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Every analogy that I have heard including the car one in the article totally misses the point. If you know nothing about cars and your mechanic is out to screw
by 300bps 13y ago
Every analogy that I have heard including the car one in the article totally misses the point.
If you know nothing about cars and your mechanic is out to screw you, your losses are pretty limited to the value of your car.
A company that I do side work for is out $250,000 from an IT project gone bad from a previous consultant. If he knew literally anything about coding, he would've spotted the tell-tale signs of a sheister early on and perhaps saved himself a quarter million dollars.
I don't know of a downside to kids learning basic coding. If they don't like it, don't do it anymore. But at least they'll have a baseline knowledge of it. I learned how to cook french toast and sew in home economics in school and I don't recall at the time articles like this saying how it's not necessary.
- sp332 13y agoAnd yet, we don't have home ec classes anymore. And no one knows how to make french toast even though it's pretty simple.
- JonFish85 13y agoJust to play devil's advocate a bit (I don't necessarily disagree with you), there is a danger in a little bit of knowledge. Mis-applied knowledge can be a terrible thing. I've worked with people who took one night-class in metal shop, and suddenly were giving tips to the industrial design people. If someone with a little bit of knowledge is in a position of power and decides, "No, we're doing this project in C because I took a class in C and the teacher said it's the most powerful language," then things are going to get ugly, fast. To use the mechanic example, it'd be similar to someone telling their mechanic to put 10W30 into their car because their cousin swears that it's the best oil around (I know nothing about cars).
- sliverstorm 13y agoI don't know of a downside to kids learning basic coding. The cynic in me says maybe people are so upset by the suggestion out of protection of their own interests, i.e. if everybody learns to code does that marginalize them & their cushy programming job?
- 300bps 13y agoThe cynic in me says maybe people are so upset by the suggestion out of protection of their own interests As a 41 year old who has worked in IT since I graduated high school at the age of 17, few people have more to lose than I do if there is an influx of new programmers willing to work for 10% of what I make. But I don't care about that. My parents struggled financially to buy me a Commodore 64 in 1982. If not for that decision on their part, I'd likely be in a very similar circumstance to most of the people I graduated high school with. With no degree, no marketable skills and making $10 per hour somewhere. I think other people should get a shot at the same chance I received.
- acchow 13y ago> few people have more to lose than I do if there is an influx of new programmers willing to work for 10% of what I make If you're 41, you've probably been in the industry for a while. If you reflect upon the past, you may notice that the massive increase in programmers in the past few decades has not decreased earnings for individuals. Instead, we've seen explosive growth in software's reach and productivity. Sure, they might be willing to make 10% of what you make, but some other company is offering 50%, and a third company is offering 120%... As long as software produces more than it costs to make, there will be increases in salary.
- randomdata 13y agoThe obvious downside (if you are a programmer) is that they will like it, and will want to pursue it professionally, thereby reducing programming to yet another saturated market with low pay and difficulty finding work. I think people come with cynicism because it is people who have the most to gain from a large and cheap programming workforce who are most vocal about it.