I learned HTML and CSS because of Metallica

In one of the Metallica movies, the band discusses recording its famous ballad, “Nothing Else Matters.” Metallica recorded the song in 1990 while making The Black Album, as it’s called, which is one of the best-selling records of all time. It was also the band’s first foray into string arrangements.

Metallica’s singer and guitarist, James Hetfield, actually wrote the string arrangement for the song, as it’s possible to replicate the sweeping, sustained sound of the violin on a guitar by using a gadget called an EBow.

Though Hetfield composed the arrangement himself, Metallica still had to hire an orchestrator to write the charts. No one in the band could read or write music and as a result none of them knew how to speak to classical musicians.

To paraphrase Hetfield, he said, “What am I going to do? Sit in a room with these guys and say, ‘Go here… okay, now go up here,’” as he moved his hands up and down a guitar fretboard. It’s true: You can be a multi-millionaire rock star and not be able to speak the basic language of music.

Or another way of putting it is Hetfield had an idea but couldn’t execute it because of a knowledge gap. Sound familiar?

I speak to engineers all day everyday. What a bunch! But I can’t fathom how many times an engineer (or anyone, really) has walked away from a conversation with me thinking I’m a moron. You would as well if you were working with a guy who made such lucid arguments as, “It would be totally rad if that thingy, like, went over there, man.”

All of content is now inside tech. If you’re going to work within any content platform, whether it be curated, neutral or a subset of media and advertising like native, code is the gate and key to how your ideas will be expressed. And there’s no EBow for code. So take the time to pick up what you can. You’re engineering cohorts will thank you for it.