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Not only interesting, a concerning trend for tech professionals in the Valley who have become accustomed to being able to walk into any job they want and make a

Not only interesting, a concerning trend for tech professionals in the Valley who have become accustomed to being able to walk into any job they want and make a fortune doing it. Employers only worry about placing arbitrary requirements on jobs when they are receiving more applications for jobs than they can handle. The requirements become a fast way to cull the numbers to more manageable levels for personal review. That they are now seeing more applications than they can handle highlights that competition is starting to heat up, and with more competition comes more difficulty in finding work and lower prices as people start to undercut each other to secure a position. The stereotypical college dropout lifestyle goes part and parcel with the get rich quick view of the Valley. Even five years ago nobody would have ever suggested a tech job in the Valley requires a degree. It wasn't that many years ago that we used to joke that tech employers in the Valley preferred people without a degree. According to the article, that is no longer the case. When one starts to fade, so does the other. But it is all bound to happen eventually. After all, the cure for high prices is high prices.

dsfyu404ed 9y ago
>a concerning trend for tech professionals in the Valley who have become accustomed to being able to walk into any job they want and make a fortune doing it. Bubbles pop and fools get hurt when they do. Water is wet.
throwawayjava 9y ago
> According to the article, that is no longer the case I think this thread is confusing "degree or equivalent knowledge" with "no really honest to god you don't need a degree". Mid-tech is the latter. Consider the examples given in the article: "...computer systems analyst, computer network architects, and support specialist..." The Midwest is not replete with jobs held by self-taught software engineers. It's replete with jobs (dubbed mid-tech) that don't require the self-teaching in the first place.
- randomdata 9y ago
  > It's replete with jobs (dubbed mid-tech) that don't require the self-teaching in the first place. I worked in a job that seems to match the description of computer network architect in high school. It certainly required a fair amount of self-teaching (in my case; I suppose one could replace that with college or on-the-job instruction). Knowledge provided by a source of some kind was necessary. One is typically not born knowing how to do that type of work. Does a job that does not require teaching (self or otherwise) even exist? I have family in the manufacturing business that I occasionally help out with when they are short-staffed as a favor. From the outside the job looks about as menial as it gets, but actually stepping in and helping leaves me appreciating what those people are capable of doing with the knowledge they have. There is no way, with my limited knowledge and ability in that industry, I'd be hired to work for them if they weren't desperate. I farm on the side and that is the most intense ramp-up of knowledge requirements I have ever experienced. That experience has been like learning CS and software engineering, forgetting everything you learned, and repeating several more times. And still feeling like you don't know what you are doing. I've been farming for 10 years now and I still feel like a newbie. After 10 years of software development, while I recognized that there is still more to learn, I at least felt pretty confident in having progressed in my knowledge and abilities to a more advanced level. I don't know that anyone who claims farming requires a degree. If degree here simply means requires an education of some kind, not specifically a degree from an accredited institution, then I'm not sure that there is a job out there that doesn't match that description in SV, the mid-west, or anywhere else. The only explanation here seems to be the expectations of employers, who trend towards setting more arbitrary expectations as the competition for the work increases. If you only have one applicant, you simply can't be choosy about who you hire.
  - throwawayjava 9y ago
    > I worked in a job that seems to match the description of computer network architect in high school. I worked a job like this in high school. Pretty sure I could've done it earlier, and learning the job was pretty easy. In contrast, I did some software work in high school as well and was out of my depth (thankfully it worked out). > Does a job that does not require teaching (self or otherwise) even exist? I guess it's a matter of degree.

dsfyu404ed 9y ago

>a concerning trend for tech professionals in the Valley who have become accustomed to being able to walk into any job they want and make a fortune doing it. Bubbles pop and fools get hurt when they do. Water is wet.

throwawayjava 9y ago

> According to the article, that is no longer the case I think this thread is confusing "degree or equivalent knowledge" with "no really honest to god you don't need a degree". Mid-tech is the latter. Consider the examples given in the article: "...computer systems analyst, computer network architects, and support specialist..." The Midwest is not replete with jobs held by self-taught software engineers. It's replete with jobs (dubbed mid-tech) that don't require the self-teaching in the first place.

randomdata 9y ago
> It's replete with jobs (dubbed mid-tech) that don't require the self-teaching in the first place. I worked in a job that seems to match the description of computer network architect in high school. It certainly required a fair amount of self-teaching (in my case; I suppose one could replace that with college or on-the-job instruction). Knowledge provided by a source of some kind was necessary. One is typically not born knowing how to do that type of work. Does a job that does not require teaching (self or otherwise) even exist? I have family in the manufacturing business that I occasionally help out with when they are short-staffed as a favor. From the outside the job looks about as menial as it gets, but actually stepping in and helping leaves me appreciating what those people are capable of doing with the knowledge they have. There is no way, with my limited knowledge and ability in that industry, I'd be hired to work for them if they weren't desperate. I farm on the side and that is the most intense ramp-up of knowledge requirements I have ever experienced. That experience has been like learning CS and software engineering, forgetting everything you learned, and repeating several more times. And still feeling like you don't know what you are doing. I've been farming for 10 years now and I still feel like a newbie. After 10 years of software development, while I recognized that there is still more to learn, I at least felt pretty confident in having progressed in my knowledge and abilities to a more advanced level. I don't know that anyone who claims farming requires a degree. If degree here simply means requires an education of some kind, not specifically a degree from an accredited institution, then I'm not sure that there is a job out there that doesn't match that description in SV, the mid-west, or anywhere else. The only explanation here seems to be the expectations of employers, who trend towards setting more arbitrary expectations as the competition for the work increases. If you only have one applicant, you simply can't be choosy about who you hire.
- throwawayjava 9y ago
  > I worked in a job that seems to match the description of computer network architect in high school. I worked a job like this in high school. Pretty sure I could've done it earlier, and learning the job was pretty easy. In contrast, I did some software work in high school as well and was out of my depth (thankfully it worked out). > Does a job that does not require teaching (self or otherwise) even exist? I guess it's a matter of degree.