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Besides having a solid payoff for your personal finances, a 100-level knowledge of bookkeeping and accounting, I'd argue, confer near "super powers" when it com

Besides having a solid payoff for your personal finances, a 100-level knowledge of bookkeeping and accounting, I'd argue, confer near "super powers" when it comes to dealing with finance and accounting people. Bookkeeping is one of the oldest and longest-practiced IT disciplines. Your work probably touches revenue / expenses for your employer and someday you'll need to interface with accounting or finance people. Being able to speak the language, even poorly, has helped me gain trust and credibility that I don't believe speaking only in IT terms would have.

gen220 6y ago
Big plus one. Especially if your software work is even remotely finance-adjacent. The moment I start talking in terms of liabilities, virtual accounts, etc. their eyes light up! Incidentally, Accounting and Software have a lot in common. They both build and apply abstractions to the "real world" (flipping-bits), in order to give the abstraction-wielder more power and insight.
bradleybuda 6y ago
I took this course about three years ago (which, coincidentally, starts today!) and I completely agree - a basic knowledge of bookkeeping is an incredibly handy skill in all sorts of real-world situations: https://www.coursera.org/learn/wharton-accounting https://www.coursera.org/learn/wharton-accounting
- zenlot 6y ago
  Most of the Coursera courses "starts today". Check tomorrow, you'll still see the same message.
  - tsjq 6y ago
    How do they manage it possible ?
    - deathtrader666 6y ago
      These must be pre-recorded, available on-demand.
datavirtue 6y ago
I second this. Accounting training enabled me to break my siloed attachment to IT and become a valuable asset to finance and accounting groups as well. Since they controlled all of the money they would come me to me discretely to get information and feasibility assessments on hardware purchases and development projects. At a small company this effectively made me the CIO's #1.

gen220 6y ago

Big plus one. Especially if your software work is even remotely finance-adjacent. The moment I start talking in terms of liabilities, virtual accounts, etc. their eyes light up! Incidentally, Accounting and Software have a lot in common. They both build and apply abstractions to the "real world" (flipping-bits), in order to give the abstraction-wielder more power and insight.

bradleybuda 6y ago

I took this course about three years ago (which, coincidentally, starts today!) and I completely agree - a basic knowledge of bookkeeping is an incredibly handy skill in all sorts of real-world situations: https://www.coursera.org/learn/wharton-accounting https://www.coursera.org/learn/wharton-accounting

zenlot 6y ago
Most of the Coursera courses "starts today". Check tomorrow, you'll still see the same message.
- tsjq 6y ago
  How do they manage it possible ?
  - deathtrader666 6y ago
    These must be pre-recorded, available on-demand.

datavirtue 6y ago

I second this. Accounting training enabled me to break my siloed attachment to IT and become a valuable asset to finance and accounting groups as well. Since they controlled all of the money they would come me to me discretely to get information and feasibility assessments on hardware purchases and development projects. At a small company this effectively made me the CIO's #1.