5 ms·

Software developers becoming scarce

24 points by dlnovell 17y ago

dlnovell 17y ago
Scarce? I'm right here! And I need a new job!
- kragen 17y ago
  But there aren't very many of you! I mean, we've all spent some time looking for jobs, right? Even the best of us.
- omnipath 17y ago
  What are you doing in your free time? (Off-topic, but I don't know how to private contact him.)
Technophilis 17y ago
Indeed, I guess the website needs a sysadmin. The web server is down :)
- jeroen 17y ago
  The server is up, but the asp.net code is throwing an error. Google cache: http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:3eeGFk9AvA8J:www.sdtimes.com/content/article.aspx%3FArticleID%3D33548+scarce+site:sdtimes.com&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:3eeGFk9AvA8J:www.sdtimes...
chaostheory 17y ago
“The major driver to the decrease in the forecast is the whole communications and IT spending situation,” Andrews said. “That comes as no surprise to anyone.”
edw519 17y ago
Good software developers have always been scarce.
- Retric 17y ago
  True, but by increased scarceity they mean slower growth. research pointing to a decline in software developers. In its 2009 Global Developer Population and Demographics Study, released in May, Evans Data revised downward its prior forecasts of developer growth for several major industrial regions, including North America, Western Europe and Japan.
- mojuba 17y ago
  Now bad ones will be scarce, too.
- jodrellblank 17y ago
  I can't read the article. "Server Error in '/' Application. Runtime Error Description: An application error occurred on the server." sigh
  - Evgeny 17y ago
    You can copy and paste the link into google and try "cached". This link worked for me: http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:3eeGFk9AvA8J:www.sdtimes.com/content/article.aspx%3FArticleID%3D33548+http://www.sdtimes.com/link/33548&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:3eeGFk9AvA8J:www.sdtime...
pj 17y ago
Burd speculated that one factor behind the increase he sees is the greater adoption of mobile devices and consumer electronics. Mobile devices are putting computers in the forefront of people’s lives the same way that PCs did in the 1980s, he said. So kids want to be computer scientists so they can build iPhone apps... Colleges are going to have to start teaching Objective C now? I don't know... I used to think teaching that low level stuff like assembly and verilog were bad ideas, but the more I think about it, the more I realize it really shapes the mind into a programming machine. Learning the high level stuff is pretty easy once the low level foundations are instilled in the mind. Kids coming out of college today don't understand linked lists or binary trees or sort algorithms. You don't have to be able to code all of them from scratch, but understanding those concepts expands the mind and actually makes "real world" programming easier because you can understand the ramifications of your decisions.
- thetrumanshow 17y ago
  I'm sure back in the MS-DOS era someone said the same things about college students needing to learn vacuum tubes and punch cards before moving on to high level languages such as BASIC.
  - pj 17y ago
    The issue is "skill development" vs "mind development" BASIC, or any particular language is a skill.
    - cmos 17y ago
      I had to teach a new college grad (comp sci) working in my office what DOS was. He didn't like to fiddle with 'computer stuff'. As I was walking him through 'CD' and 'mkdir' I almost had him type 'format c:' just to see what would happen. So, some basics should be taught.
- cstejerean 17y ago
  I agree with you about needing to teach low level things like data structures and algorithms, but I don't see why teaching Objective-C would be a bad idea. If anything it's lower level than Java in that you can still teach people about pointers and memory allocation, etc.
nathanwdavis 17y ago
This article talks about the supply side of the developer job market. The next logical question is "what is the state of the demand side of the developer job market"? If demand is the same as it was before, then this is good for existing developers.
mojuba 17y ago
I think what's happening is not just "spending situation". One of the paradoxes of this industry is that same work within the same time frame can be done by a group of 30 developers or by a small group of 3-4 developers. Same work, same time frame. There is a number of reasons for this, obvious or not, but the paradox I'm talking about is not why this is true, but rather why bloated companies still exist. So I think what's happening is the laws of free market have just started fixing this situation gradually. Smaller companies will be winning more often, as well as languages and tools that suit rapid, focused development in small groups. (P.S. Edit: I can't believe I said "rapid, focused", sounds like a cheap press release.)

24 points by dlnovell 17y ago

dlnovell 17y ago

Scarce? I'm right here! And I need a new job!

kragen 17y ago
But there aren't very many of you! I mean, we've all spent some time looking for jobs, right? Even the best of us.
omnipath 17y ago
What are you doing in your free time? (Off-topic, but I don't know how to private contact him.)

Technophilis 17y ago

Indeed, I guess the website needs a sysadmin. The web server is down :)

jeroen 17y ago
The server is up, but the asp.net code is throwing an error. Google cache: http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:3eeGFk9AvA8J:www.sdtimes.com/content/article.aspx%3FArticleID%3D33548+scarce+site:sdtimes.com&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:3eeGFk9AvA8J:www.sdtimes...

chaostheory 17y ago

“The major driver to the decrease in the forecast is the whole communications and IT spending situation,” Andrews said. “That comes as no surprise to anyone.”

edw519 17y ago

Good software developers have always been scarce.

Retric 17y ago
True, but by increased scarceity they mean slower growth. research pointing to a decline in software developers. In its 2009 Global Developer Population and Demographics Study, released in May, Evans Data revised downward its prior forecasts of developer growth for several major industrial regions, including North America, Western Europe and Japan.
mojuba 17y ago
Now bad ones will be scarce, too.
jodrellblank 17y ago
I can't read the article. "Server Error in '/' Application. Runtime Error Description: An application error occurred on the server." sigh
- Evgeny 17y ago
  You can copy and paste the link into google and try "cached". This link worked for me: http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:3eeGFk9AvA8J:www.sdtimes.com/content/article.aspx%3FArticleID%3D33548+http://www.sdtimes.com/link/33548&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:3eeGFk9AvA8J:www.sdtime...

pj 17y ago

Burd speculated that one factor behind the increase he sees is the greater adoption of mobile devices and consumer electronics. Mobile devices are putting computers in the forefront of people’s lives the same way that PCs did in the 1980s, he said. So kids want to be computer scientists so they can build iPhone apps... Colleges are going to have to start teaching Objective C now? I don't know... I used to think teaching that low level stuff like assembly and verilog were bad ideas, but the more I think about it, the more I realize it really shapes the mind into a programming machine. Learning the high level stuff is pretty easy once the low level foundations are instilled in the mind. Kids coming out of college today don't understand linked lists or binary trees or sort algorithms. You don't have to be able to code all of them from scratch, but understanding those concepts expands the mind and actually makes "real world" programming easier because you can understand the ramifications of your decisions.

thetrumanshow 17y ago
I'm sure back in the MS-DOS era someone said the same things about college students needing to learn vacuum tubes and punch cards before moving on to high level languages such as BASIC.
- pj 17y ago
  The issue is "skill development" vs "mind development" BASIC, or any particular language is a skill.
  - cmos 17y ago
    I had to teach a new college grad (comp sci) working in my office what DOS was. He didn't like to fiddle with 'computer stuff'. As I was walking him through 'CD' and 'mkdir' I almost had him type 'format c:' just to see what would happen. So, some basics should be taught.
cstejerean 17y ago
I agree with you about needing to teach low level things like data structures and algorithms, but I don't see why teaching Objective-C would be a bad idea. If anything it's lower level than Java in that you can still teach people about pointers and memory allocation, etc.

nathanwdavis 17y ago

This article talks about the supply side of the developer job market. The next logical question is "what is the state of the demand side of the developer job market"? If demand is the same as it was before, then this is good for existing developers.

mojuba 17y ago

I think what's happening is not just "spending situation". One of the paradoxes of this industry is that same work within the same time frame can be done by a group of 30 developers or by a small group of 3-4 developers. Same work, same time frame. There is a number of reasons for this, obvious or not, but the paradox I'm talking about is not why this is true, but rather why bloated companies still exist. So I think what's happening is the laws of free market have just started fixing this situation gradually. Smaller companies will be winning more often, as well as languages and tools that suit rapid, focused development in small groups. (P.S. Edit: I can't believe I said "rapid, focused", sounds like a cheap press release.)