How does coding help in entrepreneurship?

With the announcement of Make in India and Digital India program by the Prime Minister, India has seen a major boost in the entrepreneurial sector where the programming sector is getting the much-needed attention. The government is encouraging multinational companies and new ventures to boost their productivity and competitiveness by manufacturing products in India and leveraging India’s IT strength thereby decreasing dependency on imports. The coding sector holds an array of opportunities for the youngsters to contribute to nation-building through the Make in India initiative. One such example is banning 59 Chinese apps by the Government of India. Days after the ban, PM invited the start-up and tech community to participate in the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge.’ This only one of the many opportunities coding provides to aspiring entrepreneurs. Therefore, ignoring the potential of coding in entrepreneurship is a flying pig.

The capability to leverage technology is a must for entrepreneurs. One of the best ways for entrepreneurs to have a cutting edge in the current tech-fast competitive business environment is by learning to code. In any business department from accounting to sales, to procurement, technology is vital. Every product from wall fitting to your mobile apps require coding. This opens a variety of opportunities to create a niche in the market. So, as an entrepreneur, knowing the same language as your developer will make it easier to navigate the direction of your product easily. Apart from providing varieties of business opportunities, coding provides the following skills to budding entrepreneurs.

1. Team building- Differentiating good and mediocre technical talent is critical for any business. Knowing coding will help you build a streamlined and creative tech team which is the key to product development. It will help you manage and schedule product effectively.
2. Product development- With the new digital initiatives by the Government of India, new business opportunities for developing creative web applications ranging from games to grocery delivery app, coding products are as good as gold. Thus, it becomes very critical to know coding to create new products.
3. Present your ideas as working prototypes- Entrepreneurship comes with the challenges to put ideas on the table. Coding knowledge helps entrepreneurs to present their ideas and product specification as working prototypes instead of creating documents and PowerPoint presentations.
4. Honing Critical Thinking and problem-solving- Steve jobs, the founder of Apple said, “I think everybody in the country should learn how to program a computer because it teaches you how to think.” “Through coding, you learn to break down problems and think through how things fit together.” This is enough to highlight the necessity of coding for any start-up.
5. Fit into C-suite- Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Satya Nadela, and many successful CEO’s started as coders and eventually developed business model and then rest is history.

What are the potential sectors an entrepreneur targets after learning coding? Coding broadens the scope of business opportunities by enhancing the technical and interpersonal skills. Below mentioned are the few sectors one can explore with the knowledge of coding. • IT sector- Our domestic IT-BPM market is growing at an impressive CAGR of 14% and contributes 45% of the total services exported from the country. This sector is presently contributing 5 percent to the country’s GDP thus making it the first choice for entrepreneurship. • Healthcare sector- With the advent of new technologies, sensor-based biomedical devices are making the buzz in the market creating series of opportunities for entrepreneurs to contribute to healthcare and the economy. • Artists and designers- Creating your designing app or an e-commerce website for designing and selling the product is the most valuable market in the current times. • Artificial Intelligence- AI technology and processes can help businesses with both human and automated business planning and decision making. Ai market is the future and for keeping abreast with the new age technology coding is the essential skill of the current times.

The modern language of coding is so central to business life that no entrepreneur can ignore its potential. Creating entrepreneurial opportunities through coding is more about critical thinking and problem solving, which are skills that can open a multitude of career paths from helping automatic cars revolutionize transportation to creating AI-powered robots. It is no surprise that more people are deciding to do the coding, rather than get coded.