I'm also one of these people - I recently landed a job which required me to learn how to code. I work with the tech department at the startup, and so everyone around me reads HN. I've found that it's valuable for discussion (the articles and stories are often talked about over lunch or in meetings). Plus, I've been looking for a source for interesting news that I care about. While I don't read most of the techie articles about how to do stuff or the newest updates to software, I read all of the other stuff that pops up. I enjoy the community, asking and answering questions and I've found myself hooked on.