That’s right, America: Learn to code. Then, when the market is glutted, you can find your job offshored to some Indian or Malaysian who will work for 10 cents on the dollar, even if he knows half of what you do.
Too true.
At my last job I acquired (taught myself) some highly in-demand skills. When I got laid off I thought, No problem--I not only have these skills, I have years of experience with them. Employers will be happy to have me. Yes, I'd be competing with younger people who had a paper saying that they'd done course work in this field and passed a test, but the younger folks found that employers wouldn't hire them since they had no experience.
I found that even with my experience, employers didn't want me unless I had that magic paper. So I went out to get the paper and racked up some debt doing so. With skills, experience, AND the magic paper, I now find that these jobs are being outsourced to India. It's infuriating that in this economic climate we are still giving jobs away while Americans are desperate for work.