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The Changing Face of Software Development
CowboyRobot sends this excerpt from Dr. Dobb's:
"Ten years of surveys show an influx of younger developers, more women, and personality profiles at odds with traditional stereotypes. Software development is an art and a science that is not attainable for just anyone. It takes a special type of person to write code. Developers are detail-oriented, very literal, and intelligent. Logic is paramount, and they share a passion for their craft that rises above the desire to make more money. They are also typically married, middle-aged, have children, and most likely a mortgage. In one of a series of surveys that we've performed every six months since 2001 (interviewing each time more than 1400 developers worldwide), we find the typical developer is a married, middle-aged male, who has two to three children. Males have dominated the profession for as long we've been tracking this; and during that time, they have accounted for anywhere from 84% to 94% of the workforce. The number of male developers is currently close to the low, at 86%, which might indicate more females are taking up programming."
"The number of male developers is currently close to the low, at 86%, which might indicate more females are taking up programming."
Might indicate more females? Do we have a large number of non-gender or 3rd gender in the workforce taking up programming?
What else would it indicate?
Python coder | PyQt Applications | Writer
Can we stop saying "females" when we mean "women". We're not Ferengi.
Men and women simply bring different biases to programming just make sure it's being tested by a thirds party that's all!
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
And the others put "Yes, please" in the box marked "Sex".
Total garbage magazine now. I equate it to something like "People" magazine and "US" magazine. Poor writing and fluff. Last I looked they loved kissing Microsoft's a$$ as well. Back in the day when grownups used to run it, it was the shizzle.
In my experience, 70% of female programmers sucks. Contrast this with the 30% of good male programmers.
I really have to take issue with the "very literal" comment. In my experience (stretching over 20 years), it's the non-literal types who are the best software engineers. They not only have an imagination, but understand nuance as well. I'd say a literal-minded person might succeed at programming at a very low or entry level, but beyond that, it's imagination and creativity that win the day.
I wonder how much of that is simply due to the stigma associated with the word "introvert."
I'm an introvert. Far to the introvert side on the Meyers-Briggs test: 18/20 if memory serves. When I tell acquaintances this, they're shocked. "Oh no!" they exclaim, "You're not like that at all!"
What that suggests to me is that mainstream society has a very poor understanding of what an introvert is. Extraverts don't understand introverts -- and they don't have to, since about 70% of the general population is extraverted -- so there's part of the problem. Because of the stereotype (or, as I say, "stigma"), asking people to self-identify as introverts is a fool's errand. No one wants to be *that.*
So "moderate extravert" could very well mean "introvert who does not know the technical definition and does not accept the stereotype."
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
We need a BBC Wildlife style study of the Software Developer narrated by David Attenborough so that we can start legitimately referring to the gender of this species as "male" and "female" accordingly.
And the others put "Yes, please" in the box marked "Sex".
except my wife, who puts "no thank you I've got a headache".
Surprise! A significant number of the young hotshot kids that started in the field when it was booming are still at it and now they are approaching middle age and having children. I know we have a reputation, but we do actually form committed relationships and even have sex every once in a while.
http://search.dilbert.com/comic/Unix%20Programmer
and they share a passion for their craft that rises above the desire to make more money
Yes, I like quality work and good coworkers, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to happily accept pay below what I have good reason to believe I'm worth. But thanks to rhetoric and belief that I will, that changes what the markets will bear, even while companies are complaining about a shortage of developers.
I am officially gone from
To sit around a cubicle with a hunched back, programming all day every day for years while listening to a stuck-up, self-centered boss that demands that you hand over a TPS report on his desk by 5 even though you're busy doing real work. Yeah, it takes a special kind of person to deal with that without either committing suicide or burning the whole place down.
" The number of male developers is currently close to the low, at 86%, which might indicate more females are taking up programming."
There may also be a growing group of dickless programmers, a.k.a. brogrammers.
Oh boy do businesses love that. Sorry, no raises this year, but we know you're not going anywhere. Gotta pay those bills and feed your family with what we're willing to give you.
Umm, no. It means if you treat them like shit or underpay them, they'll keep right on programming, but it won't be for you.
"Male dominance near historic lows" isn't the most interesting takeaway. What's more interesting is that the 2008 global financial crisis shook loose GenX'ers in the U.S., but nowhere else in the world. Sure, we can say the GFC rid the industry of the dot-com charlatans, but the housing bubble was global due to the network and interdependency of central banks -- why wasn't the same effect observed across the world? I suspect that perhaps the low interest rates and housing bubbles in other countries did not translate into inflated software development salaries at the time, but I don't have enough data and information.
Replace all occurrences of 'programmer' with 'journalist.' There are obvious reasons for the still changing face of programming, like that younger = cheaper, female = cheaper, foreign national = cheaper, desperate for work = cheaper.
Hmm.
So, since 2010 the percentage of developers 40+ is shrinking?
And worldwide converging on 35?
Which means, unless there is a "Carrousel" scenario, that
developers are both being fired, then not rehired, after 35 years old.
Which agrees with what I have been seeing for the past 2 years.
Is it clear to software people that they have a 10 to 15 year "shelf-life",
with the associated limited earning potential?
(R)ule in Hell or (S)erve in Heaven [R]?
I don't think we should be fighting the battle of sexist stereotypes by constantly complaining we don't have enough women in IT, or we don't have enough men in day care centers. If someone wants to get into a profession, by all means they should be allowed to pursue that the same as anyone else. Same goes for race. Until people as a culture are truly able to absolve their 'isms all of these "OMG Think of teh ________" campaigns are just a bunch of intellectual masturbation because the root problem still exists. And worrying about it is just another form of sexism, only in reverse. Oftentimes, these campaigns end up tipping the scale in the other direction, marginalizing the prior majority which is *also* wrong (How many places care about health care costs for single males?) I don't see anything wrong with having professions largely dominated by the stereotypical stereotypes. Sometimes they are that way because men are men, and women are women. People should be allowed to choose without the fear of some cultural 'ism pushing them down and that's the core problem as I see it.
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I should have expected that mentioning Myers-Briggs would have opened the can of worms about its validity and the whole subject of psychometry. Since I'm not a psychologist, I cannot participate too deeply in that discussion. If you want to classify the Myers-Briggs (sorry, I misspelled it originally) as cargo cult science, I will not argue against you.
Even poor science can include accurate measurements, though. From Wikipedia:
Since my remarks are restricted to the I-E scale, and that's the part of the Myers-Briggs that critics say holds up to a bit of scrutiny, I maintain that my Myers-Briggs results are the best available evidence that I am an introvert. If you're aware of a better diagnostic test, I'll take it.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
Want to have at least some idea of parity in IT? It could be done, but you have to tackle the negative social stigma that women face when dating someone that is in IT.
There is a backlash in the US against women that date someone that can be perceived as a geek / nerd. Since women are typically more socially oriented then men this is a really big deal for them. I have known and been friends with a number of women in IT over the years and invariably almost all of them were geeks / nerds or immigrants to begin with. If you want more women in IT you have to expand the pool of candidates beyond the current pool.
Can you imagine the social stigma that a woman would face if she actually went into IT herself? While certain types of IT jobs may not appeal as much to women they can do quite well with other types of IT jobs. The social stigma of IT being geek / nerd work is the elephant in the room.
I think this is largely a US cultural problem as I have talked with a number of people in Asia and Europe about this over the years and they have very different attitudes.
now that would be a fantastic documentary.
No no no. These types sell shoes, not write code.
I want more money
Or, perhaps we middle-aged men are leaving the profession as a guaranteed living in the field is no longer a given.
Yesterday, I received an email from an offshore "provider" who offers services at $10/hr. Most of us can't raise a family, pay a mortgage, let alone survive at that rate. The rate I have been billed out was $120-$160/hr. If people are just looking at the bottom per/hour line vs what a local agency or provider can give them for the added cost, it's pretty hard to compete.
The new IT "normal" is that IT departments are manned by "disposable or transit" workers. This is not how we "grew up" in the industry - we were valued for what we brought not only to a "project" but to the company as a whole. Companies felt their employees were assets - there was a sense of "belonging" that made people proud to for their employer. Now, it's just a paycheck.
While not exactly relics - those of us who have been around for a while are:
1) Migrating into management roles.
2) Becoming consultants (either independent or with an agency that pays benefits)
3) Running our own companies.
Younger individuals, with not as many responsibilities are moving into the developer ranks and cutting their teeth there. And, women, well many are finding that this field needn't be male dominated. Many see having this knowledge as a stepping stone to moving into project management or pre-sales. Rather smart, if you ask me.
Just so long they don't where clothes. That is the ultimate depravity.
I think it's as simple as shifts in societal perceptions of women and technology and how we perceive and interact with all sorts of gadgets now. 2001 was a long time ago and "traditional" then is not "traditional" now.
That's a very astute observation Ronin. What I see as the bottom rung, career wise, in IT is IT support. Next up is what I call "commodity programming". Programming in HTML, JavaScript or the like. These skills are widely available and often by cheap offshore resources. You can make a good living at programming but it's got to be in a niche area and it's got to be something creative that is not easily outsourced. Otherwise, the three options you mention above are probably your best bet.
I have managed groups of programmers from India and I have to say that over the years the quality of work has improved. What has not improved is communication. I still find it very challenging. I would prefer to work with programmers from the USA but, as you say, $10/hr is a pretty compelling argument. It gives you a lot of room for slippage.
One profession I would add to your list is Technical Architect. It means different things at different companies but generally this person is a liaison between the business people and the programmers. Someone that has a good technical background but also has excellent communication skills. Someone that has good writing skills and can manage other programmers. I find myself doing this more and more these days and less pure programming.
It might not be for everyone but it puts you in a position where offshore people simply cannot compete with you.
Before the late 1940s "computers" referred to human clerks who did long chains of calculations by hand or adding machine. They were nearly all female except for supervisors. When the first electronic computers some of these ladies migrated to become the programmers. It was very tedious machine language in the beginning. The inventor of COBOL is from this crop.
Women who do development are few and far between. I think I've worked with 4 women developers over the past 15 years or so, at best they were average but I haven't really seen a rockstar coder among them. And out of all of them I would have never wanted to sleep with any of them...
Same with black coders or IT people. Some are average but never seen any rise to rock star level. Sorry might be racist but just my own observation.
It's not racist or sexist to point out demographic trends.
These things are all easily explained. Women in America have historically been discouraged from pursuing any field related to science or math or computers, because they're supposed to play with Barbie dolls and be prepared to be good little housewives and mothers, so of course they aren't going to be interested in computer-related jobs. Couple this with America's anti-intellectualism and hatred of smart people and especially its hatred of introverts and this explains why, historically, only introverted men went into these jobs, so they could be bossed around by a bunch of big-mouthed assholes who take most of the money. This only changed some during the dot-com boom because of the huge paychecks involved.
As for blacks, it's similar: they come from much lower-class backgrounds usually, and unlike little white boys, they never got computers as christmas gifts and were never encouraged this way, just as they were never encouraged to go into scientific fields; their parents weren't in such fields, they never had any mentors or role models in these fields (since white people didn't generally associate with black people and vice versa), so computer-related jobs never were on their radar growing up. Hollywood may have tried to change this with Richard Pryor in Superman III, but it didn't have much effect.
"Well, look, I already told you. I deal with the goddamn customers so the engineers don't have to!! I have people skills!! I am good at dealing with people!!! " - Tom from Office Space
engineering == engineering
Korma: Good
Sigh... I remember a time when white heterosexuals males had all the power instead of most of it.
I agree we shouldn't waste time whining about gender "discrimination" (at least until it is provably discriminatory).
There are two pertinent facts here:
Social fact: There is a severe gender discrimination in the US prison population--it is mostly men--but we don't see anyone clamoring to solve that problem.
Biological fact: Genes make people different and the more different a gene is, the more differences there will be. PERIOD.
Go look at at the differences between the X and Y chromosomes. They aren't even similar sizes.
Males have more genetic variability than females. That is why you tend to see more males than females at the ends of the bell curve.
There will be more men with ultra hi IQ than women. two-thirds to one-third is about as ideal as you're going to get.
There will also be more men with ultra lo IQ than women for exactly the same reason.
If you want to talk about 'discrimination' in schools, don't just count the number of grrrlz and boys in AP STEM classes. Also count the number in the lowest level classes. Those tend to be filled with males in pretty much the same ratio as the advanced math classes.
What has this got to do with anything?
Neither the summary nor TFA mention the term engineering.
Also, your subject line is not only incomplete, but illogical...
Where is moderation: -1 False?
As a software developer and a woman, I can say I hope more women find their way into the field. I have worked with a number of other women and find them to be on average just a capable as the men. As far as "rock stars" go, I have yet to meet one at all. I've met a few who thought they were, but mostly they were just egotistical and unwilling to work in a group and follow the rules. I think you'll find fewer women in that category because as a mindset, we're probably less likely to do vigilante coding and hope that someone sees it as awesome.
I understand there are some truly great programmers out there, people who come up with clever solutions to difficult problems. But the lone wolf guy who feels the rest of the team is just holding him back - he may look like a rock star, but he's really just a jerk.
Don't forget that economy and location play a part in who can get what job, too. I'm female and black, was in IT, but can't seem to get a job in the field (where I currently live) to save my life. I'm hoping that this is a transitional period.
(And, I agree about the .NET stuff!)
Well, it is a little different when the business people literally can't communicate with the programmers. Then that position is vital.
Nothing is necessarily wrong with a gender-dominated profession, but I do want to know why it's gender-dominated. There's all sorts of reasons why it could happen, and we've found discrimination in a lot of fields. In this one, I've seen a lot of credible reports from women about hostile workplaces and the like, so I have reason to suspect discrimination.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
I'll work on my own projects at home for free, but I'll be damned if I do my employer's projects for free!
Of all the places I've worked at, I think a total of 5% was married. In several jobs all of my co-workers were single (regardless of age). And the max amount of children I've seen any other developer have, is ONE.
Have I been working in extremely unusual places this last decade, or is this survey way off?
Its good to see software design and programming getting recognized as an art by others as well as it really is mix of artistic endeavor and construction. When I think about all of the greatest bits of software that I've seen over the years, the really good ones are like memorable works of art, sometimes visually and aesthetically, as well as ergonomically. One aspect of software design that really is artistic is the user workflow and ease of use, along with transforming an idea from an idea to a finished program. Great article.