SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The rationale for this rapid curricular renovation is economic. Teaching kids how to code will help them land good jobs, the argument goes. In an era of flat and falling incomes, programming provides a new path to the middle class – a skill so widely demanded that anyone who acquires it can command a livable, even lucrative, wage.
This narrative pervades policymaking at every level, from school boards to the government. Yet it rests on a fundamentally flawed premise. Contrary to public perception, the economy doesn't actually need that many more programmers. As a result, teaching millions of kids to code won't make them all middle-class. Rather, it will proletarianize the profession by flooding the market and forcing wages down – and that's precisely the point.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 24 2017, @03:48PM (2 children)
I remember meeting another developer one time, he had created an API and I had created an application on top of it. I was impressed with his work, and he was clearly impressed with mine. He asked me how I learned to program, and while I had taken plenty of formal technology in school, my programming skills were all largely self taught. Turns out that he was a self taught programmer too, and then proceeded to tell me that all of the really good programmers he'd ever met were all self taught.
To be really good at it, takes someone who is genuinely interested in programming. The programming is it's own reward. Doing it just for the pay-cheque would be about as satisfying as digging ditches.
Can I assume everyone here is familiar with "The Tao of Programming" http://www.mit.edu/~xela/tao.html [mit.edu]
6.4
A manager went to his programmers and told them: "As regards to your work hours: you are going to have to come in at nine in the morning and leave at five in the afternoon." At this, all of them became angry and several resigned on the spot.
So the manager said: "All right, in that case you may set your own working hours, as long as you finish your projects on schedule." The programmers, now satisfied, began to come in at noon and work to the wee hours of the morning.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by crafoo on Sunday September 24 2017, @09:04PM (1 child)
I'm an engineer in a weird, niche field but I love programming. I think I'd like to write some useful utility or opengl/math-heavy tool and sell support for a living instead of engineering. I like all aspects of it. Not sure why. It's always been that way. It just feels good solving little puzzles and building something at least semi-useful. I'd probably be a carpenter or metalsmith in a previous age.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 25 2017, @09:20AM
Is that all? Pray won't you tell us the remainder of your life story?