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"Already more Americans are making their primary income from posting their opinions than Americans working as computer programmers ..." There is absolutely no

"Already more Americans are making their primary income from posting their opinions than Americans working as computer programmers ..." There is absolutely no way that this is true. They say that "452,000 [use blogging] as their primary source of income." I would be very surprised to find less than half a million programers are working in the US.

nostrademons 18y ago
It's false, but it's not off by much. As of 2002, there were 562,700 programmers in the U.S: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/43888.html http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/43888.html 2002 was the last year they had full data for the series ID given there (I checked at the Bureau of Labor Statisics), but it had been stable for a few years. I wouldn't be surprised if blogging crosses over within the next couple years. It's a very labor-intensive profession, and as the article notes, many people will pay for a friendly opinion.
- dreish 18y ago
  I'm not sure how a source from 2002 proves false a citation of a source from 2007. Edit: Look, whoever keeps downvoting this, would you PLEASE read the sources? Is that too much to ask? See my other comment below, explaining how the article arrived at its number, and why it doesn't sound right. It's really disappointing to see HN devolve into such sloppy thinking.
  - deleted 18y ago
    [deleted]
  - dreish 18y ago
    (Also, sorry to complain about getting downvoted.)
dreish 18y ago
That depends on how determined you are to exaggerate the point, I guess. In the latest stats from the BLS: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/table1.pdf http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/table1.pdf there is a line item labeled "computer programmers" giving the number so employed as 394,710. However, I think most people would include the two categories of "computer software engineers", bringing the total to 1,239,660 (still not including researchers and people with more nebulous titles, many of whom, I imagine, would identify themselves programmers).

nostrademons 18y ago

It's false, but it's not off by much. As of 2002, there were 562,700 programmers in the U.S: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/43888.html http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/43888.html 2002 was the last year they had full data for the series ID given there (I checked at the Bureau of Labor Statisics), but it had been stable for a few years. I wouldn't be surprised if blogging crosses over within the next couple years. It's a very labor-intensive profession, and as the article notes, many people will pay for a friendly opinion.

dreish 18y ago
I'm not sure how a source from 2002 proves false a citation of a source from 2007. Edit: Look, whoever keeps downvoting this, would you PLEASE read the sources? Is that too much to ask? See my other comment below, explaining how the article arrived at its number, and why it doesn't sound right. It's really disappointing to see HN devolve into such sloppy thinking.
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
- dreish 18y ago
  (Also, sorry to complain about getting downvoted.)

dreish 18y ago

That depends on how determined you are to exaggerate the point, I guess. In the latest stats from the BLS: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/table1.pdf http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/table1.pdf there is a line item labeled "computer programmers" giving the number so employed as 394,710. However, I think most people would include the two categories of "computer software engineers", bringing the total to 1,239,660 (still not including researchers and people with more nebulous titles, many of whom, I imagine, would identify themselves programmers).