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I think it's overblown, but consider most other fields, even most other STEM fields, and how often people working in them come from a hobbyist background. How m

I think it's overblown, but consider most other fields, even most other STEM fields, and how often people working in them come from a hobbyist background. How many hobby chemists, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, etc. are there? Those are more expensive, dangerous, or involved to get into as children. Today's future software engineers already have everything they need to do pretty much anything that a full time professional would do at work. It's not that computer people are better, smarter, or more passionate than other professionals. It's just that the barrier to entry (in the 1st world) is just based on your interest level.

throwaway5959 3y ago
To be fair to other industries, the barrier to entry of being a hobbiest chemical or mechanical engineer before going to school is a bit higher. Unless I’m underestimating the number of folks with laboratories in their parents basements. ;)
- teaearlgraycold 3y ago
  That's my point.
  - throwaway5959 3y ago
    Hmmm, I didn’t see some text before that I see now, maybe I missed it.
    - teaearlgraycold 3y ago
      I might have edited something in immediately after posting. I do that often.
starcraft2wol 3y ago
I think that's true of a lot of those fields, but a counterexamples is the many electronics tinkers in the first half the 20th century that occupied that same culture that computers do now.
- teaearlgraycold 3y ago
  RadioShack was a pretty good resource for those hobbyists. I was also an electronics hobbyists as a kid, and RadioShack was a critical part of that. Today I don’t think they sell any discrete components. They used to have shelves upon shelves. So with that availability combined with the rapid prototyping ability of breadboards I’m not surprised that plenty of electronics hobbyists could exist.
  - starcraft2wol 3y ago
    Chicken and egg. The store didn't make the hobby, even if it made it more accessible.

throwaway5959 3y ago

To be fair to other industries, the barrier to entry of being a hobbiest chemical or mechanical engineer before going to school is a bit higher. Unless I’m underestimating the number of folks with laboratories in their parents basements. ;)

teaearlgraycold 3y ago
That's my point.
- throwaway5959 3y ago
  Hmmm, I didn’t see some text before that I see now, maybe I missed it.
  - teaearlgraycold 3y ago
    I might have edited something in immediately after posting. I do that often.

starcraft2wol 3y ago

I think that's true of a lot of those fields, but a counterexamples is the many electronics tinkers in the first half the 20th century that occupied that same culture that computers do now.

teaearlgraycold 3y ago
RadioShack was a pretty good resource for those hobbyists. I was also an electronics hobbyists as a kid, and RadioShack was a critical part of that. Today I don’t think they sell any discrete components. They used to have shelves upon shelves. So with that availability combined with the rapid prototyping ability of breadboards I’m not surprised that plenty of electronics hobbyists could exist.
- starcraft2wol 3y ago
  Chicken and egg. The store didn't make the hobby, even if it made it more accessible.