Algebra imposes a discipline that helps a programmer analyze a problem. It shows how to refactor a problem (that is, to group like with like). It helps a programmer learn how to manipulate a problem, to determine exactly what it is he wishes to do.

Even more importantly, it's the basis of everything else in mathematics. You can't do Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus, Differential Equations or Numerical Analysis without knowing Algebra. You might not need to know any of that now, but one day you might.

(My B.S. and M.S. are in Math, so you should automatically ignore everything I've just said due to my bias. 8-) )