[Myrddin]

I've been writing software since 1978. It has become orders of magnitude more complex over time. Multiple operating systems and languages. Morphing from dedicated mainframe software with simple user terminals to fat applications on a PC desktop, then to network served applications presented on a browser. Chasing the skill sets is a continuous process if you want to stay employed and relevant. Eventually, you find yourself in my boat. A broad range of skills in high demand, but those who want it are unable to pay for it. I'll be retired inside of a month. Long lists of things desired by the customer, but unfunded will go on backlog. The next contract competition will occur in 4 years. Perhaps the customer will have the foresight to fund development of those wants. The environment is a mix of 30 formerly stand-alone web applications that have been pulled under one umbrella and packaged into kubernetes pods with microservice interactions. Most of the team has worked on the individual systems over the last 30 year time span. The "corporate knowledge" needed to morph the old systems into the new paradigm is considerable and the parties who can do it are aging out and/or retiring. AI won't get a bite at the apple because it's all classified systems.

[SpaceBar]

And yet if you ask a modern programmer what a binary heap is or how Dijkstra’s algorithm works they just look at you with a blank stare.

[normbal]

Well, wherever theres a complicated issue, there’s a simple solution: CONgress should just pass a LAW.

But first, it’ll take the left parading, rioting, protesting how “Coding is a HUMAN Right” and have the unionized coders go on strike, demonstrate how “free” “code-care” is fundamental to life as we know it and push for legislation along the lines of Obama-care guarantees “if you like your coder you can keep your coder” and “every household will see a drop of $2,000 a year in coding costs under our plan.”

EZPZ lemon squeezy!

[No.6]

>AI won’t get a bite at the apple because it’s all classified systems.

That may be inaccurate. One can (does) set up genAI instances isolated from the public so as not to leak proprietary code or sensitive data.

Not saying you want to, but you could have an Nth career as a prompt engineer training one of these focused genAIs some portion of your experience. Probably more fun than teaching an H1B.