Why Individuals Should Learn to Code

Andrew Ng argues that individuals should learn to code. This post presents the argument that learning to code increases individuals’ abilities to become a “10x professional” – an individual with 10 times the impact of the average person in their field.

Artificial Intelligence
Education
Productivity
Author

Lam Fu Yuan, Kevin

Published

March 16, 2025

  1. In Learn the Language of Software, Andrew Ng argues that individuals should “learn to code”.

  2. First, individuals want to be 10x professionals or “individuals who have 10 times the impact of the average person in their field”.

  3. Second, individuals who do have “the ability to tell a computer exactly what [they] want, so it can do that for [them]” are more likely to be 10x professionals as compared to individuals who do not have the ability:

A 2023 Harvard/BCG study estimated that, provided with GPT-4, consultants could complete 12% more tasks, and completed tasks 25% more quickly. This was just the average, using 2023 technology. The maximum advantage to be gained by using AI in a sophisticated way will be much bigger, and will only grow as technology improves.

  1. Third, individuals who have the ability to either “code” or “get AI to code for [them]” are the most likely to have the ability to tell a computer exactly what they want, so it can do that for them.

  2. Fourth, individuals who do have the ability to code are more likely to be 10x professionals as compared to individuals who do not have the ability to code (see [3]-[4]).

  3. Last, if [2] and [5], then [1]. Therefore, individuals should learn to code.