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>Do we have 8x more demand for software than current developers can currently supply? No, we don’t. Demand for software has been pretty elastic historically. I
by foldr 8mo ago
>Do we have 8x more demand for software than current developers can currently supply? No, we don’t.
Demand for software has been pretty elastic historically. In 1970, the quantity of software that's written now would have seemed absurd (and demand for that amount of software certainly didn't exist back then). I don't know if there'll be another huge increase in the amount of software that gets written or not, but it doesn't seem so implausible. For example, there's a long tail of Excel spreadsheets waiting to be turned into applications. The cheaper it becomes to do that, the more of these spreadsheets become suitable candidates for appification.
- DrewADesign 8mo agoAnd what good does today’s software demand do for late career developers laid off during the .com bust? Just in time to have the derivatives shenanigans kill their retirement accounts right when they needed them? The fact that companies making more money than ever are laying off software engineers indicates that at the very least, this demand isn’t imminent. I don’t think it even makes sense to imagine there’s going to be another internet revolution in the near future. I don’t care about the health of the industry — that will do fine. I’m more concerned with the wellbeing of people pretty likely about to get run over by the productivity train. People’s mortgages, cancer treatments, tuition for kids, and retirement plans don’t care if Microsoft is doing great in 10 years if there’s 8 years until the market needs them again.
- foldr 8mo agoThis isn't the first time in history that companies have laid off software engineers. Late career software engineers are in a much better position economically than most people.