By Emily Suess
Small business owners often have diverse skill sets, uniquely suiting them for the challenges of launching a new business from the ground up. For those launching a tech business—and even for those outside the tech industry—learning to code can be a valuable skill to have.
1. You can hire better, smarter people.
All small businesses use technology in some way, even if it’s just to manage mailing lists or maintain a website. If you learn to code, you learn the language of technology and you have a better understanding of what skills are required of the people you hire in tech positions. It’s important for all small businesses to hire top talent, but you have to know what you’re looking for.
2. You learn a new language.
When you learn computer coding, you are actually learning a new language, and new languages give you new and more informed perspectives from which you can make future decisions about the direction of your company. You can listen to experts translate the message, or you can understand inherently how technology is changing the small business market.
3. You increase your own value within your business.
When you learn to code, you are adding resources to your talent pool. In the beginning of a small business launch, money and talent are almost always scarce commodities. Think about how helpful it would be to know some coding basics. Instead of interrupting your IT team while they develop a new product, your coding knowledge would enable you to complete a small web update or make a small website change. Knowing how to code ensures that your small business never misses a beat.
4. You’ll be a better product manager.
Launching websites, creating new mobile apps, developing and innovating programs—all of these projects require effective project management. Unless you understand the time, resources, creativity, and teamwork required for great technology, you will be ill-prepared to oversee product development.
Learning to code gives you a better understanding of digital development, meaning you’ll have more realistic goals for your tech employees and contractors. You’ll have more respect for your team and they’ll have more respect for you—that’s definitely a win-win situation.
5. You’ll learn to think more critically.
Learning to code is a great way to train yourself to think more critically. And, when it comes to making business decisions, critical thinking skills are essential. Coding gives you skills that help you make better decisions under fire by training you to see the bigger picture and solve problems logically.
6. It’s always good to learn something new.
Learning for the sake of learning is a good thing! Even if you don’t learn coding, you owe it to yourself to be a perpetual learner. I recommend coding because it provides a seemingly unending number of opportunities for improving yourself.
Are you excited about the possibility of learning to code? There are free, self-guided resources to help you get started today including, Codecademy, Udacity, Coursera and others.
Do you already know how to code? How has it helped you and your business?
