Questions

I recently started a marketing consulting company, and boy, is it growing. I am in a position where I am going to start scaling. I get frustrated because some of my clients need technical things done that I can't do. I am exceptional on the business/client development/marketing/results side, and I am maxed out, working 16 hour days to support the growth I'm dealing with. Is it a waste of time for me to learn to code, or will learning this skill still add value?

I disagree. Familiarity with programming and other IT topics is a huge advantage in the 21st century, no matter what your role is.

Lack of direct experience will hamper many aspects of anyone's professional career -- more and more as the years tick past. Strategic decisions will go awry. Tasks will be outsourced to the wrong people. We won't really know what to look for when hiring. And evaluating performance will be next to impossible. Most importantly, we won't know what questions to ask; and IT-specific problems will seem to come out of nowhere.

It's impossible to be conversant in all programming languages or stay abreast of all technological developments. That's even true for the CTOs.

Busy as we are, I'd suggest allotting some of your spare time to learn the fundamentals of coding, as well as other IT topics that impinge on what you do.

Yes, it will eat up some hours. No, you won't be able to do the work yourself. But it will help you talk to the folks you need and understand a little bit of what they're saying.


Answered 10 years ago

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