

Why is there an engineer shortage? - nphyte


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a3n
For hyper environments like SV, probably because there is a shortage of hyper
individuals in the general population.

For more general environments, it's probably not a shortage of engineers, just
a shortage of engineers who will enthusiastically work at the rates that
employers would prefer to pay.

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dozzie
I think there is also a different thing going on. Most companies expect their
hires to already have significant experience, but little are ready to train
new hires to match (future) needs. It's understandable where it comes from:
employees are not that loyal anymore, so any training would be an investment
that returns to somebody else.

On the other hand, times when companies were loyal to their employees are long
gone, and this is pretty much why employees switch jobs so often nowadays.

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chrisbennet
This gem from Joel On Software (2000) blog is very relevant:

 _" Now, let's review some microeconomics. In a free market, it is almost
axiomatic that the market always clears. That's a technical term that means
that when somebody tries to sell something, if they are willing to accept the
market price, they will be able to sell it, and when somebody wants to buy
something, if they are willing to pay the market price, they will be able to
buy it. It's just a matter of both sides accepting the market price.?"_

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Chinjut
Almost any situation described as a labor shortage is actually just a
complaint about the price of said labor. Offer a $10 million/year salary, and
see how easy it is to get the engineers you're keen on. "That would be a
ridiculously high salary", you say? Great, you've established my point; now
we're just haggling...

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S4M
Also with such a high salary, people would quit very quickly just because they
would be able to retire.

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Bahamut
A lot of companies don't care to train them anymore.

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moru0011
It's a matter of money and career perspective. Being a good software developer
requires a lot of learning. The job can be quite stressful and your knowledge
devalues continuously because of tech change. In the long run other
professions probably are more attractive, don't require permanent re-learning
and at least provide an option to climb up a career+$ ladder. Provide better
pay & conditions and you'll see more engineers.

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T-A
Is there? [http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/03/the-
myt...](http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/03/the-myth-of-the-
science-and-engineering-shortage/284359/)

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zakvyn
The question is too general. There are shortage for certain requirements of
engineer. For example experienced engineer to build self driving car is in
shortage, or engineer understand high speed trading.

I don't think there is a shortage for engineer without much real world
experiences.

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mailer
More realistically Why is there shortage of engineers who are young, smart
(no, not the looks), excellent on data structures and algorithms, has good
knowledge on bigdata, loves analytics, has awesome great frontend development
skills?

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bediger4000
Because large companies have come to falsely believe that supply and demand
don't apply to them. Large companies want people with Windows and Linux
experience, mostly to work on dreary Windows projects, at code-monkey prices.
Pay more, and you'll see more good candidates.

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byoung2
There are probably local shortages in certain areas like Silicon Valley, and a
surplus in others. the shortage wouldn't be as bad if remote work were more
common.

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arisAlexis
if you are asking why more people don't take up engineering I would tell you
that you need to think what percentage of the population has the cognitive
ability to write code day in/out and then filter the list for personal
characteristics,hobbies,jobs that were given to them, equal opportunities etc.
Then think of how much our society has switched focus to software development
in the last decade.

