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Now might be the best time to learn software development

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Re: Now might be the best time to learn software development

#71

Post by michaelteter »

Having experienced several overhyped corporate knee-jerk (and further press-amplified) silver bullets, I expect this will play out about as well as the previous ones.

And by that, I mean corps will make poor decisions that will be negative for thought workers while never really threatening executive compensation.

I see this latest one somewhat like TFA author: this is a HUGE opportunity for intelligent, motivated builders. If our jobs are at risk now or have already been lost, then we might as well take this time to make some of the things we have thought about making before but were too busy to do (or too fatigued).

In the process, we may not only develop nice incomes that are independent of PHB decisions, but some will even build things that these same companies will later want to buy for $$$.

Re: Now might be the best time to learn software development

#72

Post by VonTum »

thangalin wrote: post #49
dijksterhuis wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That only made the world better Did it? people now stand around on dance floors taking photos and videos of themselves instead of getting on dancing and enjoying the music. to the point where clubs put stickers on phones to stop people from doing it. people taking their phone out and videoing / photographing something awful happening, instead of doing something helpful. people travel to remote areas where the popul…

> people now stand around on dance floors taking photos and videos of themselves instead of getting on dancing and enjoying the music. to the point where clubs put stickers on phones to stop people from doing it. There are other types of dances where dancers are far more interested in the dance than selfies: Lindy Hop, Blues, Balboa, Tango, Waltz, Jive, Zouk, Contra, and West Coast Swing to name a few. Here are video…

The irony!

Though, I'll grant that there's not really a way to argue this without showing videos

Re: Now might be the best time to learn software development

#74

Post by sarchertech »

flashgordon wrote: post #54
bitpush wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bravo. This is the exact sentiment I have, but you expressed in a way that I could never have. Most people miss the fact that technical improvements increases the pie in a way that was not possible before. When digital cameras became popular, everybody become a photographer. That only made the world better, and we got soo many more good photographers. Same with YouTube & creativity. And same with coding & LLMs. World…

I would add one thing though. The pie definitely gets bigger - but i feel there is a period of "downsizing" that happens. I think this is becuase of lack of ideas. When you have tool that (say) 10xes your productivity, its not that bosses will have ideas to build 10x the number of things - they will just look to cut costs first (hello lack of imagination and high interest rates).

We’ve had many improvements that increased productivity at least as much as current LLMs, and I don’t think any of them ever temporarily caused downsizing in the total number of programmers.

Re: Now might be the best time to learn software development

#75

Post by dijksterhuis »

bitpush wrote: post #61
bluefirebrand wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> World will have lots more of apps, and programmers. This is actually bad for existing programmers though? Do you not see how this devalues your skills?

In the current state, yes. But that is also an opportunity, isn't it? When online flight bookings came about, travel agents were displaced. The solution isn't "let's stop online flight bookings sites and protect travel agents" because that's an inefficient system

Why does every system need to be efficient?

Re: Now might be the best time to learn software development

#76

Post by sarchertech »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #60
bitpush wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bravo. This is the exact sentiment I have, but you expressed in a way that I could never have. Most people miss the fact that technical improvements increases the pie in a way that was not possible before. When digital cameras became popular, everybody become a photographer. That only made the world better, and we got soo many more good photographers. Same with YouTube & creativity. And same with coding & LLMs. World…

> World will have lots more of apps, and programmers. This is actually bad for existing programmers though? Do you not see how this devalues your skills?

There are far more programmers now than in 1980, yet the average programmer makes far more (inflation adjusted) now.

Re: Now might be the best time to learn software development

#77

Post by test6554 »

munificent wrote: post #42
bitpush wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bravo. This is the exact sentiment I have, but you expressed in a way that I could never have. Most people miss the fact that technical improvements increases the pie in a way that was not possible before. When digital cameras became popular, everybody become a photographer. That only made the world better, and we got soo many more good photographers. Same with YouTube & creativity. And same with coding & LLMs. World…

> That only made the world better, and we got soo many more good photographers. I disagree with the "only" part here. Imagine a distribution curve of photos with shitty photos on the left and masterpieces on the right and the height at the curve is how many photos there are to be seen at that quality. The digital camera transition massively increased the height of the curve at all points. And thanks to things like be…

Experts warn that at current production levels, the supply of dick pics may actually outpace demand in a couple decades.

Re: Now might be the best time to learn software development

#78

Post by AdieuToLogic »

bazoom42 wrote: post #46
dredmorbius wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd long ago (1990s-era) heard that the original intent was that office secretaries would write their own SQL queries. (I'd love for someone to substantiate or debunk this for me.)

Early on, programming was considered secretarial work.

> Early on, programming was considered secretarial work.

Incorrect.

Encoding a program was considered secretarial work, not the act of programming itself. Over time, "encoding" was shortened to "coding."

This is why the industry term "coder" is a pejorative descriptor.

Re: Now might be the best time to learn software development

#80

Post by hackernoops »

dijksterhuis wrote: post #75
bitpush wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the current state, yes. But that is also an opportunity, isn't it? When online flight bookings came about, travel agents were displaced. The solution isn't "let's stop online flight bookings sites and protect travel agents" because that's an inefficient system

Why does every system need to be efficient?

Fractional reserve lending, rehypothecation, etc.
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