Why Johnny Can't Program
Friday January 18, 2008
The recent article by Dewar and Schonberg gave me cause to pause and reflect. What the article effectively underscores is that most degree programs are tailored for popularity and not for efficacy. The schools are essentially luring in those who are not prepared for the tougher topics with the bait of getting the job they want without having to pay their dues in the realm of higher mathematics and logic. The problem is that they get you the job but do not prepare you to roll with changes in the market. In the UK, we have so-called conversion programs that allow students with a humanities or other background to get intensive programming training in Java or C++, the lure being a job in programming at the end of a single year. Sadly, this luring is effective and will tend to flood the market with unsuitable job candidates (as the article suggests).
Fortunately, there is always room at the top for those who will immerse themselves and learn on their own. And fortunately, sales trends (see the penultimate paragraph) suggest that most are doing just that. In short: There is always hope to be found for those who will dive in and learn, and this recent trend offers some hope for the next generation of programmers.
On a personal note, of the successful programmers I know (i.e., those who were or have been in professional computing for 5+ years), less than 25% learned it at university; most learned it online and/or on-the-job. So, if you need help with higher maths, see the tutorials at About's Mathematics site, learn more about the land of logic in which your computer lives, and then come back to polish your Python skills.
Fortunately, there is always room at the top for those who will immerse themselves and learn on their own. And fortunately, sales trends (see the penultimate paragraph) suggest that most are doing just that. In short: There is always hope to be found for those who will dive in and learn, and this recent trend offers some hope for the next generation of programmers.
On a personal note, of the successful programmers I know (i.e., those who were or have been in professional computing for 5+ years), less than 25% learned it at university; most learned it online and/or on-the-job. So, if you need help with higher maths, see the tutorials at About's Mathematics site, learn more about the land of logic in which your computer lives, and then come back to polish your Python skills.