Why Coders Are the New Rock Stars

My sister and I are very different. She has great aptitude for art, fashion and design; whereas, I am most comfortable surrounded by the bits and bytes of technology. In many ways, our paths were prescribed early in our lives. At school, she gravitated toward the humanities, while my love for structure and precision drove me toward math and science. Despite our differences, we have an appreciation for each other’s skill set. I enjoy art, reading and writing. She has learned about technology and computer science. This mutual understanding has helped both of us in our chosen professions.

For a new generation of university graduates, the line between art and science is blurring as technology becomes an integral part of our everyday lives. How we travel, work, play and shop have all been transformed by rapid advances in technology and design in the last 10 years. Steve Jobs ascribed Apple’s success in part to its marriage of technology and liberal arts.

The omnipresence of technology is changing the face of the global workforce and our educational system needs to adapt to this new reality. I believe that no matter what profession someone pursues, a deep grounding in the basic concepts of computer science will be key to success in the future. At the same time, the best engineers will need to bring a keen understanding of design and art to their work since consumers expect technology to be elegant and intuitive.

A recent study found that by 2018, the U.S. could face a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 workers with deep analytical skills as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts, especially in areas such as healthcare, retail and manufacturing.

Rapper and producer Will.I.am recently noted that coders are the new rock stars. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and a number of other great technologists spoke about the importance of understanding coding as a key skill set in the modern workplace in a recent video for code.org:

As the film shows, by 2020 it’s expected that there will be 1 million more jobs in technology than students in technology. Not only are minorities and women underrepresented in this field but most schools (nine out of ten, in fact) don’t even offer computer science classes.

I strongly believe that technology teaches you how to solve problems better, faster and with more structure. You gain a certain critical thinking through cause-and-effect, sequence commands, identity patterns, use procedures and debugging. This kind of methodical thinking can help you succeed in any career path. Consider the butterfly effect: If I make a small change here then that could have a large impact somewhere else and technology teaches you how to account for that regression before it’s too late.

As a parent, I want my kids to pursue their passions, whether they want to be artists or scientists. While their options may be limitless, I want them to appreciate the value of math and science as the foundation of any discipline they choose.

Do you agree? Share your thoughts with me below.