Developers are the autoworkers of our generation

> Don’t get too comfortable. Don’t get locked into a language. Don’t burn bridges for short term gain. Keep your tools sharp. Learn soft skills. Build an audience. Save some money. Network. Read.

This is great advice. The big issue with the rust belt is that building cars was all car builders knew how to do. Most didn't have the sustained practice with learning new things to adapt to a changing environment. I wouldn't keep it to programming languages and technologies, or even auxiliary skills like marketing and advertising. Keep your mind sharp with as much depth in as many different topics as you can stand.

Re: Developers are the autoworkers of our generation

#5

Post by cpp900 » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 2:36 PM UTC

Load of carp.

Re: Developers are the autoworkers of our generation

#6

Post by sker » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 2:37 PM UTC

It's already happening. As a freelancer, I often find people who want their "corporate" site built in WordPress for less money than what they would pay to a car mechanic for a similar amount of time worked. Sames goes for Magento and similar platforms.

Re: Developers are the autoworkers of our generation

#7

Post by nohuck13 » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 2:39 PM UTC

Hold on a minute. You can't discuss labor markets without discussing productivity. In the heyday of the automotive industry, the best auto worker in the world produced about the same output as the average auto worker. Maybe they messed up less, but being a genius autoworker didn't let you tower head and shoulders above the competition, because car factories are designed with auto workers as interchangeable parts.

We've tried that with developers. If it had worked, all development would be outsourced to India and the Philippines by now, and developers would be forming unions to lobby for higher pay.

The reality is that the market pays for productivity, in the long-run. Maybe having more junior developers coming out of bootcamps puts downward pressure on wages, but as long as development is a meritocracy where the best performers are much better than the worst performers, there's always going to be a premium on people that really know their stuff. Maybe one day we'll live in a world with lots and lots of really good devs. I don't mind living in that world as much, because I can control my fate to a far larger extent that someone who moved to Detriot in 1960 and was unfortunate enough to stake their whole life on a company pension and a single industry.

EDIT: typo

Re: Developers are the autoworkers of our generation

#8

Post by rprime » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 2:39 PM UTC

So the baseline is, and this applies to almost all kinds of jobs, stay relevant and be good at what you do.

Re: Developers are the autoworkers of our generation

#9

Post by RougeFemme » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 2:45 PM UTC

I agree with all of this, but - and this doesn't take away from the key points - autoworkers could get entry-level positions with little to no skill. . .and no specialized education or training (formal or independent). The same is not true of entry-level coders. Some level of skill is necessary, attained through some level of training.

Re: Developers are the autoworkers of our generation

#10

Post by mkr-hn » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 2:47 PM UTC

nohuck13 wrote: post #7

Hold on a minute. You can't discuss labor markets without discussing productivity. In the heyday of the automotive industry, the best auto worker in the world produced about the same output as the average auto worker. Maybe they messed up less, but being a genius autoworker didn't let you tower head and shoulders above the competition, because car factories are designed with auto workers as interchangeable parts. We'…

I think the argument is that the skill level and number of people needed for most development jobs will be lowered with platforms and tools that make it easy for a minimally trained user to do it. Someone still has to make the tools and platforms, but implementing them won't take as many people.

Think about how many wildly popular websites run with a handful of people. How long will it be before you don't even need more than a few people in a datacenter? Robots will eventually be able to change out dead drives on a RAID array and inspect the backup generator as well as a technician.

People saying things like "everyone should be a developer" are coding the same people they're encouraging out of a potential career path. Which is fine, but the contradiction gets annoying.