Whether coding is a means or an end can be interchanged once one can code, so the importance of coding as a general skill still stands. And just from personal experience and observation, I have seen friends generate work for themselves (granted, at where they work) simply by being able to code. They would be asked to fix the web site or modify a spreadsheet macro, and they&#x27;d be able to do it.<p>What coding has going for it:<p>1. Coding is higher up the abstraction stack. The higher the safer. Lower would be performing concrete instructions like picking berries or mopping floors. The more abstract the work, the harder it is to be automated. Because...<p>2. Computers can compile but still cannot abstract. Most abstractions embody arbitrary structures external to the computer. So no matter how smart a computer gets, people will still need to communicate these wants. There will always be a place for the translator, and we might as well call this the coder.<p>3. There is still so much room for innovation in the way we choose our abstractions and build our structures. There are human trends, technological trends, and design trends, making software a constantly moving, upgrading, ephemeral target. There is still plenty of potential &quot;disruption&quot; at every scale, and coders can be a part of it. There will always be a place for the architect, aka coder.<p>4. With more services exposing APIs and more programs being scriptable, it is becoming easier for coders to apply themselves in any logistical situation to hook things up and to further automate. This is the plumber, aka coder.<p>Granted, the above is only why coding is comparatively a more useful skill than other skills. Coding can still be extremely hard to acquire for some people. There will always be better coders than you. And, if everyone can code, the skill itself will lose value. So though coding may not be automated like everything else, whether it will save anyone is likely to be a different story entirely.