Article No: 002 : Why Code? Written By Hankx - Haji Alusine Nyanda
Kawah -HankxArticle

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Why Code?

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The human brain just loves mental challenges, as also in the
case of Body Building - when you dont use it ,you'll loose it".
Do not allow your brain "muscles" to get atrophy!
Because the brain loves to be bombarded with cognitive and
other mental exercises ;these exercises help the
brain to develop resilience as they condition the mind
to think in an objective and logical way.

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Reason 2: Boost Your Resume'

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Having advanced ICT skills ,is a great boost to anyone's Resume'
- irrespective of one's academic qualifications.
Nowadays all modern offices are equipped with computers
and gadgets ; that require some "tech savvyness" inorder to operate .
Therefore knowing having ICT skills is a must ,but having the
ability to code is a Big Plus !
As you can find innovative ways to solve common problems
and increase productivity - ( which in turn reduces cost and
time wastage ,thereby allowing you to work smarter,faster Not harder !

Case Study 1(One) :

I have a friend that studied Bsc. Environmental Management and Quality Control (EMQC) ,
but also took an extra course on Geographic Information Systems -Gis using ArcGis Suite ,he
tried his best to get certified for it.
Fast-forward several years later ,after
graduation , it was'nt easy for him to find a job in his area of study i.e EMQC,
but fortunately he applied ( using his GIS Certificate) for a job offer at a new
BioEnergy Company.And Viola, he was accepted as the GIS officer for that company.
Please note that ,he did get the job mainly due to his GIS Certificate.

Qoute - " The harder you work ,the Luckier you become !..." Believe What you want ,but people that PUT IN THE HARD WORK ALWAYS SEEMS TO BE luckier !

Reason 3 :Coding Improves Productivity

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Case 2 :

Here at HankTech & WebMasters - a Subsidiary of Hankx Tech and Cyber Security Consultantcy ,
we use an Automated Employee Register (AER) : that uses facial recognition
and artificial intelligence (AI) that automatically logs every team member's time of
arrival,time of departure etc and its also flags Absentees.
Our AI systemrequires no human input once set up and cannot be
falsified as in the case of a traditional log Book - manned by a secretary.
Consequently this helps to keep our employees /team members

Minimal ,manageable and accountable, viz all hallmarks of a highly produvtive team.
The Ai has been trained to observe and report any irregular attendance behavioral patterns.
At Hankx Webmasters (HWM) We try our best to uphold the Principle of not
replicating duties and tasks - In order to increase FOCUS and prevent confusion and Chaos.
Therefore we had to develop and deploy this AI tool by ourselves ,becaue the cost of similar Commercial Software Packages
is Prohibitively And NEEDLESSLY expensive - therefore we created our own using
our collective CODING SKILLS! Kinda Super kool and Geeky if you ask me...it was fun though !

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Reason 4 : Improves And Enables Creativity For Diyers
And Electronics Hobbyists.

More Fun Projects ,For Nerds and Geeks.

Since I (Hankx) was young,I have always been passionate about
innovation,creativity,repair
,modify things -esp. eclectronics gadgets.
At one time I wanted to make a Water level detector
for our water well.
As always I did some research and discovered that ; I'll need
some sensors and Microcontrollers(MCUs).
But most importantly I should have some Computer Programming
skills inorder to "talk" with and control the MCUs.
This was one of the reasons why I started to Learn Coding.
At that time I did notnhave a Personal computer .
I had been given " Cpp for Dummies" by a friends father( Mr Solomon Villa ).
Reader pls note that ,at that time I did not have a personal computer,therefore
I usually go to a cyber-cafe (year 2005 )
called "FrontLine Cafe @ Hannah Becker-Coker Street,Brookfields.

I practiced mostly what is called "Dry Coding" - learning
visualization and imagining stuff and abstract concepts!
So much fun I had Reading " Cpp for Dummies.." and curled up in my
favorite armchair, with my book ,was my daily reverie/"escape-zone".
Years later when I had a Pc on my own;
I then realized that I had "playfully" mastered most Object Oriented Programming (OOP) concepts
all by self ! ~ mind u many University computer science students find
many of these High-level programming concepts hard to digest.
( No Self flattery intended just the facts )

I later applied my coding skills to control,programme
Arduinos,Beagle Bones,and later on RaspBerry Pi for fun projects
( These Mini Computer I had a loving relatves ordered and ship to Me! )

hank Qoute: " " Fun" sometimes mean solving real life challenges".

For example creating a Security Alarm System ... tracking livestock in rural areas
coding Just brings the Creativity outta you So "Just CodeIt !"

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Reason 5 : Job Security And Diverse Income Stream

Qoute : "Adapt or Die" Anon

When you look at how rapidly the world is changing and developing
techological- wise ;
After the Covid -19 pandemic hit,many 'traditional' jobs were lost
,but those of the software developer,Web developer ,
graphic designers and Cybersec was Secured and actually
demand increased for IcT professionals, since there is hardly any
aspect of human life that does not depend on computers nowadays.

Consequently also more jobs were available online and remote work is now trending.
As conventional jobs are being phased out gradually but surely by machines,
robots and Artificial intelligence - Knowing how to code will surely keep you
abreast with this rapid global change!

is as secured as " Donald Trump's tax returns statement-
than that of most fields ,some developers
even have a more flexible option of working Remote ,
part-time and multiple jobs simultaneaosly.
At Hankx Tech we are currently developing
BlockcChain Trading Platform for LDCs -least developed
countries ie the global "south" if you like.
We are now planning to launch our pilot project in Sierra Leone soonest.

Hankx Qoute: " Dont be a Ludite- embrace technological Changes! "

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Reason 6 : Diversify Income Stream And Reduce Vulnerability Context

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It is nice to be specialized in any given field
,but also being good or better in another unrelated field
or area of study other than the one you got certified
for in University is always a "win-win" ,
this is where knowing how to Code comes in handy.

We all have seen many graduates and post graduates emmigrating to more
developed countries only to find out that their 'expensive' academic
Certificates are not in demand in these job markets.

But knowing how to code will can be a great equallizer,
just take look at many tech Super rich.
So therefore whenever you find yourself thinking that programming is difficult
-try to motivate yourself with the thought of early retirement,self-employment
( having no irritating Boss ..lolz)Just Liesure ...
Then Get Your 'Hands Dirty' and
" JUSTCodeIt!."

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Reason 7: An Alternative for Scientists,Data Analysts -
Who Can't Afford Propriety / Not- For-Sale Software

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hankx Qoute: " Coding truely gives one "God-like" Powers!"

Case 3 :

Here at Hankx Tech, Hankx (myself) and a team-member
(I don't like to use the term "employee") applied
our Coding skills to develop a user friendly
Graphical User Interface,Custom Scripts that
automate report etc for GrassGis
- Which is an open-source software that comes a python
console,;
when we did not want to pay for the
needlessly expensive ArcGis Suite.

Consequently we we ingeniusly used our Coding Skills
to Modify and customize GrassGIS UX/UI
-user interface/experience to become more intuitive by "tweaking"
its GUI, creating custom scripts that will automate
periodic reporting logs with no external input!
Note that we now use GrassGis extensively for surveys and
spatial planning ,Data visualization and simulation!

Also in our start-up we love to utilize Matplotlib,Numpy,SciKit
(all open source programs) for data analysis and
visualization instead of Commercial Packages like SPSS or Excell,
just for the heck of it.

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Reason 8: Automating The Boring Tasks with Scripts-
Improving speed and Productivity

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Qoute: "Even a monkey can write a shakespare given enough time! Anonymous

You can automate repetitive daily tasks using scripts,
thus free some time for more important stuff.
Scripts can be written with Python,Bash,Powershell,Batch VBscripts etc.
Scripting is relatively easy as compared to learning a
fully fledge programming language.
Scripting is also less CPU -intensive due to the fact that
they are interpreted and not compiled.
Scripts can also be run directly from a browser window eg Javascript,Pyscripts etc.
You can even run scripts directly on your smart phone!

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Next Article : Top Ten Fun Things and projects You Can Do with Scripting

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1. Visiting and logging your favorite Netflix Show immediately after booting your PC!
2. Notifying through email or Whatsapp, you when your girl friend is at home and is connected to the web using her PC.
3. Automatically adding your Custom watermark to a lot of Youtube videos
4. Searching for a specific word in a text file and then replacing tge text using Regular Expressions (RegEx)
5. Creating a TwitterBot that'll notify you via email or whatsapp whenever your name/handle or phrase is used in a tweet!

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Final Word From Hankx

"Every development takes time,patience,persistence and hard work
the game is for those who endure!"

And Please remember to JustCodeIt!!!