7 Reasons you should not learn coding just to get a job.

Many people in the world are slowly getting to the world of computer programming, some going to school to learn programming, some going to bootcamps and others are learning online. All these people have ambitions that are fueled by different reasons and motivations, some want to become computer literates, others want to be programmers and work at startups or open their own startups. I personally support the decision to learn this type of craft as there are many benefits to learning how to program computers, and it’s not the ability to fix laptops and printers , but it’s your ability to build programs that would be able to do those tasks for you.

Even though I’m actively aiming to help where I can and share my experience and knowledge, I get very disappointed when I hear someone that is only learning to code just to get a six figure job, I believe that shouldn’t be the main reason you learn to code, or the reason people are attracted to code. There are many schools and or bootcamps that say “Learn to code and get a job in 6 months”. That pains me because it sets unrealistic expectations. Even though you can grasps the basics of a language in 6 months but you will not be good enough to get a job, let alone keep it.

That should not be the reason a person learns programming or any skill whatsoever. So I am going to cover the reasons why I think you should not learn programming just to get a job.

7 reasons you should not learn coding just to get a job.

1. A job is a serious life decision.

Getting a job is a life long decision, and yes you can quit half way through your career when you realise it’s not for you, but by then you have wasted years of your life pursuing a career that wasn’t for you.

Programming is hard and in a job you will be expected to get better at it everyday, and if it’s not something you are passionate about you will inevitably quit and by then 5 years have gone and now you have to start afresh or continue living an unhappy life going through an unhappy career.

2. Getting a job is half the battle, keeping the job is the other.

Although some companies are willing to take people with zero experience and teach them to become experienced programmers, If your sole purpose was to get paid then you will become replacable and someone who is passionate will take your place, and this is because once you start getting the money you were chasing you will become complacent and lazy and that is when someone better than you will come in and take your hard earned job.

3. Your ability to consistantly learn a language is based on luck.

When you are looking through the job market and you see “C++ developer needed” and you decide to learn C++ and you spend 6 months learning, when you feel confident enough in your newly earned skills you go back to the market and now you find out there is no longer demand for C++ developers, they are now looking for “Python developers”, and since your only goal is to get a job you go back and start learning python and the cycle continues, you wake up one day you’ve tried learning 5 languages in two years, you’ve forgotten the other 4 and still you don’t have a job to show for it.

Learning programming because you love it, in the long run will benefit you because you get the chance to consistantly learn and become good with one language, even when there’s no demand in the job market for that particular language, but by working on it you become really good and opportunities will start knocking on your door and work will come to you.

4. Programming requires determination and an unmatched motivation.

The truth bootcamps don’t tell you is that you are going to give up, programming is hard and it never gets easier but you need to get tougher and that’s where determination and a strong will comes in.

If you are doing it because you love it then you will be able to dig deep and find motivation and nothing will demotivate you to the point of giving up, you are going to keep trying and you will eventually succeed in your career. But that won’t work if you are just trying to get a job, everytime you are rejected from a job you will slowly break and one day give up completely, and do something easier.

5. You may soon feel forced to learn new concepts about programming.

Companies are always evolving and looking to implement new technologies, and if you were initially after the pay, it is at this point of improvement that you will really suffer and feel like you are being overworked and you will become cumbersome, because no one likes to be forced to do something they don’t like doing.

The pay will now seem not enough unlike if you learned programming because you loved it, then learning new concepts will always rejuvenate you and you will always be interested on the new challenges that come your way.

6. You don’t become ambitious enough.

When you learn programming you should have big ambitions and getting a job is not ambitious enough, maybe in short term true but what about long term? Someone is going to replace you and you are going to look back at the process you had to go through to get that safe job and you will be discouraged.

If you have a family member or friend that owns a tech company who is going to take you in, then you are one of the lucky ones. But if you don’t want everything you do to be based on luck then you have to forget about what job you are going to do and start thinking about what kind of work are you going to simplify, because companies spend a lot of money to find people who are going to make them their money back not spend some more of it.

7. You lose your sense of innovation.

I’m not saying learning something so you can get a job is bad, all I’m saying is we need to dream big and become ambitious, learn programming because you want to change the world around you and make an impact.

That is not possible though if you just want to get your check and survive. That way you are killing your innovativeness, all the ideas you could come up with are hidden behind your lack of passion. Because trust me you cannot fake love programming it’s either you are in or out, and when you don’t know where you stand you are going to be spit out everytime.

Conclusion

Programming is one field where people who push through are fewer than the people who quit, because it can get unbearably hard. If your intension is to learn and make a change then that dream alone will keep you going, but if your aim is to make money then you will soon find out money is not worth the tears and hard labour that comes with programming.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t try learning to code, but change your thinking and set bigger goals, think of things that will motivate you, even when you are at the verge of failure.

Happy Learning!!