get a remote coding position and move to a cheaper city for a time. Big city wages and small town bills are a wonderful way to boost your savings and get to your goals more quickly.
If a life of travel is your dream, consider striking out and becoming a freelance coder. As a freelancer, you can work on projects specific to your skills and your coding knowledge on your schedule and from anywhere in the world. Build up skills as a troubleshooter and an emergency repair person and you can raise your fees accordingly.
Finally, you can build your own business if that appeals. As a coder, you can get in on the ground floor of websites and applications that you can either manage long-term or sell for a profit and start over. If you prefer to work alone, starting such projects may be exactly what you need to love your job. Find a need, build the tool, sell the tool, and live well on the profits while you look for the next niche.
Problem Solving is Fun
With the right attitude, we begin to realize that coding is just a puzzle. Puzzles and games are fun. If you are of a DIY mindset, the easiest way to learn what you don’t know about coding is to start a simple website, play with the code until you break it, then fix it so you understand it.
Can you study coding all on your own? Reviewing the page source behind a web page may be interesting, but successfully manipulating code without some training is probably not going to end well. Go ahead and review the source of some very simple websites to better understand what code creates which text or image and which background color, then take a beginner course on coding. There are also a number of websites to practice coding online.
Coding is Very Logical
Coding is all numbers. If the numbers don’t work, the link, loop, or presentation won’t work. The ability to view a webpage, study the source, make the right change, and see it on the page refresh is incredibly satisfying.
Learning to code requires you to:
- Break problems into small chunks
- See problems from new angles
- Stop seeing errors as failures
If your code is correct, the website will work as needed. If the code contains an error, the website won’t work as needed. The simple if/then process that your brain has to go through when you learn to code will allow you to increase your logical problem-solving skills and improve your ability to tackle other problems that have plagued you.
No matter the language you use to study coding, the act of learning how binary code works can benefit your brain, your bank account, and your future. Building coding skills can provide you with geographic freedom, and the funds for your dream home, or your own business. Start by studying the page sources of simple websites. Take a beginning coding class. Dig in!
Maggie graduated from Utah Valley University with a degree in communication and writing. In her spare time, she loves to dance, read, and bake. She also enjoys traveling and scouting out new brunch locations.
