Nowadays there are more ways than ever to learn the basics behind programming, most of which I listed in a previous post. No matter what kind of work that you can do, learning the basics of programming can help you learn how to break a problem into logical, modular steps. Programming is a language, and it's a good tool to have in your toolbelt.
I'll leave it up to one of the masters, Adria Richards of But You're A Girl, to explain the benefits.