4 ms·

There are vanishingly few good programmers anywhere. SV has more because it attracted them from around the world. In my experience college education has nothi

There are vanishingly few good programmers anywhere. SV has more because it attracted them from around the world. In my experience college education has nothing to do with who is really a good programmer. Sure MIT grads are better than average, but that's because they have a reputation to attract the people that are the most interested in it. CS fundamentals definitely make you a better programmer and able to solve harder problems, but it's somewhat orthogonal to the daily grind of keeping a mental model of a large obtuse system in your head while solving hundred arcane micro-hurdles one after another.

golergka 5y ago
Eastern Europe and Israel seem to have a decent proportion.
- dasil003 5y ago
  My hypothesis there would be cultural factors drawing out a greater percentage of those with the potential.
  - rory 5y ago
    In eastern europe it's pretty simple. The collapse of the soviet union left a strong education system and also poverty. Learning to program is one of the most straightforward and doable ways to a good income, so lots of people do it. Israel is probably a knock-on effect of that, since most (jewish) israelis are (or descend from) eastern european migrants.
    - golergka 5y ago
      > most (jewish) israelis are (or descend from) eastern european That's a popular, but unfortunate misconception. Majority of Jewish Israelis are Mizrahim that immigrated from middle eastern countries, running from persecution by Muslims.
      - rory 5y ago
        Huh, thanks. Wiki says it's about 50/50, fwiw.
908B64B197 5y ago
> SV has more because it attracted them from around the world. There's also a filter here: To immigrate to the US as a dev you need to be able to secure a job as a dev, and the employer must be willing to sponsor you. That puts the bar way higher.
chbloss 5y ago
I hear this often and I realize that there are not enough programmers to meet the demand, however I have seen estimates of at least 500,000 software engineers working for large tech companies in the United States. It seems like that is a large number of people that presumably passed difficult algorithm-based interviews. Are programmers really that rare in this day and age?

golergka 5y ago

Eastern Europe and Israel seem to have a decent proportion.

dasil003 5y ago
My hypothesis there would be cultural factors drawing out a greater percentage of those with the potential.
- rory 5y ago
  In eastern europe it's pretty simple. The collapse of the soviet union left a strong education system and also poverty. Learning to program is one of the most straightforward and doable ways to a good income, so lots of people do it. Israel is probably a knock-on effect of that, since most (jewish) israelis are (or descend from) eastern european migrants.
  - golergka 5y ago
    > most (jewish) israelis are (or descend from) eastern european That's a popular, but unfortunate misconception. Majority of Jewish Israelis are Mizrahim that immigrated from middle eastern countries, running from persecution by Muslims.
    - rory 5y ago
      Huh, thanks. Wiki says it's about 50/50, fwiw.

908B64B197 5y ago

> SV has more because it attracted them from around the world. There's also a filter here: To immigrate to the US as a dev you need to be able to secure a job as a dev, and the employer must be willing to sponsor you. That puts the bar way higher.

chbloss 5y ago

I hear this often and I realize that there are not enough programmers to meet the demand, however I have seen estimates of at least 500,000 software engineers working for large tech companies in the United States. It seems like that is a large number of people that presumably passed difficult algorithm-based interviews. Are programmers really that rare in this day and age?