g4sra via Dng said on Sun, 25 Jul 2021 10:26:46 +0000


>And this is why ever sice I entered the profession I have maintained
>that programmers should be vetted and certified in a similar manner to
>other professions such as doctors and lawyers, carrying a similar
>social status. Only those with the appropriate qualification and
>experience should be permitted to work in certain sectors.

I'm glad you said "certain sectors". I'm glad there are other sectors
(office automation comes to mind) where a guy who gets proficient with
the computer on his kitchen table can get paid work, and learn there.
Otherwise, programming would be restricted to folks rich enough for
their parents to send them to college to learn programming, and then
a triciary education to learn all the security, defense and engineering
stuff, and like doctors and lawyers, they wouldn't start making any
real money until their late 20's.

Programmers would be selected for family wealth, not for desire and
aptitude.

As long as most sectors let anybody who can write code write code,
programming remains a great source of upward mobility, and if a well
paid office automation programmer wants to become a medical equipment
programmer, he or she can then take courses and get a cert while still
earning a good living.

When I busted into programming, the most common traits of my fellow
programmers were that they played musical instruments, rode
bicycles, and had a real talent and desire for programming. Back then,
when I interviewed new programmers with 4 year degrees, they couldn't
code their way out of a paper bag.

SteveT

Steve Litt
Spring 2021 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful
Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques