Coding teaches students entrepreneurial skills required for changing work environment

Even though programming languages are constantly changing, learning to code is valuable because it teaches students how to think, try and fail, All Star Code founder and author Christina Lewis writes in EdSurge. Ultimately, the purpose of coding courses is to learn how to learn, she said.When teaching students how to code, the key is to focus on the long-term goal of creating an entrepreneurial mindset, which includes grit, creativity, comfort with ambiguity and problem-solving. Being able to maintain composure and a sense of purpose during situations of uncertainty are skills that entrepreneurs must possess. Many professions may soon require an entrepreneurial mindset, and teaching students how to build its required skills is crucial to thriving in a rapidly changing workforce. The changes are driven, in part, by the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), which is making some jobs obsolete. That doesn’t mean that there are fewer jobs, but that the work offered requires different skills. The emerging professions in the AI era are based less on understanding specific technical skills and more on trouble-shooting, problem-solving, collaborating and discovering.