In this interview Calum talks up the benefits of learning to code and why it can be great in terms of money, lifestyle, challenge and travel. Calum is a self-taught programmer who has founded his own startup, Zeplo, and is based in the UK.
Hey, so can you introduce yourself?
I live in Manchester in the UK (that’s the rainy part for people who don’t know). I used to live in London, moved to Norway during the pandemic and have finally settled on Manchester (it’s a great city despite the rain!).
I’m the CTO & co-founder of Zeplo (a tool for developers - yes, I’ve come a long way!). We basically help you to run code on a schedule or in the background. For example you could use it to: “send a summary email every day at 9am to every customer with their usage”.
Why did you learn to code?
I can’t really remember exactly when I started to code, but I’ve always been fascinated by computers. I got my first computer aged 14 and just started messing around on it. I’m really really old (at least I’m 33), so I remember the vivid sound of computer dial up, MSN and my parents shouting “get off the internet, I’m expecting a call from Joan” - dark days indeed.
What spurred me on more than anything else was wanting to actually build something. I’ve always been an ideas person, so the fact that I could turn something in my head into something others could use - all without leaving my room - was something else.
I think the main takeaway is that learning to code can be hard and frustrating, and it can seem really abstract - so the best way to learn to code is by trying to build something. It doesn’t have to be a million dollar business idea or even something you will share with others. The most important thing is that it should be something you really want to see in the world.
If you love music, and the Spotify algorithm is not to your liking - build your own auto-updating playlist. If you have a monotonous task, automate it. If you love food, make something related to food. And so on… Find something you love, find something that annoys you about it. Use code to solve the problem. Make your life better… honestly, it’s a feeling like no other.
How did you learn coding?
Back when I started to code, there weren't as many resources as there are today. In some ways it’s easier than ever, but because there are now more choices than ever, knowing where to start can be a challenge.
