Using Microfinance to Develop Coding Talent (Video)

Here's a quote from the CodersTrust website: 'CodersTrust is the brainchild of Ferdinand Kjærulff. As a Captain of the Danish army he served as recovery officer in Iraq after the fall of Saddam. He pioneered a recovery project with the allied forces, bringing internet and e-learning to the citizens of the region in which he was stationed. The project was a massive success and inspired him to eventually create CodersTrust – supported by Danida – with a vision to democratize access to education via the internet on a global scale.' A lofty vision, indeed. But with help from the original microfinance company, Grameen Bank, and the Danish International Development Agency (Danida), it seems to be coming true. Note: If you click the "Read" button below this paragraph, the video interview will play automatically.

Comments

Define Coding Talent

[Sebastopol]

What exactly is coding talent?

I'm being a bit coy but mostly to spur discussion: I've been coding since the late 70's, and I think of coding like playing guitar: just about anyone can do it to a reasonable level, most people think they are rockstars, but only a handful really are.

When I was first interviewing for jobs circa 1990 there weren't many people who knew x86 protected mode, so there was always work writing hardware drivers. I was mediocre, I'll admit it, and so were most of my peers, but we got the job done.

Today there are literally thousands of languages, frameworks and tools depending on the application. Ironically, "talent" seems largely the same today as it was in the 80's: if you understand the unique collection (and versions!) of tools a company uses, you're in.

When I hired programmers in the 90's and 00's it was clear some folks got it, and some folks didn't. But even the folks that didn't still got high-paying jobs.

So it really begs the question, "What is talent?" and how do you measure it, and how much do you need? Finding talent means rating talent, and therein is a loaded debate.