Don't learn to code. Do we really need more Software Developers and Software Engineers?

American Thinker ^ | 02/21/2019 | By Sam Younnokis

[SeekAndFind]

Enough with "learn to code."  As this article points out, that's terrible advice.  Coding isn't beanbag, and if you don't have a problem-solving mindset, you won't be good at it.  It's like telling people to buy power tools and become home-renovators.  Having a tool doesn't inform you about when and how to apply it.

What's the problem we are trying to solve here?  Is it to meet a need for more coders or to provide a way for unemployed people to earn a good wage?  I expect that it is the latter, so let's ask: do we need more software developers and software engineers?  We already have many of them who are unemployed for whatever reason.

Forecasting the expected needs for additional software developers arrives at a figure of roughly 300K between 2016 and 2026.  That's an average of 30K new jobs per year.  The BLS site offers a similar prediction for that time period.   This site indicates that 35K computer science degrees are awarded each year.  Sounds as though we have plenty of domestic candidates for those new jobs, right?  It should be noted that some percentage of the degrees awarded is for foreign students.

This article in Inc. also claims we need to train more software people.  This news release compares the total number of allegedly unfilled jobs, with the supposed annual rate of 43K degrees being awarded.  It adds that the Computer Science Education Coalition wants the federal government to pony up $250M to train K-12 students in coding to fill the Big Tech jobs need.  Nothing in the Constitution justifies spending tax dollars to train anyone for any job at all, whatsoever, but that's obviously no deterrent.  So how will that affect the interest in getting the actual degrees?  I'm thinking it will decrease, making the apparent crisis worse.  

[willyd]

What are you looking for? I place US citizens with experience in anything from angular and node to AWS cloud server environments in Tech Jobs in Texas.

[laxcoach]

My son has been coding since he was in 1st grade. He is 15 now and is 100 times better than any entry level person I have hired.

He just got his first job through an acquaintance.

He is doing software development for an analytics based company for $25 per hour.

That is pretty darn good for a 15 year old and it is only going to rise.

[OKSooner]

A suggestion for young people: Learn a trade or profession and be good at it. Choose accordingly.

Be computer literate, but don't choose it as a profession unless G-d himself calls you to it.

[RideForever]

There are more computer programmers in Seattle than retail clerks. Let that sink in. The globalists under Bush and Obama pushed the H1b program to let the coding genii out of the bottle.

[TexasGunLover]

I’ll take Angular/node.js for sure, as well as J2EE for some of our legacy stuff... all you’ve got. Hundreds if you have them. We’ve left that many unfilled in the past 5 years.

[Buckeye McFrog]

If the answer is no, then we surely don’t need H1B.

[chuckles]

It seems logical to me to lose coding to machines. I can't believe an untrained person couldn't just check boxes on a page and a software program isn't written to a thumb drive to use where the program is needed. Just as Web pages were cranked out by the millions by the people using them, it seems to me that even complicated programs could be designed by checking boxes or even voice commands to render an end product. Writing accounting software for a specific business with unique problems is still accounting software. The code would just have to be modified for the unique cases in the specific business. Needing coders for every single use seems naive to me.

The farmers used to say we still need workers to pick certain fruits or certain crops, but today almost all have machines to pick the crop, even strawberries. I can't see why someone hasn't invented a program to pick from column "A" and add Column "B" to make a specialized program for "C". There are already thousands of on the record routines that could be adapted to almost anything.

[dfwgator]

In many cases Excel spreadsheets can do things it used to take coders to do.

[AndyTheBear]

Python engineers seem to be in huge demand at least. The last python meet up I attended had several attendees trying to recruit, but when the room of 200 or so were asked if anybody was looking for work nobody raised their hand...eventually one engineer raised his hand for somebody who might consider a new opportunity. We get recruiters chasing us.

[KC_for_Freedom]

Your suggestion for cut and paste programming is part and parcel to what the Java library is all about.

That said, it takes a great deal of understanding to make the interfaces correct and bullet proof. This is very advanced stuff, and while I support people taking elementary programming (to understand how computers work, and to see if you enjoy this option), the idea of cutting and pasting programs will not work without pretty much understanding all the pieces.

[sjm_888]

Same path traveled as you and I’m still doing development work today. I think we got lucky in that we jumped in at the beginning of the computer revolution. 40 years in IT and Dev work for me this year.

[Mr. K]

HEY CAN YOU PM ME?

I am getting a lot of calls about software jobs in DFW area and I am concerned about the rates they are quoting

I am a senior level guy - if they are paying entry level people 6 figures what are highly experienced guys making?

At the last 3 jobs I worked they told me I did the work of 3 of their entry level guys... I explained that after 25 years you know how to solve problems immediately without spending a week thinking about it- you’ve done that before.

[AppyPappy]

Yes because programmers have a half-life. A given programmer probably averages about 7 years punching code and that may be generous. About 50% of them want to go into management because the money is higher. So you are constantly losing coders.

[AppyPappy]

“I’ve been programming in RPG ever since.”

I’ll add you to our prayer list

[centurion316]

From my perspective, a former Assistant Professor who taught Fortran and has not written a single line of code for years, I don’t think that we need more coders, but we sure need some better coders. Writing code requires a certain skill, but designing and producing something that meets a specified purpose efficiently, accurately, and integrated into the overall architecture is a different story and its hard to find someone who can do that. That’s why those people get the big bucks.

My own pet peeve is stuff that has an interface written in programmer jargon and can’t be understood by the engineers, accountants, HR specialists who need to use it. A little User Experience expertise is needed. Perhaps journalists could learn to do that.

[McGruff]

I’ve recently retired from the business and glad I did. New languages come out too often. And anybody around the world can write programs now.

[cuban leaf]

I used to say to people that becoming a COBOL programmer now is like becoming an engineer in the 1940’s and 50’s.

I wonder what today’s equivalent would be. I have not figured it out yet.

[TexasGunLover]

PM Sent

[flamberge]

I can't believe an untrained person couldn't just check boxes on a page...

Well, no. It just doesn't work that way. And it never will.

There have been plenty of company executives who wanted it to work that way. They spent huge amounts of money on "code generator" products that promised exactly what you propose. All for naught.

Every decade or so a new generation of executives (and investors) will fall for the same pitches about a new miracle product. As P.T Barnum said, "There is a sucker born every minute."

"Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies" (Fleetwood Mac)

[Old Teufel Hunden]

I’m a software developer and I don’t know where he gets his facts from. The articles I have read have said we are not graduating enough people to fill the future needs of the software industry. But go ahead and keep pushing this line. It keeps me employed and highly paid well into the future.