
Computer science graduating class of 2007 smallest this decade - rms
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9066659
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iamelgringo
This just means that BigCo's have to worry more about how they're going to
hire people to maintain their established code base and develop new code. It
also means that the cost of software development is going to increase
dramatically.

This is a big argument in favor of using more productive/expressive languages
in creation of new software projects. More productive languages == less
programmers == lower costs.

I also see this as a great thing for software startups in general. The tighter
the job market becomes for people with CS backgrounds, the cost of creating a
new software product is going to increase. As those costs increase, the value
of startups and the products they create is going to increase.

In a nutshell, I think what is going to happen, is that large companies are
going to increasingly rely on innovation by merger and acquisition.

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ardit33
uhuh.... tell that to my company. we are getting 2.5% increases on average,
that is less than inflation.

but I think they have seen it first hand when tried to hire few people fresh
of the school, and all of them had multiple offers, so they are ending up
hiring somebody that I thought was not that great.

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tomjen
Get yourself a new job, because the dollar has lost so much value you need a
10% yearly raise to stay even.

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kajecounterhack
Or move to India. Your money will appreciate.

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ardit33
i am not from india. what I would do there anyways? Europe is much better.

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tokipin
why not mexico?

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motoko
Good. Supply and demand == more money for me.

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rcoder
Not necessarily. Demand in this market is for competent programmers, not
graduates of US schools' CS programs. The two may be correlated, but they're
the latter certainly does not guarantee the former.

If fewer and fewer CS grads are entering the market, it may force interviewers
and companies to ( _gasp!_ ) evaluate candidates on the basis of traits other
than the name of the university they attended. We might even see crazy
suggestions like hiring based on intelligence and experience gain some
traction in the IT management field.

Personally, I consider this good news for me, as a non-degree-holding IT
professional. Fewer graduates in the hiring pool means more call-backs for
interviews and fewer glass ceilings.

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amichail
Software companies have been hiring based on intelligence for a long time. Why
do you think this is not the case?

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raganwald
Two questions. First, do you think this is a safe generalization for companies
whose primary business is software? And second, what portion of the entire job
market for programmers is made up of jobs working for software companies?

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henning
As Gauss said, pauca sed matura (few but ripe).

When it comes to the number of programmers you need, I think the fewer the
better. The fewer daycoders and code monkeys, the better, at least.

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jcromartie
There are a number of kids in comp sci that are just in it to get a job when
they graduate. I've seen so many of my peers go through school and then just
give up programming. These kids fuel the JavaSchools, and when faced with a
_real_ comp sci program they are weeded out pretty quickly.

Unfortunately, the schools decided that programming students were too
profitable to weed out so many of them with real curriculum. That's when they
invented the MIS degree.

People are free to like what they like, but why would you clog up the schools
if you know you don't have a passion for it in the first place? My wife was
brave enough to switch majors after a few years of engineering school before
deciding that she just didn't have her heart in it. Other kids plodded along
just because they were close to a degree that they knew they would never use
anyway, but the piece of paper was more important than their happiness and
sanity.

P.S. This is a lot of observation from the "outside." I did 2 years of college
before I realized that my own ability to learn outstripped my school's ability
to teach. I got a hell of a head start on the few of my peers from high school
that decided to stick with programming.

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bkrausz
I had a funny discussion with my school's CS career center councilor (CCCC?)
about this. He told me about how he is being inundated with calls from tech
companies to the effect of "please please, do you have any more CS majors for
me!" Put a smile on my face. It's a happy time to be a CS major...almost
offsets the looming recession.

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big-j
My guess is that tech companies like recent grads because they can get away
with paying less ("interns welcome!"), and also the employee is usually not
married and doesn't have kids, so they can spend a lot of extra hours on the
job.

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boucher
Happy to be one of them.

