If you never actually use them during your career, at least it will help you feel more like a programmer.
By whose standard?
Don't conflate what you enjoy about the craft with the ideals of others. If you don't like algorithms, don't write algorithms. Life is too short to begin believing you're a poor programmer because other people say you have to know algorithms to be a programmer. If you are writing programs with a programming language and having fun then the rest of them can jog off.
Unfortunately we tend to self-select towards being overly competitive. Trust me, I put too much emotional stock on my craft. I love programming. And I got caught up too much in what other people thought made a good programmer. The truth is that it's a big field and there's room for all different kinds of programmers.
Just don't think for a moment that you're not a programmer. Someone who claims, "you're not a programmer unless you can implement the Fast Fourier Transform in your sleep!" is a posturing nin-com-poop. The intellectual equivalent to a peacock. Or a jealous chihuahua. If you like what you're doing, keep doing it.
And if algorithms are something you're interested in there are plenty of books to get you started (The Little Schemer series being my favourite).
Well said. I've also struggled a bit since a lot of my talents are in design. I am one of those "designgeneers" that you sometimes hear about. The downside to being a hybrid coder/designer is that you never really have a deep understanding of stuff like memory and architecture.
So you eventually have to come to the realization that there isn't anything wrong with that, per se. I design great experiences and then I code them. That's where I fill the void.
Luckily, I'm not involved in your banking or any other mission critical applications. For Ruby on Rails/PHP/Python, my knowledge suffices and I can be proficient enough to deliver a great app, or web experience.
Would I ever use an algorithm? This is where I feel like it's important to be a strong programmer as well. Maybe I should be using an algorithm, instead of 40 lines of code that dance around the same conclusion? Maybe. I have no idea because I don't even know where to start.
Never say never. I consider myself a designer and developer, and I feel I have a pretty good grasp of that stuff. Professionally, I am usually typecast as a programmer, so I spend at least some of my time in algorithms.
I was into art/design when I was like five years old, and I became interested in programming by the time I was in high school. That gave me quite a lot of experience in both areas. I do feel the only limiting factor is time and determination.
Of course, if you have no interest in learning those deep theories, that is cool too. Delivering value, to you or others, is ultimately the only thing that matters.
If it genuinely interests you there's nothing stopping you.
Just don't feel like you have to because of what others think.
Algorithms are neat and very fun once you understand them... but I think critical thinking is far more useful. If you spend time just studying algorithms you might end up just memorizing them by rote and learn nothing. However if you develop critical thinking you will be more apt to be able to develop algorithms on your own.
One of my favourite exercises is to ask, "Yes, but how?" While reading through an interesting program I will see a function that perhaps I understand conceptually by the way it is named (ie: (search a list-of-things)). The trick is to not be satisfied and let your curiosity track down that function definition and figure out how it works. See if you can formulate in your mind why it works once you know the how of it. Then see if you can find some literature on the method used -- many algorithms have been discovered and documented by several generations of grad students by now.
Or you can take a more formal approach and start with the maths.
I see what you're saying. But I can flip that back at you and say that if you don't do your own design, you didn't bother to understand Photoshop or fundamentals of UI/UX.
By whose standard?
Don't conflate what you enjoy about the craft with the ideals of others. If you don't like algorithms, don't write algorithms. Life is too short to begin believing you're a poor programmer because other people say you have to know algorithms to be a programmer. If you are writing programs with a programming language and having fun then the rest of them can jog off.
Unfortunately we tend to self-select towards being overly competitive. Trust me, I put too much emotional stock on my craft. I love programming. And I got caught up too much in what other people thought made a good programmer. The truth is that it's a big field and there's room for all different kinds of programmers.
Just don't think for a moment that you're not a programmer. Someone who claims, "you're not a programmer unless you can implement the Fast Fourier Transform in your sleep!" is a posturing nin-com-poop. The intellectual equivalent to a peacock. Or a jealous chihuahua. If you like what you're doing, keep doing it.
And if algorithms are something you're interested in there are plenty of books to get you started (The Little Schemer series being my favourite).