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Please gather a summary of information, references, anecdotes, and reasons/motivations on the trend of more and more professionals learning to code/web development, and strengthening their professional arsenal or boosting/shifting their careers in the process; particularly, media, marketing, product, and journalism professionals.
Hello, and thank you for your question regarding the trend of more and more professionals learning to code to strengthen their professional arsenal or to boost or shift their careers.
The short version is that although coding has been around for quite some time, and was something originally used only by computer programmers, it is now becoming more and more necessary to know in today's technological world. This is driving more people to learn to code to advance their careers. Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
We focused on media/digital product professionals, marketing professionals, and journalists in the United States as requested.
METHODOLOGY
We scoured user forums, review sites, trusted media sites, academic databases and industry reports covering the wide range of who is learning to code, why they are learning to code, and how this can further one's career, especially in the world of media, digital and marketing professionals and journalists in the United States. Quotes and anecdotal stories have also been included as requested.
THE ORIGINAL CODING LANGUAGE
Coding has come a long way from the development of the original coding language, Fortran in 1954. This “helped open the door to modern computing.” Before the development of Fortran, computers were understood exclusively by programmers.
THE MOST SOUGHT AFTER PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES TODAY
According to the job site, Indeed, as of March 2017, the most sought after programming language is Java with 36,435 job listings. This is followed by JavaScript with 28,885 listings, then PHP with 24,358 listings. Although Ruby is missing from the top ten list of most sought after programming languages, (bar graph #3), due to a 26 percent increase in jobs in a four-month period, based upon a search for "Ruby developer", Ruby is definitely one to watch throughout 2017.
THE MOST USED PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES TODAY
Another graph, (bar graph #1), shows the top twenty most used programming languages. This was determined by GitHub pushes. JavaScript tops the list with 3,461,415 pushes, followed by Java with 2,323,315, then CSS with 1,810,013. Following are Python with 1,652,226, PHP with 1,391,467, then Ruby with 1,106,259. As you can see, although Ruby did not make the list as one of the most sought after languages, it is in the top six for most used languages.
CODING: THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB SKILL OF THE FUTURE
Researchers have found, after broadening their scope to include coding skills across five different job categories, that half of the programming openings are not in the field of technology, such as Finance, Manufacturing, and Healthcare. There are 7 million job openings in 2015 for occupations that require coding skills. Upon broadening their search, researchers included: Information Technology (IT) worker, Data Analyst, Artists/Designers, Engineers and Scientists in their search. According to Glassdoor, out of 25 jobs this year, 8 are tech positions.
"Coding has become a core skill that bolsters a candidate’s chances of commanding a high salary. Burning Glass researchers found that jobs that require coding skills pay up to $22,000 per year more, on average".
JOURNALISTS AND CODING
Although this article was written by a reporter in Australia, Hannah Sinclair, her story can be applied worldwide as to why journalists are learning to code. With the publishing mechanism of the future being the Internet, many journalists have different reasons for wanting to learn how to code. Some want to create their own apps, and some want to be more innovative when telling stories.
The author wanted to challenge herself by learning a new skill, so when the Walkley Foundation offered journalists an opportunity to learn to code, she, as well as 100 other journalists, applied for the 10-week course.
So what did she learn from this venture? In her words, "Firstly, that coding is very difficult and highly frustrating. Professional programmers are paid six-figure salaries for a good reason. Coding is tedious, requires extreme attention to detail and often leaves you feeling at your wits’ end. But it can also be extremely rewarding".
Another article from Brazil can also be applied to journalists worldwide. The Google News Lab lead for Brazil and Latin America, Marco Túlio Pires, says that knowing coding basics is becoming a necessity for journalists who work with data. He recommends Python because it is easy to learn. Knowing how to code can help journalists tackle challenging jobs, such as those with "massive data sets".
A ProPublica team created software in 2013, the ProPublica app. This app analyzed content that was censored on Sina Weibo, a Chinese social media site. After monitoring 100 accounts over the course of 12 days, it was found that censors had deleted over 5 percent of their posts. This is a good example of driving an investigation by using coding.
CODING IN MEDIA, DIGITAL, AND MARKETING
In a 2016 New Coder Survey, 15,000 people participated, giving their reasons for learning to code. Of the over 15,000 participants, 21% were women, the median age was 27, they started coding on average of 11 months before the survey, 28% already have a developer job.
When asked the reason they wanted to learn to code, 40% of the participants wanted to either freelance or start their own business.
When asked what roles they would be interested in, the majority chose Web Developers over other developer roles. The top three resources they used to learn to code, are Free Code Camp at 72%, Codecademy at 63% and Coursera at 32%. Only a quarter of them listened to coding podcasts. "954 respondents have attended one of more than 125 coding boot camps", with more than half landing developer jobs after attending boot camp. 44% of the participants are citizens of the United States, and 58% have earned at least a bachelor's degree.
According to the US Bureau of Statistics: 2016 Median Pay, $79,840 per year, $38.39 per hour. Typical Entry-Level Education is a Bachelor's degree. It reports an -8% (Decline) in the Job Outlook, 2014-2024 because "computer programming can be done from anywhere in the world, so companies sometimes hire programmers in countries where wages are lower". Which means that the number of computer programmer jobs is in decline, however, coding and programming are merging with other jobs such as journalism.
Key findings in this report are: Jobs requiring coding skills pay $22,000 more per year. Coding skills provide an avenue to high-income jobs with half of the jobs making over $57,000 per year. Programming jobs are growing 50% faster than the overall market.
•11.3% got their first coding jobs within a year of first learning how to program.
•36.9% learned to program between one and four years before beginning their careers as developers.
•13.1% of developers are actively looking for a job.
•75.2% of developers are interested in hearing about new job opportunities.
•12.3% are Designer or Illustrators
•7.5% are Product managers
•5.3% are C-suite executives
•3.1% are Marketing or Sales managers
•2.9% are working but have learned to code less than a year ago.
ENTREPRENEURS AND CODING
For the entrepreneur who wishes to grow their business and keep up with the growing field of technology, learning to code can help in the following ways,
•Speak the language of tech: To work effectively with technology, one needs to learn their language. By understanding this, an entrepreneur will make better-informed business decisions.
•Talent evaluation: When looking for a chief technology developer or talented developer for your business, you will have a better understanding of what to look for if you know how to code.
•Product development: Coding will help you relate to your tech team, especially during the development process.
•Getting your hands dirty: When resources are tight, and small changes are needed, you will have the confidence and ability to do this without disrupting your tech team.
•Nurturing critical thinking: As the CEO of a company, coding will help you make critical decisions as it will enable you to face problems logically by breaking them down into pieces, thus making your business run smoother.
Daniel Thompson, founder of software development firm D4 Software, says, "For companies outside of the tech sector, coding knowledge might not be vital, but it can be a huge productivity boost, for example, being able to automate an IT process using code will save you a lot of time from having to do it manually."
The co-founder of Fount, Evan Leong, believes that regardless of your specific role, learning to code “will vastly increase your potential in becoming a valuable asset at any organization.”
9 NON-CODING JOBS WHERE YOU'LL STAND OUT IF YOU CAN CODE
2. Instructional Designer
3. Project Manager
4. Product Manager
5. User Experience(UX) Designer
6. User Interface(UI) Designer
7. Marketing Coordinator
8. Analytics Associate
9. Growth Hacker
BILL GATES, MARK ZUCKERBERG, AND RICHARD BRANSON
Successful entrepreneurs, such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, coding is a skill that is critically needed in the 21st century. In an article written by Jillian Youngblood, she tells how learning to code led to a fulfilling, fun, and lucrative career. The demand for women in programming jobs is high, this made Jillian, the writer of this source, a great candidate in the growing tech scene in New York City. Although she didn't love coding, she learned JavaScript, Ruby, and CSS. She got a contract offer, before her program ended, to make an education search site mobile-friendly. "Within a few months, it turned into what I realized I had wanted all along: a full-time PR and marketing position at a tech startup", says Youngblood.
Richard Branson, another undisputed successful entrepreneur, states, "Whether we're fighting climate change or going to space, everything is moved forward by computers, and we don't have enough people who can code".
CELEBRITIES WHO HAVE LEARNED TO CODE
"If we want to spur job growth in the US we have to educate ourselves in the disciplines where jobs are available and where economic growth is feasible".
"Whether you want to uncover the secrets of the universe, or you just want to pursue a career in the 21st century, basic computer programming is an essential skill to learn".
"I think it's very important to be able to learn the language of coding and programming".
"Coders change the world. They build new, amazing things faster than ever before. Anyone with imagination can learn to write code".
Other celebrities that know coding are:
•Jimmy Fallon (he considered working at IBM). Fallon attended Albany's College of Saint Rose, studying computer science. He eventually dropped out to pursue comedy.
•Will.i.am (front man for the Grammy Award-winning group the Black Eyed Peas), he wanted to learn to code, so he did and formed the non-profit organization, "code.org" with Chris Bosh.
•Justine Bateman, who is best know as an actress, also decided to learn to code and plans to possibly start her own technology company after graduating from UCLA.
•Even fashion model Karlie Kloss (a former Victoria's Secret Angel), is passionate about computer programming and coding. Kloss posts videos on Instagram of her coding and has created a scholarship for girls who are interested in coding. Kloss quotes, “It doesn’t matter if you’re a fashion model or high school student, understanding code is so important because it’s the language that runs our world!”
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, regardless of your field, coding is a very important part of our future. It has become a core skill that boosts a candidate’s chances of commanding a high salary. Coding is no longer something that is only necessary in the tech world. Designers, Marketers, Journalists and many other non-tech jobs are finding value in knowing how to code.
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