High School students in Chicago will have to take a computer science class in order to graduate, starting with the fall freshman class. Is this the right way to promote tech literacy? Do we have enough teacher’s for this? Tom Merritt and Justin Young discuss.
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Show Notes
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Re: 2697,
I always cringe when I hear anyone say “we just can’t find qualified candidates” when talking about hiring developers. What they usually mean is that it’s hard to find someone with 10 years of experience in the exact development environment they’re using who is also willing to work for entry-level pay.
Modern employers are unwilling to offer any training to any employees, to the extent that they consider you unqualified if you’re an expert on version 4 of some product, but they’re using version 5.
And, when they offer only entry level salaries for senior level positions, yes, they will have a hard time finding qualified candidates. Their solution is virtually always an H1B visaed worker.
I have worked as a software developer for 42 years, and have seen many of my ex-colleagues have to change careers when, despite being competent programmers, could not find new positions due either to salary requirements, lack of specific skill-set, or just ageism.
There is an excess of qualified talent out there. They’re just not cheap enough or don’t have recent experience with the exact toolset in use. But, I have to ask a prospective employer, “after doing this for over 4 decades, which part exactly do you think I’m going to have difficulty with.”
Fortunately, I’ve been able to keep finding new jobs, in large part because I’ve always made less than my peers, but that’s a rather thin victory.
Signed,
Dr. Curmudgeon
Co-executive producer.