>All the time I see people manually, painstakingly processing data as a necessary part of their jobs - repetitive, time-consuming stuff that could easily be aut

>All the time I see people manually, painstakingly processing data as a necessary part of their jobs - repetitive, time-consuming stuff that could easily be automated with a fairly simple script. If we made basic computer programming, like basic literacy and math, a part of core education curricula, we would empower many more people to write amateur code that's good enough for the task at hand, just as most amateur writing is good enough to communicate meaning without being slick and professional. I think that more important is the ability to at least be capable of identifying repetitive work and asking someone more skilled in programming to implement it. It's amazing what kind of basic things people miss when you're asking them about what could be automated. Sometimes, you need to sit next to them and watch them work just to identify the problem.