Best Job: Software Engineer

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704723104576062173458318658.html?mod=WSJ_hp_editorsPicks_5

by BornInTheUSSR • 16 years ago

17 4 16 years ago

online.wsj.com

I am not surprised.

When you have a job where the masses cannot achieve it simply by going through school, and finding a worker is very hard as the right one is one in a handfull, and a good worker can save tons of money for companies, or even make companies, or do wonders, I am in no surprise about this.

My wife is a speach pathologist. Don't get my wrong I am in no way playing down her job. She had to study for more than I did, and it is no easy task. However now that she has a job, her interview is "when can you start" literally. There are too many jobs for speech pathologists; they are needed everywhere. And too little speech pathologists out there.

So basically when the demand is a lot higher than the supply, that job will be the best one to be in. As many studies and as tons of experience notes it, many programmers can't program. Which means that for the good ones, work is easy to find. The technological boom has just started... what 10 years or so of heavy tech advances that penetrated our culture, and 30 years of just advances? Everyone wants a piece of the pie but as people realize you need the right people.

I remember during the dot com burst, many of my family friends were getting laid off, could not find work. My family was telling me that programming is a dead end job that you DONT want to be in. I stood my ground, and it was worth it. However it is most definitely not for everyone. Those getting fired left and right who cold not get another job, yea they had their 1 year of training in "programming" and could not tell you what a thread is to save their life.

wladimir• 16 years ago

I am not surprised either.

Apart from being reasonably difficult to learn, software engineer is pretty unpopular with the masses. Its image is not very glamerous. This keeps the supply down even more.

mahmud• 16 years ago

OT:

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-LP752_bestjo_G_...

Looking at that photo of two programmers in white lab-coats just proves that anti-virus companies are in the business of fear theatrics, bamboozling and lies. Scum of the earth.

I can't imagine what public presentation would merit this monochrome spectacle of terror. A debug.com/symdeb.exe disassembly and hexdump of some antique 16-bit DOS virus, presented by a panel of scientists in lab-coats. Makes you wonder why they aren't wearing gloves and gas-masks.

sedachv• 16 years ago

"Mathematician" is pretty vague, but from what I know about working mathematicians, it probably involves a lot of statistics, so #2 3 and 4 all come down to knowing statistics. I always knew getting a math degree was worth it, now I can point the haters to this article.

Best Job: Software Engineer

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