I started life in college as a Computer Science and graphic design major. You’d never know, given my total ineptitude with a computer these days, that I used to be a software developer. Thing is, technology changes so fast and what actually kicked my ass was the math, not the functions and semicolons. I worked briefly for a major manufacturer of cable and wire, and developing more efficient algorithms for sag and tension held all the ease and joy for me of getting my skull drilled. My nerd skillz only run so deep.
That said, I spent almost a decade working in the industry. I wrote code, built web pages, monkeyed with databases, and even spent some time as a project manager. For someone who claims to be “totally right-brained” I did okay in that world for awhile there, and frankly it taught me a great deal I wouldn’t have learned otherwise. Our entire society revolves around information and technology these days. I may not understand the intimate inner-workings of AL THE THINGS any longer (if I ever did) but typically I have at least a fuzzy grasp. Gun to my head, I could muddle through. When my computer recently got riddled with malware, I managed to get rid of it on my own without having to wait for my husband to come home and fix it for me. Took me a solid afternoon, but I did it (All the while, cursing the asshole nerdlingers who created that shit in the first place. Get a real job and stop trying to steal my kids’ food by way of my credit card numbers, dickheads. I hate these people. Sorry.). Now, when I can afford to do so I still call somebody like Syd Gill for my technology needs because she’s better and faster than I am. But still, I can pull out those tools if I need to, even if the knowledge is rusty.
Anyway, someone (I think it was an author buddy) sent me this video, and it does indeed contain some thought-provoking commentary. We should all know how to code. At least a little. It’s pretty fascinating stuff, really. Getting in there and compiling a program, and having it do what you tell it to. I started out thinking I’d never get the hang, that I just didn’t have what it took. But really, I think we all do. At it’s most basic, it’s just learning another language. Something to think about: