There are already more coders than are needed. What there aren't enough of are leaders who are smart enough to recognize this. I cringe at the thought that sof

There are already more coders than are needed. What there aren't enough of are leaders who are smart enough to recognize this. I cringe at the thought that software engineering could become a "blue collar" profession. Systems have become needlessly over-complicated and this is driving an increase in demand for coders. As companies hire more coders; their systems get more features but they also grow in complexity (particularly if they hire junior coders). Non-technical managers are often not knowledgeable enough about programming/architecture to see that their systems are more complicated than they need to be and never bother to rein-in the complexity. So basically as the complexity increases and becomes harder to manage, companies hire more coders but those coders are a double-edged sword because whilst helping to manage existing complexity, they also add new complexity on the side. Unlike with most other professions, in software development/engineering, there is no limit as to how many people you can throw at a problem; that's because there is no limit to system complexity and richness of features but the law of diminishing returns still applies.