Slashdot Mirror
Is Programming a Dead End Job?
Embedded Geek asks: "There's an interesting opinion piece at Embedded Systems Magazine about [embedded] programming being a dead end job. The author cites burnout ('Pushing ones and zeroes around doesn't sound like a lot of work, but getting each and every one of a hundred million perfect is tremendously difficult.'), prestige, and skill obsolescence as big reasons for programmers to quit or to go 'over to the dark side' and join management or marketing positions. While the piece primarily addresses embedded programmers, the issue is rising for IT workers and other tech workers. When the age issue is combined with the export of jobs offshore, it makes me nervous just to be pushing 35..." Even though the market is going thru a rough patch, and the number of detrimental aspects to programming are increasing (ageism and so forth), I still do not feel that programming is a dead end job. Computers are going nowhere folks, and as long as they are around, programmers will be necessary. People who are in this career for the money or the prestige may not like it after a while, but the people who are in this for something else will tolerate quite a bit before deciding to opt out. The simple measure here: "as long as you love doing it, you'll keep doing it." Isn't this true for any career?
What?!? Dude, you have some serious hero-worship problems.
Bill Gates sucked as a programmer. He was hardly a genius "back in the day." He used public-domain code to port BASIC to the Altair. That was about it.
Now, he ported BASIC to the Altair, a machine to which he didn't have access yet. But you know how he did it? Paul Allen wrote an Altair emulator. *Paul Allen.* This was the hard part, to write an emulator for a machine to which you only have specs, and no access. Billy G. did nothing but use Mr. Allen's genius to his benefit. This is his real strength: knowing how and when to use people.
As far as his job as chie software architect goes: that's a PR move. He did that to distance himself as the head of the company during the height of the anti-trust trial. Just a PR move, like the month they took off to "secure" their code.
Bill Gates was hardly a genius. His code was mediocre, at best. Kind of like your post.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
I programmed for 16 years and had the time of my life. I enjoyed the challenge of complex problem solving, I became an expert in Assembler, C, C++ and Java/J2EE and in in OO modeling. I held the title of architect for the last few years I programmed. I felt as if I had the ultimate career.
Last year I spent mostly unemployed unable barely get a response to my resume. I recently landed a job as a UNIX SYstems administrator which I believe is not a dead end career. Otherwise I would be working retail at minimum wage.
Here's why Programming is a dead end career.
Note: programming itself is fullfilling but a career is needed to make a living.
1. Systems integration is eclipsing software development, the classic build vs buy. Why reinvent the wheel? In the old days everything was proprietary and software development was needed to build systems. Today more open systems allow for components to be acquired and assembled with little or no software development needed. As this trend continues and proprietary systems die off even less software development will be needed.
UNIX was the first of the open systems trend and the domination open source is the end game.
2. Rates on the East coast have fallen into the $20's range and will continue to fall because of lack of demand and greater supply. Just ask anyone collecting programmers resumes what the supply is at this time and this will continue to accelerate in the future. Econ 101.
3. India is now charging $6 an hour for contract work ( see the wired link from the original story), and China is now competing for $3 an hour. ( The actual programmers make about $1.50 an hour ). This is about $3000/yr, try to live on that amount. These people would be glad to work for minimum wage in your country since it would be 4x their salary.
4. Programming is a young persons job because young people are more easily exploited because of lack of business experience, ( worthless stock options, long hours ). After a while in the business you can recognize a "sweat shop" in the interview process. I believe this is the core problem with age discrimination.
5. Most hiring managers believe you can will not take a pay cut no matter how desperate you are. All those great raises that programmers deserve will eventually price them of the market.
6. The mid 90's philosopy of empowering the programmers to become more productive has given way to programmer as a body that can be easily replaced and exploited at will. Programmers have gone from sports/rock star status to laborer status. Progamming is seen more and more as dirty work that any self respecting person would not do.
"Why aren't you typing".
What other profession will you find yourself out in the street with no hope of employment because you are over 35? What other profession dumps its most experienced qualified people to save a few dollars? What other profession is targeted by the government to bring down wages by massive immigration? Programming no matter how personnally rewarding is not a career.
But anyway, I am willing to believe you, if you actually tell me what he has coded, and why it is "genius". Really, I'd love to know. Can you point to a piece of code that he has done that is as "genius" as some of the stuff RMS or Bill Joys work?
RMS a genius programmer? yeah...right.. Everything RMS, bill joy, or 90% of the other linux community programmers copy programs written by microsoft or 60's technology. (REAL innovative there).
Just because RMS started the FSF doesn't mean he is a gifted programmer.
IE: samba
X-windows
linux, based off of unix
and the list goes on....