22 Benefits of Learning Code
You’d be surprised by the number of ways coding can positively impact your life! You can gain some unexpected advantages or benefits when learning to code.
1. Become Smarter
While learning to code won’t turn you into a genius overnight, it will teach you to think differently. Thinking differently can positively affect your ability to study other subjects. It can also help tackle real-life problems.
When learning to code, you must be ‘hungry’ to go out there and find the information you need. You need to keep working at understanding a tough topic until you can grasp it. With a skill like this, learning something else in comparison will probably seem almost trivial. (Learning Coding)
Learning to code will make it easier to learn new concepts and conquer any topic thrown your way.
2. Learn How To Solve Big Problems
The biggest, most complicated coding programs are just a bunch of small tasks combined. If a bug or something doesn’t work the intended way, you’ll need to solve the problem by looking at each piece of code individually.
Breaking down the problem into smaller pieces and working out each is a methodical approach you can use in any life situation, not just coding. (Learning Coding)
3. Learn How To Think More Logically
In the above point, we discussed how logic plays a vital role in problem-solving and overcoming challenges. But how does coding teach you how to think more logically?
Coding teaches you that if your first and second attempts to fix a bug don’t work, maybe the third one will. But only if you tackle the problem in a coordinated way that makes sense. That means not trying random things until something works.
Learning to code also teaches you to recognize and use patterns to work more efficiently. Something that you can use in other areas of your life or work.
4. Exercise Your Brain – Like Puzzles
Exercising your brain helps improve your brain functionality in many ways. And learning to code is going to give it a serious workout. Here are some of how learning to code is like a marathon for your brain:
- Coding ignites different regions of your brain. This creates new neural pathways and strengthens old ones.
- Learning to code is almost identical to learning a language. It also includes plenty of math. Your brain’s learning centers will be routinely pushed to their limits.
- Programming forces your brain to visualize concepts like blocks of code. Reading every single line of code isn’t an effective way to program. Instead, your brain helps speed up the process by breaking the code into visual pieces, almost like a puzzle. (Learning Coding)
- Current research shows that there may be a strong connection between learning to code and delaying cognitive diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia.
5. Enhance Creativity
Have you ever dreamed of creating something? Maybe you’ve always wanted to help the environment. Or maybe you want to be more efficient when working. Many people have great ideas but can’t bring them to life without the technical knowledge.
With the ability to code, you can create almost anything you put your mind to whether it’s an app that tracks your carbon footprint or a time-keeping app to keep you focused on your work.
Once you learn how to code, you can let your imagination run wild.
6. Learn Persistence, Resilience and Self-reliance
You can’t learn to code overnight. Or in a week. It’s a long process, and it never truly ends as it does there. There are always updates and changes being made to languages and frameworks. There are also always new plugins and libraries that add more functionality and toolkits.
No one is going to hold your hand every step of the way. If you can persist at something until you achieve it and are resilient to the challenges thrown your way, you’ll be successful no matter what path you take in life. Learning to code goes a long way in helping to build up persistence. This is when you keep attacking a problem until you fix it. It’s when you don’t stop learning until you fully understand the subject.
Not everyone is born with the drive to keep going when the going gets tough, but it’s a skill you can acquire through learning to code.
7. Gain Self Confidence
One of the most important benefits you can gain from learning to code is boosting your self-confidence. Imagine how you’ll feel after finishing an intensive bootcamp. The satisfaction of knowing you can create anything you want, whether a product, service, or something else just for fun.
And the best part? You will never need to pay someone else to create your website or add new functionality, as you can do it yourself. As you gain more skills and experience, your confidence in yourself and your abilities will continue to grow. It’s a vital attribute that will help you in your personal and working lives.
8. Social Advantages
There’s a stigma that coding requires you to lock yourself away in a dark room for days, but coding can boost your social life.
The coding community is huge, and there are loads of people who happily volunteer their time to help others understand the ins and outs of it. By joining forums and learning groups, you’ll meet like-minded people. Once you become proficient enough, you can help others start their learning journey.
Another advantage is that some cities host their hackathons. These hackathons let you team up with people in the community to create projects as quickly as possible. It requires lots of teamwork and communication and a healthy dose of socializing.
9. Automate Your Life
Have you ever wished you could make your life easier? Plenty of everyday tasks you do on your laptop or computer now could be automated. They’re important enough that they need to be done, but they require lots of repetitive clicking and re-typing the same thing over and over again.
A little bit of coding know-how can go a long way. Python is a popular coding language used to write scripts that automate tasks. If you’ve ever used macros in Excel, they’re very similar but much more adaptable and customizable.
You can use automation for all kinds of things. For example: •sending automatic emails •converting different units •gathering and formatting data, •creating a set of instructions that take control of your keyboard and mouse, •performing large file operations, •automate checks for things like missing data and even create reports.
10. Customize Your Online Presence
If you own a small business or operate your blog, you probably use a Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress. It makes running a site much easier, but you still need to hire outside help to make changes or improvements to your website’s code. Learning HTML and CSS will let you change the look and feel of your site. JavaScript can help you make adjustments to the functionality of your site.
Your creativity isn’t restricted to a business or blog website either. You can create delightful online resumes that showcase your skills. Doing so will help you separate from the pack when applying for coding-related or creative jobs.
11. Great Way To Get Into Tech
Knowing how to code will open up plenty of opportunities if you want to enter the tech industry. This is because the demand for coding-related jobs is at an all-time high and is expected to increase year-over-year steadily.
Even if you don’t want to work as a programmer, there are many hybrid positions where coding is still an important skill. For example, technical writer or project manager. These jobs may not require coding knowledge, but knowing how to code will be a great asset as you may need to run your tests or interact with those who do.
12. Higher Salaries
If your goal is to make more money, then you’ll be happy to learn that the median annual salary for coding jobs is among some of the highest in the states. They’re typically twice as much as the average salary for all other occupations.
But not all coding jobs pay the same. Web developers are highly paid. But they typically receive less than software developers and database administrators. If earning a higher salary is your goal when learning to code, ensure you’re preparing yourself properly for entry into the job and position you want.
13. Minimal Time Requirement To Learn How To Code
Unlike traditional college degrees, there’s no official certification for most coding languages. If you want to get a job in tech, you only need to learn the relevant materials to become proficient and land your first job. In other words, you don’t need to study for 3-4 years.
In fact, many online and offline coding boot camps can help prepare you in as little as 3 months.
14. Strong Demand And Stability
Technology is now a part of most work environments. This includes educational institutions, hospitals, and private businesses. All of them are working with technology in one way or another, and if you know how to code, you will be in demand.
15. Great Freedom And Flexibility In Life
One of the more surprising benefits of learning to code is the freedom in HOW you work. Many businesses don’t need to hire a full-time coder. It could be because they can’t afford the cost or have enough work to justify it. This is great news if you enjoy freelancing. If your passion is creating or improving websites, there’s a huge demand for freelance web developers. The same is also true for mobile app development.
If you enjoy being your boss, working remotely, and becoming a freelancer, coding is one of the few professions that allow you to do so.
16. Job Security
Automation is inevitable. Computer AI programs can perform repetitive tasks faster and with fewer errors than a person. Data entry is just one example where automation has quickly taken over. If you’re worried about losing your job to a computer program, becoming an AI developer is a sure way to maintain your job security.
17. Get Promoted
Learning a coding skill will increase your technical knowledge and problem-solving abilities. This makes you more employable and also makes you more eligible for promotions. A senior or management position may not need the ability to code as a fundamental requirement. That being said, it certainly makes you a much more attractive option.
18. Earn More Money
Attending a bootcamp is a great way to increase your skill set and boost your chances of landing a pay rise or promotion. It will make you more attractive to external headhunters seeking highly skilled workers.
19. Versatility In The Workplace
Learning a valuable skill such as coding sends a strong signal to your employer that you’re knowledgeable about tech and can gain new skills. Showing you can go above and beyond your current scope of work will make you a valuable team member. Not relying on developers for small changes in a marketing email can save you valuable time.
Knowing how to communicate with developers, read code, fix bugs, and introduce website functionality are skills you can improve.
20. Communicate With Engineers
One of the most underrated skills needed today is communicating with engineers. Both large and small coding projects can become incredibly complicated ventures. It can be hard for engineers to explain abstract terms to the uninitiated. If you understand code, you can give more in-depth feedback regarding reporting bugs or requesting new features.
21. Analyze And Visualize Data
You don’t need to be a data scientist to analyze and visualize data. But, with a basic understanding and knowledge of programming, you can extract the data you need, organize it, filter it, and display it in an easy-to-understand format for everyone else. Python is an excellent language to learn for this type of work. It’s relatively simple compared to other languages like C++ and Java.
22. Be Able To Take On New Challenges And Projects
Learning to code does more for you than just the ability to program apps and fix bugs. You’ll gain new confidence at work to take on challenges like new projects and increase your value as an employee.
Final Word
There are plenty of reasons to code, and 22 of them are right in front of your eyes on this page!
You can learn to code for your own joy and amusement and become more well-rounded and modern.
Learning to code can also help you break into tech. Tech is undoubtedly one of the most exciting, well-paying, and stable job fields today.
Finally, learning new coding languages and frameworks is a great way to level up your career. Gifting yourself new tech skills in your tool belt is a great way to increase your confidence, boost your versatility, and make you a more valuable employee.