The field of computer science is incredibly broad these days with technology accelerating quickly in almost every way. It’s likely that more than half of the low paying jobs will be automated within coming years and decades. As someone who has always been interested in creative pursuits, such as art, music, and wood working, programming seemed like the natural next step if I wanted to modernize that creativity.
While many tasks in programming will yield practical and functional results, it takes some amount of novelty to get there. Someone has to write the code, and make it elegant. There’s never down time as a software developer. You’re always trying to come up with new ways to do something more accurately, faster, and better. It’s because it’s ever changing and fast paced that it appeals to me as the ultimate challenge and a way to use what I consider useful skills I’ve picked up in practical, creative, and positive ways.
There’s never going to be a time when software development isn’t useful. The train has sailed for the technologies of the past. People will never think it’s faster to copy books by pen and paper anymore. While some jobs might be obsolete in the future, or replaced with other means, software development is useful down to the lowest level of development in any given technologically focused area. If you understand the concepts of computer programming, and the logic behind them, you can help further technological growth by applying the logic to a necessary task.
There are many reasons to learn software development, but primarily among them is the personal challenge, the futuristic vision for the world, and the appreciation for creative thought it takes to do it. These are my reasons, but one could make any number of good arguments for pursuing software development.