Image from Flickr user DeltaMike
FreeCause is teaching all 60 of its employees to write code. I don’t think this make sense for every company (very few things make sense for EVERY company). But here are some things the article made me thing of that you might want to consider.
How Important is Software to Your Company?
If software is a significant differentiator for your company – either part of the product or something critical to your competitive advantage – then you might consider doing this as a way to develop the right corporate culture.
Learning Sparks Communication
I have a hunch that a big part of the benefit this company will see is not from employees learning how to code but from the activity of having their tech people mentor the non-techies through the process. That kind of interaction and communication of how different groups see the world is something that really cements the interaction between different parts of the company. Perhaps you could adapt it to other areas of learning in your company. Maybe everyone should learn to sell, or how to read a financial statement or write clearly or use a spreadsheet.
Coding is a way of Thinking – so is Design.
The ability to write code hinges on a way of thinking. You look at the data in terms of inputs, outputs and algorithms. That kind of thinking is valuable in many areas besides writing code.
In some ways the “opposite” of the ability to code is the ability to design: it’s creative, and based on narrative and emotion. This article is about when designers and MBAs were put in a contest to solve business problems, the designers beat the MBAs hands down. Maybe everyone in your company should learn about design as well as how to code.
