Amazon To Fund Computer Science Classes at 1,000 US High Schools (geekwire.com)

Amazon said its Future Engineer program will fund computer science classes at more than 1,000 high schools in all 50 states by this fall. From a report: This is a rapid expansion for the program that launched in November. Down the road, Amazon aims to reach more than 10 million kids with the coding activities and lessons each year and provide more than 100,000 students in more than 2,000 high schools access to introductory or advanced computer science courses. As part of the program, Amazon also plans to award 100 students with four-year, $10,000 scholarships and paid internships at the company to gain work experience. Future Engineer is part of a larger $50 million investment from Amazon in computer science and STEM education.

Comments

You know how they could reach all the kids?

[Gravis Zero]

IF THEY PAID TAXES.

It's seriously fucked up when a company can operate and pay zero dollars in taxes.

Mamas don't let your babies grow up

[rsilvergun]

to be programmers.

Seriously, don't. Go into medicine unless you're a math wiz (in which case you're not really a programmer, you're a mathematician who happens to program).

The current administration just raised the H1-B cap by 20,000/yr. They passed it off as a good thing because those folks will have to have PHDs, but given the way diploma mills work that's not a high bar.

Like journalism in the 90s programming is a dying field. Steer clear. There's a reason why "Learn to Code" became an insult/slur.

They are paying taxes, just more direct

[SuperKendall]

Amazon by offering free training to high school kids, is paying a form of tax - they are just choosing what the money gets spent on.

Wish normal citizens could do the same.

Why now?

[theCat]

Nobody in the US halls of influence cared about this issue, not for a generation or longer. If they needed workers, they went to India. Places I have worked (30 years running) are increasingly Indian and Chinese, verging on 95%. I don't see that changing ever.

So why this interest in pushing CS into public education?

I'll take a guess. As India and China become technological powerhouses in their own right (having expatriated their engineers to US companies for 40 years of paid top-shelf training) they are seen now as less a pool of low-wage workers to exploit, and more as economic competitors. Wow imagine that. 40 years spent relentlessly hollowing out the US middle-class labor pool, outsourcing for the quarterly bottom line, and now they are worried.

Cry me a river. I hope the Indians and Chinese take them to the cleaners, and I'm confident that is exactly what will happen.

Re:Quota info?

[Shaitan]

They are certainly a more likely investment. Of course, in a way we might be worse off rewarding those with merit. Those who don't do as well tend to breed more. Those who do well try not have children they can't afford.

MS & IBM Lesson

[Tablizer]

Beware of huge tech companies bearing gifts.

Re:But there's no consequence for your choice!

[ranton]

No method of funding institutions and projects which promote general welfare of a society is perfect, but you only point out some negatives of taxation without mentioning the negatives of free market funding.

Wealthy individuals already have significant means to influence society without the use of government. A vote is one of the few avenues those with lesser wealth have available to them. Each vote may be equal, but that doesn't make everyone's voice equal. Campaign contributions, lobbying, and the use of political connections are all avenues for the wealthy to impose societal control above and beyond their vote; and they are arguably more influential than voting.

If your beliefs on how voting works in the US were accurate, we wouldn't see widening income inequality in America. The have nots would already be voting for huge government payouts which give the bulk of economic gains to the poor, working, and middle class. Considering this is the exact opposite of what has been happening for decades, it appears your political theory has little in common with reality.

Re: Quota info?

[Anonymous Coward]

Trick question: H-1Bs since there will be less as Amazon attempts to saturate the market with talent and drive down wages.

If you can drive down labor costs from $100k+ to $60k across a pool of 7,000 engineers, you just saved $280 million *per year* in labor expenses. In total for these programs, Amazon is dumping $50 million. If it works, it seems like a solid brain dead business investment to increase their talent look and or drive down wages.

I'm more curious if there really is a talent shortage (or more businesses being cheap) and if there is a real shortage, if it's a problem you can throw money at to fix.

You can throw money at me all day but I won't become a brilliant physicist or a talented surgeon. Do certain computing skills require a similar level of acumen (much of computer science is mathematical in nature though not all tech work requires such talents) or can many tech skills (say software engineering) be simply pumped into young brians?

What's also interesting is if you develop this talent pool of talented tech workers and they ultimately form a competitor that brings your very business down. That would be poetic irony.

Some context is needed

[rsilvergun]

when blue collar guys were getting their jobs shipped overseas / to Mexico in the late 90s early 2000s they were told to "Learn to Code". Guys in their 40s were sent to tech schools for new jobs.

Thing is it's hard to learn a new trade when you're young. It's harder when you're old. And a lot of these folks weren't suited to the jobs in the first place. I worked with a bunch of these guys in my career and none of them lasted.

These guys are pretty fucking bitter at this point. During the 2016 campaign that was basically Hillary Clinton's message to them. It's a big part of why Trump won, he promised them their old jobs back.

Anyway, fast forward to 2019 and there's been huge Journalist layoffs at newspapers and TV stations. Mergers and Acquisitions + the general move to digital means a lot fewer jobs. Those bitter, angry blue collar guys came out of the wood work and starting throwing "Learn to Code" at the Journalists and other white collar guys who were now out of work and who ignored them when they were hurting.

It's basically shorthand for "How do you like it when it happens to you, fucker". And no, I don't blame the blue collar guys for being mad. That said, I _do_ blame them for not showing up to the Democratic primary and putting Bernie Sanders or another real populist with real solutions in office. Their best bet is stuff like infrastructure spending and the green new deal. It's not that we don't need blue collar work, it's that the rich don't want to pay for it and after 2008 they took all the money for themselves.

Like Bernie's 2020 slogan says, it's not me, it's Us. Blue Collar and White Collar need to get it through their heads that they're all working class and band together.

Local economy's doing just fine

[rsilvergun]

it's just the local talent isn't a part of it.

Globalism means I don't need to hire local talent at local rates. I can offshore most of the work, sell the products they make and what I can't offshore I can bring in cheap workers on visas.

Just as many jobs in programming either way, but way, way less pay and you'll never get hired to do it if you're "local".