I teach computer science at Montana State University. I am the father of three sons who all know I am a computer programmer and one of whom, at least, has expressed interest in the field. I love computer programming and try to communicate that love to my sons, the students in my classes and anyone else who will listen.
A question I am increasingly getting from relatives, friends and students is:
Given AI, should I still consider becoming a computer programmer?
My response to this is: “Yes, and…”
The idea that everyone should code is silly but like anything if you are good at it and enjoy it then do it. Now I would say do as much math as you can handle and take an elementary logic class along with class that goes through major philosphical thought if you can. Also liberal arts is good for a broad education although large colleges with stadium classes to fill reqs is not so great.
IMO in the same way everyone learns arithmetic but doesn’t necessarily go into mathematics or finance, I think everyone should learn basic logic and coding, enough to basically use spreadsheet formulas, which is a half step away functional programming. (I’m pretty sure Excel even supports named functions and lambdas)
im 100% on elementary logic as it has very braod value across domain. Some majors in my college had reqs that was math or computer science which makes sense to me. I do feel that before people learn coding in general the initial classes should introduce flowcharting as well.