Remember that in other fields like medicine, finance, academia, and law, getting in involves 5+ years of hoop jumping and commitment signaling that have nothing to do with the final job.
Genuinely curious, knowing nothing about this field: does, for example a neurosurgeon with 15 year of experience, when looking for a new place to work, have to pass surgery "challenges", like doing a lumbar puncture in 15 min on a fake body to prove his experience?
No, but the medical profession has a ridiculous amount of gatekeeping, so you can't become a neurosurgeon with 15 years of experience in the first place (there are maybe a few thousand worldwide). On the other hand anyone with a computer and a curious mind is a software engineer.
Let me answer your unknowable question with another one:
Which doctor would you prefer do surgery on your brain - the one that jumped through all the hoops and went to 15yrs of med school - or the one that learned brain surgery through a YouTube tutorial?
I think you know the answer.
The problem is not gatekeeping in general it’s the detail and nuance of how gates are being kept and how to find the right amount of gatekeeping.
> Which doctor would you prefer do surgery on your brain - the one that jumped through all the hoops and went to 15yrs of med school - or the one that learned brain surgery through a YouTube tutorial?
My answer is that I don't have access to what I'd really like to base that judgment upon: their success rate, adjusted for the difficulty of the procedure.
Simpler, less-risky procedures would therefore have a lower skill/experience bar.
Basically, I'd want someone with decades of experiences to remove a tumor deep inside my brain, but I'd be much more willing to use someone who learned via YouTube this time last year if I'd suffered a TBI and was experiencing swelling and intra-cranial pressure.
It would be great if there were certain specialized mini-doctor programs that focused on simple things like treating the least risky problems, maybe even with AI to help filter which problems need a “real doctor” vs a mini specialist.
No, but they'll ask for (and actually follow up on) references from their fellow surgeons, and check that they've passed their board exams, and that they're licensed in the state, and that they haven't had huge malpractice claims, and otherwise verify that the person is, in fact, actually a neurosurgeon who does neurosurgeon things in a hospital and is acceptably good at it.
It's not a perfect system, but it's a lot harder to fake being an experienced doctor than it is an experienced developer.
No, because the fact that a neurosurgeon with 15 years of experience is not in jail means they know what they're doing. Not the case for devs unfortunately.
I have a couple family members who are doctors. Medical school and residency were nightmares, but after that they are golden. One of them works one week a month and makes 400k. Others have pretty cushy 9-5s and are taking home ludicrous salaries. They are also pretty recession proof and their salaries are fairly immune to economic pressures. I don't think mass doctor layoffs happened in 2008 or 2022.
With software you never have to stop proving yourself, and your skillset is always a few years away from being outdated. A doctor with 20 years of experience would be welcomed anywhere, but an engineer with 20 years experience is viewed with trepidation. The next "big thing" could roll out at anytime and suddenly crypto engineers are getting 800k job offers so everyone furiously tries to learn crypto stuff. A few years later that all dries up and now you have 100k engineers who are out of work and learned tech that no one cares about anymore. All the LLM engineers might be in the same position next year.
Of course. They paid an enormous cost and beat other competitors for that privilege which is carefully guarded by regulation and certification boards.
No doubt software has more instability, but the trade off is that you don’t have to do that multi year grind. Easier fire, easier hire. Similar pay.
> skillset is always a few years away from being outdated.
I strongly disagree with this. In your example you use “crypto” and “llm”. If this is your skill set you are fad chasing and needlessly increasing your exposure to changing markets.
Engineers solve problems by applying math and science expertise. This is a timeless skill.
Dunno, all my "normal" engineering job interviews just revolved around my previous work, going through big picture design problems, and specific things related to the job.
Didn't have to solve PDE's on the whiteboard, or regurgitate integral transformations.
True, but someone with 10+ years in those fields doesn't face an interview asking them to prescribe treatment for a cold or explain the difference between civil and criminal law.
Yes, and the medical licensing board is in charge of that, not the employer, and every doctor is evaluated to the same standards. Also, doctors are only one of the professions mentioned.
Somehow in programming every interview starts from the assumption that the candidate must prove competence to the employer, and the employer decides what "competent" means.
It’s not insane for companies to filter candidates. More people want to be highly paid software engineers than positions available.
The insane thing would be to expect someone to take you at your word for 150k*, when hiring managers know that 50-70% of people with your resume fail to write a nested for loop.
We are blessed.