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The article gives as a potential reason for high developer compensation the possibility of a shortage of talent. That seems obvious to me, but the author goes o

The article gives as a potential reason for high developer compensation the possibility of a shortage of talent. That seems obvious to me, but the author goes on to suggest that if there was a shortage, you'd be seeing more people go into development. Does this actually happen? My understanding is that skill supply is simply not elastic in this way. Kids generally pick what to do based on their aptitude and what they like to do, remuneration is a distant secondary concern. Changing careers is something people only do when they absolutely have to. It appears altogether clear to me that supply and demand explains programming compensation perfectly, and that these dynamics aren't going to go away any time soon, for the same reason doctor and lawyer compensation stays healthy, lawyers less so.

ryanianian 9y ago
I've seen lots of teen-aged students take up an interest in coding simply because they heard it was a well-paying and in-demand career. It's no longer a nerd thing to do living in your parents' basement. This has likely steered some students who otherwise might have found a niche in other fields to try out coding and choose it as a career (out of both satisfaction and salary prospects).
sevensor 9y ago
> It appears altogether clear to me that supply and demand explains programming compensation perfectly My thoughts exactly. Demand for programming is growing faster than the supply of programmers. Not only is demand growing because ever more devices demand an ever-growing amount of software, but also because every already existing line of code in production needs somebody to keep it from falling over. This compounding effect further escalates demand.
southphillyman 9y ago
>My understanding is that skill supply is simply not elastic in this way. Kids generally pick what to do based on their aptitude and what they like to do, Right. You see this in 1st year CS major attrition rates and programming related MOOC completion rates.

ryanianian 9y ago

I've seen lots of teen-aged students take up an interest in coding simply because they heard it was a well-paying and in-demand career. It's no longer a nerd thing to do living in your parents' basement. This has likely steered some students who otherwise might have found a niche in other fields to try out coding and choose it as a career (out of both satisfaction and salary prospects).

sevensor 9y ago

> It appears altogether clear to me that supply and demand explains programming compensation perfectly My thoughts exactly. Demand for programming is growing faster than the supply of programmers. Not only is demand growing because ever more devices demand an ever-growing amount of software, but also because every already existing line of code in production needs somebody to keep it from falling over. This compounding effect further escalates demand.

southphillyman 9y ago

>My understanding is that skill supply is simply not elastic in this way. Kids generally pick what to do based on their aptitude and what they like to do, Right. You see this in 1st year CS major attrition rates and programming related MOOC completion rates.