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Learning to code was once the fast-track ticket to success. It\u2019s the self-taught skill that launched the careers of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk. Even former President Barack Obama urged young people to learn to code. But according to one former Google CMO who started coding at 12, AI has just killed it.<\/p>\n
Alon Chen built a $2 billion product line at Google by 28, walked away from a seven-figure equity package, and went on to found Tastewise\u2014an AI food intelligence company now trusted by PepsiCo, Nestl\u00e9, and Mars. He knows better than most what it takes to make it in tech. And he\u2019s no longer recommending coding as the way in.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoding is becoming obsolete. It\u2019s not needed today,\u201d Chen told Fortune. \u201cWhat\u2019s needed today, more than ever, is creativity and resourcefulness and execution. There is no need to write code anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
His explanation for why is simple: it\u2019s not that technical skills don\u2019t matter. It\u2019s that the tools have democratized them. \u201cYou can operate an extremely successful business without having any ability to write even one line of code,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s got a point: Zuckerberg said that AI will be writing all code by this year. At Microsoft, AI is already writing 30% of the tech giant\u2019s code.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not just coding, Chen went as far as to say all \u201ctechnology [skills] is almost becoming obsolete.\u201d He suggested Gen Alpha would even be better off leveraging their ice skating skills in the current climate.<\/p>\n
Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg don\u2019t just have coding in common\u2014they also started out as teenagers<\/p>\n
If not coding, then what? Chen\u2019s answer is less Silicon Valley and more old-fashioned: follow your passion, and follow it hard. \u201cWhat\u2019s needed today, more than ever, is creativity, resourcefulness and execution.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Take Chen, for example. After teaching himself to code, he built computers while other kids played\u2014by 15, he already had a thriving business, selling computers to small- and medium-sized businesses across Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like him, Gates learned to code around 13, sneaking into his school\u2019s computer lab at night to practice. Zuckerberg had built his first networked software, \u201cZuckNet\u201d at 12. Musk taught himself BASIC at 10, sold his first video game two years later for $500.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That early hunger for ambition, Chen said, is far more valuable than any single technical skill. \u201cStarting young with a lot of responsibility was something that built up my characteristic today as an entrepreneur,\u201d Chen said. \u201cYou need so much resilience, if at 15 years old, you have so many clients calling you because their business cannot be running and operating, and you need to troubleshoot\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The tools will change. The skills will evolve. But being able to see an opening, teach yourself what you need, and launch before your competition is still in class is a sure-fire way to get ahead.<\/p>\n
He points to his own nephew as proof. At 15, the teenager spotted a gap in the gaming market and started buying and selling player profiles across Telegram and Instagram\u2014no tech degree, no investors, just a niche he cared about. \u201cThat\u2019s his passion,\u201d Chen says. \u201cHis passion is gaming, and he really thought it was a good idea to make a business out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
His advice to Gen Z? Copy him, Musk, and his nephew. Find a passion\u2014and go hard on that as early as possible. Thanks to AI, he says, this has never been easier. \u201cAre you a roller skater? Do you love fashion? Can you 3D print? Technology is almost becoming obsolete\u2014it\u2019s all about finding what\u2019s really motivating you, and going all the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
AI has turned creativity into the new competitive edge<\/p>\n
Creativity is the new coding. Chen is far from alone in making this case\u2014and it\u2019s a long-overdue win for the skill that corporate America spent decades telling people wasn\u2019t serious.<\/p>\n
Billionaire former PayPal CEO Peter Thiel previously warned that AI is a bigger threat to technical roles than to creative thinkers. And the data is already proving him right.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
IBM\u2019s research highlights that there is now a \u201cpremium on creativity,\u201d with innovative thinking among the most prized qualities in the workplace.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a shift Snowflake\u2019s CEO predicted in Fortune late last year: once AI handles execution, the only thing left to compete on is the quality of your thinking. \u201cIn 2026, as execution becomes commoditized, strategic thinking and vision will separate high-performing organizations from the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s already showing up in the jobs market too. LinkedIn\u2019s Skills on the Rise 2026 report\u2014which tracks the fastest-growing skills in the U.S.\u2014found surging demand for communication and creative thinking. In fact, a LinkedIn spokesperson told Fortune that job postings mentioning \u201cstorytellers\u201d have doubled over the past year alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a sharp U-turn away from STEM, the arts kids are having their moment\u2014and the salaries are finally catching up. <\/p>\n
Anthropic was just hiring for a head of product communications with a listed $400,000 salary; Netflix was offering between $656,000 and $1.2 million for a senior director of communications; And McKinsey global managing partner Bob Sternfels recently told Harvard Business Review that AI has a problem solving limit, so now it\u2019s \u201clooking more at liberal arts majors, whom we had deprioritized, as potential sources of creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n
#Elon #Musk #coded #rose #Google #CMOnow #warns #Gen #skill #obsolete<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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