Programming: No longer just for technical elite

As Steve Jobs once said, “Everyone should learn how to program a computer because it teaches you how to think.”

In a world that is increasingly reliant on technology, more people outside the technical realm are heeding Job’s advice. The result is improved productivity and an overhaul of how various industries work.

Take the groundbreaking work of John Branch, for example. Branch, a sports writer for The New York Times, reveals how the architecture of journalism can be transformed through the use of programming in his innovative digital story, “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek,” which details fatal events surrounding an avalanche.

Described by Nieman as a “multimedia storytelling sensation,” the six-part series combined interactive graphics and video and earned the Pulitzer Prize, Peabody and People’s Voice Webby Award. It also demonstrated how programming could provide advanced technical components to improve the reader’s experience.

Beyond journalism, scientists are also beginning to see how programming languages help them to develop innovative solutions that improve testing processes in research labs.

According to the journal article “A Primer on Python for Life Sciences Researchers,” featured in PLOS Computational Biology, scientists with programming capabilities are interested in developing their own resolutions to fix common issues such as data manipulation, biological data retrieval and automation.

Such examples have drawn interest from those in fields less traditionally involved with such technologies. Programming is proving to become a solution for various professionals searching for ways to navigate through an increasingly digital world that demands improved technical processes.

“The majority of computing jobs today are not housed solely within the tech industry. More appropriately, every field is now a tech field and students who can work at the intersection of disciplines will be at an advantage,” said Valerie Barr, chair of the Association for Computing Machinery and its Council on Women in Computing, in an email to Inside Higher Ed.

To meet this demand, UC San Diego Extension has designed a three-day intensive Programming Fundamentals Bootcamp. The program is offered from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Tuesday-Thursday, June 7-9, 2016 at the University City Center location in San Diego. The program is designed for people with some previous programming experience and familiarity with basic concepts such as data types and functions.

A longer format online course is also available, for those with little to no experience in programming. Additionally, Extension offers certificates in C#, C/C++ and Java.

For more information about Extension’s programming language opportunities, visit its technology area of study at extension.ucsd.edu/technology.