

Software developers becoming scarce - dlnovell
http://www.sdtimes.com/link/33548

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pj
_Burd speculated that one factor behind the increase he sees is the greater
adoption of mobile devices and consumer electronics. Mobile devices are
putting computers in the forefront of people’s lives the same way that PCs did
in the 1980s, he said._

So kids want to be computer scientists so they can build iPhone apps...
Colleges are going to have to start teaching Objective C now?

I don't know... I used to think teaching that low level stuff like assembly
and verilog were bad ideas, but the more I think about it, the more I realize
it really shapes the mind into a programming machine. Learning the high level
stuff is pretty easy once the low level foundations are instilled in the mind.

Kids coming out of college today don't understand linked lists or binary trees
or sort algorithms. You don't have to be able to code all of them from
scratch, but understanding those concepts expands the mind and actually makes
"real world" programming easier because you can understand the ramifications
of your decisions.

~~~
thetrumanshow
I'm sure back in the MS-DOS era someone said the same things about college
students needing to learn vacuum tubes and punch cards before moving on to
high level languages such as BASIC.

~~~
pj
The issue is "skill development" vs "mind development" BASIC, or any
particular language is a skill.

~~~
cmos
I had to teach a new college grad (comp sci) working in my office what DOS
was. He didn't like to fiddle with 'computer stuff'.

As I was walking him through 'CD' and 'mkdir' I almost had him type 'format
c:' just to see what would happen.

So, some basics should be taught.

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nathanwdavis
This article talks about the supply side of the developer job market. The next
logical question is "what is the state of the demand side of the developer job
market"?

If demand is the same as it was before, then this is good for existing
developers.

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dlnovell
Scarce? I'm right here! And I need a new job!

~~~
kragen
But there aren't very many of you! I mean, we've all spent some time looking
for jobs, right? Even the best of us.

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mojuba
I think what's happening is not just "spending situation".

One of the paradoxes of this industry is that same work within the same time
frame can be done by a group of 30 developers or by a small group of 3-4
developers. Same work, same time frame. There is a number of reasons for this,
obvious or not, but the paradox I'm talking about is not why this is true, but
rather _why bloated companies still exist_.

So I think what's happening is the laws of free market have just started
fixing this situation gradually. Smaller companies will be winning more often,
as well as languages and tools that suit rapid, focused development in small
groups.

(P.S. Edit: I can't believe I said "rapid, focused", sounds like a cheap press
release.)

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edw519
_Good_ software developers have always been scarce.

~~~
jodrellblank
I can't read the article.

"Server Error in '/' Application. Runtime Error Description: An application
error occurred on the server."

 _sigh_

~~~
Evgeny
You can copy and paste the link into google and try "cached". This link worked
for me:

[http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:3eeGFk9AvA8J:www.sdtime...](http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:3eeGFk9AvA8J:www.sdtimes.com/content/article.aspx%3FArticleID%3D33548+http://www.sdtimes.com/link/33548&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au)

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chaostheory
“The major driver to the decrease in the forecast is the whole communications
and IT spending situation,” Andrews said. “That comes as no surprise to
anyone.”

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Technophilis
Indeed, I guess the website needs a sysadmin. The web server is down :)

~~~
jeroen
The server is up, but the asp.net code is throwing an error.

Google cache:
[http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:3eeGFk9AvA8J:www.sdtimes...](http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:3eeGFk9AvA8J:www.sdtimes.com/content/article.aspx%3FArticleID%3D33548+scarce+site:sdtimes.com&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk)

