I was relieved to see this line: "He goes on to point out that most computer science students transition directly from graduate school to an industry job, as op

I was relieved to see this line: "He goes on to point out that most computer science students transition directly from graduate school to an industry job, as opposed to a teaching position, because of the stark contrast in employment incentives and opportunities." Ok, good, we don't have to have the discussion about why it makes no sense to discuss a shortage without discussing pay, career stability, and working conditions. One possible suggestion - why not start hiring people with academic MS degrees? I know this is an anathema in many academic circles, but I really do think that the PhD + post doc has become "normal" mainly because of a saturated academic job market. Law professors often have 3 year JDs. Are they dumber than PhD professors? There's no reason you can't grow into a research job as you do it. There's no reason you have to be an underpaid postdoc prior to become a paid member of a tenure track series. Here's an idea - leverage the concept of a librarian series. Librarians are often considered faculty, with a masters degree, who can have primary investigator status under many conditions, tenure, sabbaticals. If the problem is getting enough educators, why not hire the MS in CS or related fields to mainly teach with enough autonomy to engage in research. Keep in mind, we'd still be requiring an academic MS with thesis. I'm skeptical of this "factor of 5" claim, but if things really are as bad as they seem, then that's good! Maybe we can start requiring the credentials that are actually required, rather than credentials that are part of an arms race in an excessively crowded and saturated field.