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No one even talks about a crisis of too few English majors. That seems to be beyond dispute. So maybe there is a bit more of a kernel of truth to the idea that
by tokenadult 13y ago
No one even talks about a crisis of too few English majors. That seems to be beyond dispute. So maybe there is a bit more of a kernel of truth to the idea that some (perhaps not all) STEM occupations have a limited supply of capable workers.
- dnautics 13y agolimited supply of capable workers, yes. 100% agree. But if you have an oversupply of workers in general, out of which it's difficult to tell which ones are capable, then what?
- tokenadult 13y agoA fair question. Use research-based hiring procedures https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5227923 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5227923 to sift through the many persons with degrees (or even without degrees) to find the smaller number of persons who can actually do the job. Key idea: use a work-sample test to hire for any job.
- dnautics 13y agoyou can't really do that for biology or chemistry.
- jazzyk 13y agoUnlike English majors, software job requirements change practically quarterly. Companies (mostly start-ups) always appear to look for min 2-year experience in some latest, hottest, tech/framework, which has barely even been available that long. If someone out there happens to have that skill, s/he will ask for a decent (but not outrageous) salary/rate for a (temporarily) rare skill. Companies looking are not willing to pay that(the CEO needs to get his $2M bonus, after all). So there is your "limited supply". Maybe, just maybe a couple of passionate employees could be quickly trained? What a radical idea....