Is it more difficult to transform from a marketer to a programmer or from a programmer → a marketer?
I formally studied marketing as a university program (5 years), and due to inspiration on social networks, it feels completely natural to do it, even easy to learn (because most of the time you just guess what might work for you). 😀
BUT
I am currently learning to program and code (albeit with the help of AI), and I find it very difficult (logic, structures, syntax, and sequence of steps)...
The paradox is that with the help of AI, you are faster as a programmer than a marketer, but you do not possess that skill.
Personally, I find programming harder to learn for a marketer than for a programmer to learn marketing.
How do you perceive it? Maybe I am just biased because I have been working in the field for longer.
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Building has been easier for me than marketing. Programming makes sense to me. Marketing is harder because it asks you to step outside the work itself and convince people to care about it.
I sometimes wrestle with how promotion comes across. I never want to sound pushy or scammy, especially in crypto-adjacent spaces where people have good reason to be cautious. But what I’m building is meant to help people, not pressure them. I even created a page where someone can check a wallet or web address before they get scammed, along with a trusted place to see what a wallet is connected to.
The hard part is that good work does not automatically get attention. I can write an article and it may get one or two reads. I do not take that as proof that the product has no value. It may just mean there is a lot of noise, and learning to break through that is its own skill.
So my honest answer is this: going from builder to marketer feels harder to me. But I choose to keep learning, keep improving, and keep putting the work out there. I believe we all have our strengths and areas where we maybe should partner with others. Doesn't mean that we can't do the hard things, but we are less likely to succeed because of the way that we are wired.
@dstr88
Totally agree!
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@dstr88 At this point I am not sure whether marketing can be learned, because the result depends mostly on other people (whether they like the output or not).
I think it’s less about difficulty and more about mindset shift. Marketing is often probabilistic, you test what might work. Programming is deterministic, things either work or break. That shift can feel much harder when you’re coming from a marketing background.
AI helps with execution, but not with building that mental model.
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@jahnavi_thota programming is more logical; it is like mathematics. Marketing is like an intuition-led :D
@busmark_w_nika True, and I think that shift from intuition to structure is what makes it feel harder.
Going the other way, you already have the logic, you just learn how to apply it to people and messaging.
ZeroHuman.
Hey Nika! Awesome topic!
Honestly, it’s more than easy. These days, picking up any new digital skill is ridiculously accessible. The only real challenges are time and focus. If you can consistently put in 2–4 hours a day, you’re more than set.
There’s a crazy amount of information out there: YouTube, Discord/Skool communities. And you can constantly ask Claude, Gemini, or ChatGPT anything, so yeah… it’s pretty easy.
I haven’t formally studied marketing or programming, but I’ve ended up with way more knowledge than I would’ve had if I’d just followed a traditional path and ignored my curiosity. I know a lot of people in marketing agencies who have some background, but honestly, their knowledge isn’t anything impressive.
It really just comes down to putting in the time. After your workday, you’ve gotta sit down and learn, that’s the hard part. Some people don’t have the drive, others have partners, kids, or just everyday life getting in the way. But if you can manage those things, there’s nothing stopping you from learning these skills.
YouTube, Gemini (or Claude), and a few people to exchange insights with and you’re good to go in no time.
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@byalexai The most difficult part is really "to think" – because when someone (tutorial or AI) tells you most of the solution, you are not motivated to question yourself how to do it on your own. I have a feeling that most of the time we just copy and paste.
LiveDemo
Has to be harder to move from marketer to developer, just based on current job position salaries and time to acquire knowledge for position.
But that being said, I know many developers that they don't have the personality and won't be able to ever build the personality to be a marketer
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@gapostolov Working in marketing is not that bad :D
LiveDemo
@busmark_w_nika
No, I think it is the opposite.
It is better to have the personality of a marketer than a software developer.
Just in general, it would be more helpful in life
A lot of software developers are introverts and marketers are extroverts.
But believe it or not, you can change based on your habits
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@gapostolov What do you expect from the personality of a marketer IRL? :D I would like to know which benefit I am overlooking :D
As a technical person (mechanical and software engineer) I find the programming part much easier as there is a logical, self contained answer to (nearly) every problem. You just have to ask the right questions. You can figure the solution out on your own and can have success/rewards with every small step you complete.
Moving to marketing has to deal with people - how to reach an audience and make them understand your product. There is no "you do 7 steps and they take you 1 - 5 hours" and then you will be there. People are not rational and whatever content you create for marketing doesn't guarantee that it ever reaches anyone. Having to learn to navigate that uncertainty appears much harder and much more stressful.
About AI: With programming you can ask AI and the answer is the (partial) solution - with marketing the answer is a tool-set free to interpretation you have to test without guarantees. With programming you get an error message that you can debug - with marketing ... well, if it's not working then there is silence and it remains a guessing game.
Marketing might get easier if you have established an audience, followers or a brand; but so does programming as you build up experience and habits.
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@tim_joerg I can sign under every word you said, but despite that, the marketing guessing sounds better to me than learning programming :D
I tried to learn German two years ago. I was learning every day for around 800 days. I did not miss a day!
I barely understand anything in German now. :)
Learning new language, human or programming, to the level I know , for example JAVA, at my age of 40 is just no-go for me. I can try and do my best, just my brain does not work the same way as 20 years ago.
It is just like in sport. Sport athletes, can be professional and practice and compete at high tensions and pressure to a certain age. That depends on their way of life, DNA, type of sport. Their muscles just does not work the same way at some age.
Why is it expected the brain to be as fresh as new? ;). I can't remember the same way as before. I guess, if have chosen marketing as my job, when I was 17-18, learning it should have been much more easy, then it is now for me.
Learning marketing now, is just as difficult as learning German. No place inside my head :D
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@stoyan_minchev Why do you think it is like that?
Because as kids, our brains are forming?
Or are we just exposed to so much information that we cannot catch?
I do not want to take that idea that I will not be able to learn (It is unacceptable for me) :D
@busmark_w_nika
Too much information, too much responsibilities. Out of memory exception. ;)
We learn all our lives, but not the same way, not with the same speed, and volumes.
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@nuel23 Emmanuel, thank you for the answer, and I have a contrary answer from the marketer – we, or at least I sometimes do not know what to do, marketing is sometimes more about assumption and trying what works, what not, I am just used to that it is illogical :D
I think the learning curve for coding feels steeper because it requires a specific type of 'logical sequence' that is very different from marketing. AI is a great 'syntax assistant,' but the hardest part of programming is not the typing - it's the architecture. It's fascinating how AI is narrowing the gap, but the human strategy is still the most important part of both.
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@safiullah_mohamed yeah, with coding or programming, people are more required to use to brain. In marketing it's sometimes about feeling "I like this ad", "I don't like this ad."
@busmark_w_nika Exactly. Marketing is often a game of subjective taste and human psychology, which is why it’s so hard to predict. In programming, the logic is your only compass - it’s at least honest! If it’s not working, there is always a clear reason why, even if it takes hours to find it.
Opposite opinion here 😄
I think programming is easier to learn than marketing. Code has rules, once you get the logic, AI can do 80% of the work for you. But marketing? No formula. Same post, different day, completely different results.
A marketer can pick up coding with AI in a few months. A coder trying to "learn marketing" usually just ends up writing technical posts nobody reads. 😂 That intuition takes years.
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@verticomply Okay, could be, I think if one person has the combo of building and marketing, it is unbeatable :D
@busmark_w_nika Absolutely True And Agree
From my own experience, when you’re working on your own product in a very small team - say just two people, you automatically become the marketer of your product, because no one knows it better than you - your approach to it, what it’s for, who it was made for, and so on.. I think it doesn't matter whether your background is technical or creative, if you're building something born in your own head, you already take on the role of a marketer, even without formal skills or knowledge. You start going deeper, exploring tools and figuring out how to communicate your product to the people it's actually built for. So I think if our goal is to sell, we naturally transform from programmers into marketers. To me, this feels simpler and more natural.
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@adana_marukhyan I think you are right in some way, I am a marketer and now building a product. I do not like programming, but I am trying my best to make it because my idea is something I am passionate about and I wanna make it come true :)
@busmark_w_nika So I guess it all depends on the situation, where if the idea in head is strong enough, you just go deep into everything to make it happen.