Coding is becoming a central facet of contemporary life, enabling the wonderous machines and software that helps us as we go about our personal lives and business pursuits. Learning coding has thus become more popular in recent years, particularly since it’s becoming financially lucrative to do so, but more could be done when it comes to encouraging employees of diverse backgrounds to take up coding as a hobby and business pursuit.

Here’s why all employees should eventually learn how to code, and what business managers and aspiring entrepreneurs can do to help their workforce prepare itself for the 21^st century.

Coding isn’t the future – it’s the present

First, it’s important to dispel the notion that learning coding is a long-term investment sure to pay off in the future. As a matter of fact, coding is a contemporary skill that’s also serving countless professionals in the world today – there’s no waiting involved at all, and as a matter of fact, the sooner your employees start learning how to code, the better. This is because our digitally-dominated economy prizes coding skills now more than ever, and is likely to reward companies that stock themselves full of human employees who are clever enough to have mastered their digital skills.

Coding has been justifiably labeled as the most important job skill of the future, but it’s really being gobbled up in spades by contemporary companies every day. With the rise of the internet of things and an internet-focused culture that celebrates coding both in and out of the workspace, it’s becoming essential to any modern company to employ coders not only to look up to date, but to better digitize its operations in order to stay cost-effective and competitive.

Coding isn’t just useful for tech-gurus who intend to get a job working behind a computer all day, either; it can be used by every person in the office, including those who are merely trying to communicate better with full-time coders or other IT staff members. Learning coding should essentially be viewed as learning another language, in that it helps broaden an employee’s horizons, teaches them valuable new sills, and ultimately bolsters their communication skills in way that’s beneficial to your business. Managers hoping to climb the corporate ladders may find themselves chasing coding skills soon, too.

That’s because a recent report by McKinsey & Company noted that we need at least 1.5 million managers and analyst familiar with the latest tech and how it runs if the economy is to remain efficient in the near-future. A revolution in how human beings manufacture their favorite goods and services is essentially pumping tech into every corner of the workspace across industries, meaning workers who know how these computers tick are vital, especially for companies with intensive operations that rely on complex logistical chains.

Coding is just the start

Managers and business owners interested in equipping their workforce with the skills they need to survive and thrive in the 21^st century should understand that coding is just the start of their new training regime, however. Tech-savvy employees don’t come from anywhere – they have to be delicately molded over long periods of time. That’s why you should make coding one of the central tenants of your 21^st century training regime, but continue to expand on your employee’s digital skills until they’re veritable tech gurus capable of tackling a vast array of tasks.

That’s one of the reasons companies of all shapes and sizes are resorting to innovative digital training services that are providing seriously beneficial results. Digital technologies have revolutionized training, making it easier for employees to pick up new skills while remaining in contact with their teachers in and out of the office. If your company isn’t considering offering coding courses, then, you need to consider the fact that you may be getting left in the dust by competitors who are more committed to digitizing their operations than you are.

As long as we can continue to expect the role of software to grow more important in virtually every arena of daily life, we should expect society to value coding and coders more and more. Companies interested in their long-term bottom lines understand the importance of giving their workers the opportunities they need to expand their skill sets, but we’re long-overdue for a revolution that focuses on teaching employees everywhere how to code, and how to do it well.

Soon, every worker may know just a little bit of a programming language. In tomorrow’s economy, workplaces will be veritable software workshops, regardless of which industry you’re examining. For contemporary businesses to survive and thrive in this digital world, they need to embrace coding with a newfound zeal, and fund training for their employees that turns them into digital gurus prepared to succeed in a digital economy.