Why Marketing and BD Professionals Should Learn to Code

Perhaps this is self-serving, but I completely agree. If you plan to be in the software business, it pays to know a little bit of what your business is built on.<p>The best way to learn how to code is to pick a small project, build it and deploy. With app stores galore (Google Chrome, Apple, Android) there are plenty of interesting opportunities for small applications to get your feet wet. I wouldn't worry about making the next big thing. Pick something fun and ship it.<p>I personally would start with a scripting language and build some cool games with it. I personally would recommend starting with Lua and using Corona (<a href="http://www.anscamobile.com/corona/" rel="nofollow">http://www.anscamobile.com/corona/</a>) to get started. This will give you an application that is easy to build and deploy across multiple platforms.

I agree with most of this. I work in marketing and knowing Excel better than most (hardly coding I know) and a little bit of VBA and I get a lot of efficiencies where others can't. I'm now leaning some basic web programming at the moment. It helps open the mind to what can be done which in turn should make me a better marketeer when it comes to making plans. Plus it is good to know if engineers are being asked to do too much or if someone is just work shy... when invariably we ask people to do too much.<p>On the flip side I think it would be great for the engineers to spend some time in marketing and close up that divide to work better together. Often I see both sides try to keep each other out other their business when much value can be had when marketing gels with engineering.

I think knowing how to code helps marketing more than just scripting.<p>When drafting contracts I apply the DRY principle, modularize sections, and focus on clarity and meaningful names for section headings.<p>When planning strategy I look at the whole structure of the market, which required analytical thinking not unlike system architecture.<p>Moreover most of the high powered marketing is distribution which is almost all code these days.<p>Engineering + marketing = big money.

This blog entry makes me want to write a similar entry: "Why coders should try their hand at marketing and BD." The subtitle would be "A real life lesson in understanding your customer base."

Good stuff, I particularly like #6. As marketer, knowing some programming has come in handy when working with technical folks who occasionally come down with a case of tunnel vision.<p>I would also add:<p>- Agency Management - Whether its calling your agency on BS or knowing how to use firebug to quickly diagnose a site problem, it definitely has saved me. (Recently I called a disgruntled web designer out about not using font-face and he has been much easier to get along with since)<p>- A focused approach - Since I have started to learn programming I noticed that I apply programming principles to (rather mundane) tasks that take up a lot of time but often go overlooked. For example, when programming and creating variable names I make them as specific as possible, so if someone else was working on my code they would know exactly what it is. A simple concept to most people on HN but its something often overlooked by non-programmers. Open up an excel file from marketing person and you will often be left scratching your head.<p>As for tools for learning to code, recently I have seen lots of places talk about codecademy, but most leave out CodeSchool.com. Definitely recommended - it's been a been a huge help for me and gotten me to the point where I am ready to take it to the next level (hopefully @ Hungry Academy).

I think there's a huge difference between the kind of "coding" being discussed here and the work of an actual software developer. That said, if coding simply means having some familiarity with the concepts of computer programming, then I think it definitely makes sense for those people who are interested to partake!

For DBA's should be a must, for automation purposes, backups, custom reports, etc, etc...<p>And for Marketing it's just kind of scary... some of those guys start by saying: "I know how to program and that feature could be ready in a day or a couple of hours"

The marketing people I know would make terrible programmers. It's an issue of attitude.

As a "businessperson" that does some light coding on the side for fun (mostly scientific programming), I really appreciate the author's argument.<p>Unfortunately, it's difficult to find organizations that know how to make the most use out of those skills (outside of the start-up community, and even within the start-up community it's surprisingly rare to find job postings for BD folks that mention relevant/valuable coding skills).

Coders should also learn marketing and BD skills.

Not being able to code will be, in 10 years, like not being able to parallel park. People will look at you like, "Really?"