Everyone Can Learn to Code

“When did you learn to code?”

I get asked this a lot. It’s not really a “when” question so much as it’s a “why” question.

I’ve always been good at being able to figure stuff out. A few weeks back we bought curtains that were too long for our windows and I had to lean on skills from my 8th grade home economics class to figure out how to hem them. That’s kind of a normal thing for me. Do a little research, a little trial and error, a little asking for help, and I can figure most things out.

This has been an attribute that I’ve come to rely on. I can always figure something out. I’ve done it twice in the past 24 hours.

Why I Learned to Code

That’s essentially why I learned to code things like websites, work with servers, etc. I learned because I had to figure it out. It didn’t look that hard and the cost of creating a website was more than the little churches I worked for could afford. (They complained about the $7/month we spent on hosting the website!) As I learned more I started to fiddle around with my own stuff, then I did a lot of that when we launched YMX in 2005. And from there it just kind of took off.

I made things happen for YMX, then people started asking me for help, then I started figuring out that I should charge people for that. And then McLane Creative was born, we sold YMX to Youth Specialties in 2008, I learned more, we built stuff there, and when I left YS in 2011 I had a line of people asking for help.

To this day I have never hung out the shingle and said I was looking for help on a website.

And, right, I could easily make a lot more money building WordPress and mobile app properties with McLane Creative than I do with the Cartel if I really wanted to go after it. The only reason I don’t is missional. I wholeheartedly believe in the mission of The Youth Cartel and am dedicating all of my time to it.

Why You Should Learn to Code

Code literacy is the new literacy.

Reason #1: Understanding Your World

Whether it’s understanding the basics… HTML and CSS… or more advanced languages and syntaxes, so much of how our world operates and will operate going forward is driven by the code with runs the software which runs the devices. (From your cell phone to your fridge to your car to your coffee maker. It’s all

To understand– even the basis for how a device works and what makes things tick— is to understand the very core of modern life. When you learn the basics of coding you get a behind the scenes look at how everything technological actually works and that opens your mind to both the limitations and possibilities that are out there.

Reason #2: It’s a DIY Culture

Allow me to let you in a not-so-secret secret. All coders help other coders, even beginners. Everything I’ve learned about coding or building websites (or businesses or hemming curtains) I learned on the internet. I’ve been to a couple conferences but I’ve never taken a traditional programming course. Everything I know about all of that stuff I’ve learned because I Googled “How do I ______.” And the truth is that some of the most successful programmers/coders out there are doing the exact same thing.

I’d rather show you where to find the answers to your questions than you to pay me to do it for me. Why? Because in 2 months when you want to do something else, I don’t really want you to hire me again… I’d much rather you send me a link to your site and/or Github and say… “Dude, look what I did!”

Any time I’m approached about a project I first sniff out how much of the work they are willing to take on themselves. If it’s zero, I’m usually going to pass. And the more they are willing to do and learn, the more I get excited. That’s a core tenant of the Open Source community. We are all contributors, we are all bug fixers, we are all coders, we all have ideas, we all try stuff, we all make ourselves experts but helping one another out for the sake of making the community better.

Reason #3: There’s Unlimited Opportunity for Growth and Income if You’ll Learn to Code

I’ve already shared that the only thing holding me back from unlimited income in the WordPress world is that I’m dedicated to another mission.

This makes me think of a guy like Scott Bolinger, who has been a part of the WordPress community here in SoCal for a while, you’d bump into him at meet-ups and WordCamps, who was developing for other people and (I think) doing a bunch of freelance stuff. Then about a year ago he started working hard on this idea of connecting an existing code base for mobile apps to the core code base of WordPress. If he could figure out how to marry the two, people would pay to license that bridge and be able to launch and operate iOS and Android apps using WordPress. (WP currently runs about 20% of all internet sites.)

In December, he wrote about AppPresser becoming a product that was generating $30,000 a month in sales. I think anyone can look at that product, with limitless potential on reaching 20% of all internet websites, and go… yeah, this could easily be something generating $100,000 in monthly sales very, very soon.

I’m not saying that you can go from making $0 a month to $100,000 in a year. But I am saying that if you’ll take the time to learn some skills in coding, you can very easily teach yourself skills to do your present job better or easily go from $0 – $1000/month. Quite simply put, there are far more jobs out there for even entry level coders than there are people to do the work.

How You Can Learn to Code

I want to point you to three learning opportunities, all are free.

1. Codeacademy Hour of Code – I love what Codeacademy is doing! Take this entry-level 1-hour course on your phone or desktop… I think this should be compulsory for everyone. So far 24,000,000 have taken a free course on Codeacademy. If you know someone who is between jobs or wants to try something on the side, you can learn more there in a week than elsewhere in a year. (I do lessons when I’m bored!)
2. Harvard Open Learning Initiative – One of my favorite movie lines ever comes from Good Will Hunting. Will says, “you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a *%@*% education you coulda got for a dollah fifty in late chahges at the public library.“ Well, the school Will was referring to now offers some of their classes to anyone willing to take them for absolutely free. How do you like dem apples? 
3. Stanford on iTunes U – Stanford University, you know, the one right at the heart of the Silicon Valley, also offers online courses absolutely free to anyone willing. They were the very first to do so and I’ve learned a bunch from them about programming, specifically mobile apps. How about a lecture on Programming Methodology? It’s free. Or maybe you need some inspiration? How about a lecture series called Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders featuring guest lectures by some of the world’s premier experts? Free on iTunes if only you’ll press the subscribe button. How to Start a Start-up? You guessed it, free.

Wrap-Up

As I’ve said many times in many venues. We don’t have an unemployment problem in this country. We have an unemployable problem. If I knew the right person, right now in the right location, I’d hire them. I have several initiatives that are excellent, that’ll work, I just don’t have the right people and it drives me crazy.

But I see far too many people having skills that I don’t need and very few with skills I do need. (Or willing to learn)

Too many people think education is a barrier for them. Too many people think they don’t know the right people. Too many people think that they are too young or too old to be taken seriously. And too many people think that they can’t possibly need to know new skills because they are perfectly content doing what they are doing.

Those are all barriers between what you are doing today and your potential.

If someone is willing to learn every day, willing to be ambitious, and willing to ask for help… the American Dream is alive and well.