Engineers have a very mutual relationship with numbers. You can say that they’re indispensably connected to each other, as all engineering tasks seem to have some form of data in them. However, whether both can work together successfully ultimately depends on the individual’s ability to obtain, understand, and convert data appropriately to make it truly useful and easier to understand for its users.
Typically, an engineer handles large amounts of data in their daily work, which can make the translation and implementation process such an uphill task. This is where coding knowledge can come into play. The ability to code algorithms into computer programs can make your tasks significantly easier by helping you manage unstructured data faster and more efficiently.
Below are some of the reasons why learning how to code can be good for your engineering career:
1. Improvement Of Your Logical Thinking
Learning and writing code requires logical thinking. You need to consider an efficient route from input to the outcome and consider the barriers and difficulties, including the identification of potential errors. This can be one of the keys to becoming a successful engineer because the regular use of logical operations can strengthen your logical thinking capacity. Eventually, it’ll train you to analyze a situation better, create an appropriate plan to address current issues, and propose logical solutions for new problems.
By creating computer programs to automate data processing, you can work faster than you can manually. If you know how to code, you can significantly cut down your usual process times, shortening months to just days, depending on the programs you can create.
2. Increase In Your Confidence As A Professional
Logical, analytical, and statistical skills are some of the areas that improve over time as you create better codes. The way you look at problems will become more structured as you also consider all the outcomes when you plan solutions, giving you more confidence in the way you present your ideas when needed.
When the time comes that you have to prove the viability of your plans, you can be confident in your ability to rationalize them with ease. This is because you won’t just be relying only on theoretical knowledge, but also your actual ability to create a solution that actually works based on your experience.
3. Enhanced Creativity In Finding Solutions
Down the road, you’ll start to notice that although there’s no one solution for everything, there are many ways to solve a problem. In addition, you’ll also have an enhanced capability to evaluate solutions and compare their effectiveness before implementation. You’ll no longer be afraid to change your mind or rethink your approach when needed, and even seek suggestions to get the best solutions possible. Eventually, this’ll improve your creativity, or the way you approach problems, which can help you tackle more challenging problems in the future.
Coding knowledge will place you above your colleagues in terms of finding solutions more creatively. You don’t have to limit yourself on basic data analysis and implementation tools, which everybody else is using. You can even break mental and physical limitations to find a solution through processes like data cleansing, or writing a new program altogether.
4. Better Understanding Of Processes
Instead of just sitting on the sidelines, you can actively participate in making programs for your department. When there are in-house or outsourced programmers working on your department’s main codes, it’ll be easier to learn and understand the codes, even if not entirely.
Being involved will also help you better understand the processes you’re using. These are things such as the input required, what the process does, and the desired outcome. It’ll become easier for you to tell when the functions are not running as they should, or if you’re headed in the right direction.
5. It Takes You Out Of Your Comfort Zone
Coding is complex, and it gets more difficult as you get deeper. You’ll need to learn to push through even when you don’t want to. As you know more, you’ll challenge yourself to do things that you normally wouldn’t. It’ll keep your mind from being stuck in a box, and will instead turn you into some kind of explorer or problem-solver.
Coding consists of numerous languages, methods, programs, and functions for different purposes. But you don’t have to learn everything, you can leave that to the programmers. You only need to understand how it works, and what can make or break it.
Concluding Thoughts
There’s no time limit when it comes to learning a new skill or enhancing what you already have. You can start to learn coding no matter what level you’re at in your career as an engineer. You can take advantage of resources available online, including coding boot camps. Discover what aspects of your work your new skill can help you with. You’re not really looking to be an expert programmer to add value to your existing career. But if you can become an expert, then all the better!
The job market is constantly changing and shifting towards people with skills that go beyond their educational background. In a market full of qualified engineers, what can make you stand out from the rest? And what value can you bring to the table in each project? Adding programming to your engineering career will help you adapt to the rising technological needs in the job market. The feeling of creating a program that can really make a difference in your daily work tasks can be more fulfilling than you can imagine.
