I used to teach programming to non-CS students. I realized that the most important thing was to figure out how to motivate them. Programming is not something you can learn “casually”, you need a strong will and the ability to endure stressful times.
I had to study programming simply because it was my major. However, it’s not that easy to convince people to study programming when they have their own study area or job which is not directly related.
So I organized several reasons why people should learn programming.
1. It‘s a trend.
The first reason is very simple and clear. I assume we all agree that the most popular companies are IT related these days.
Interestingly, I am currently studying in Norway. Petroleum engineering was the most popular major until a couple years ago. It was a study guaranteeing a job. However, after a couple oil crises, this major faced the moment when there were fewer applicants than available spots. (This industry is recovering now by the way.)
In 1980, as you can see, the oil industry was the mainstream, but in 2018 the top-4…
