by GavinAnderegg on 3/27/12, 10:16 PM
Parlez-vous Python? What about Rails or JavaScript?
It seems interesting to me that Rails (rather than Ruby) is often listed as a language in popular publications. I guess the framework is more highly promoted than the language it's written in. Are there any other examples of cases like this in popular or "near-geek" culture?
by droithomme on 3/27/12, 9:53 PM
I am happy to hear that one can be a developer and understand TCP/IP and not be a "techie" since the dimunitive nounized form of tech, "techie", always has a condescending air about its use. Likewise "coder" and often even "geek". When my partner stays up all night reading wikipedia I can humorously say "Looks like you had a major geek-out session." This is taken in a very different sense than when a touring MBA says "So is this the cage where you keep the geeks?"
by dpearson on 3/27/12, 9:45 PM
Aside from the cheesy opening line, it is nice to see an author that does a decent job writing to a nontechnical audience (as well as one who provides examples of the value of programming to readers). With increasing publicity, it will be interesting to see if more people actually sign up for and complete online courses (from sites like Codecademy).
by cageface on 3/27/12, 10:57 PM
Smells like another bubble in the making to me. Investment money has nowhere else to go but startups and Joe blow is learning html again because he thinks its going to be easy money. Feels a lot like the early reports of people lining up around the block for Manhattan condos in 2006.
by ilaksh on 3/27/12, 11:39 PM
How soon before this trend starts to wind down?
How long before computer programming skills become as everyday as basic vehicle repair knowledge?
I guess its not really the same thing, because computer programs aren't as homogeneous as car guts (although I wouldn't really know) and cars aren't being engineered in repair shops. But if you look at common frameworks like Rails or plain HTML or WordPress then you could almost think of those areas as being like their own mechanical specialties.
Point being there are a lot of relatively high-tech devices that we maintain where those careers aren't considered particularly prestigious, and I wonder if at some point software development will be a little more like that.
I mean in the first few decades of the development of motor vehicles (I know, computer programs aren't combustion engines, they are much more varied and complex than that) there was a lot of invention and innovation and those people were probably considered to have fairly elite skills and knowledge.
by mikeriess on 3/27/12, 11:07 PM
As a non-technical learning to program on my personal time, I think this article captures the rise of programming tutorials accurately, and hints at the greater trend of the internet enabling a new kind of renaissance person that can know a little bit about a lot- at least enough to know "how these languages function within the internet". That being said, I don't think codecademy, at least as it's currently developing, is enough to turn the layperson into a programmer.
by kijin on 3/28/12, 1:22 AM
I'm not sure if the world would really be a better place if more people learned JavaScript, but I do hope that at least some of the alleged "surge" goes towards learning about basic rules of security on the Internet. Like, "Don't click Yes on that thing unless you're sure what you're saying Yes to."
In fact, I'd much rather not share the world with people who know how to write JavaScript but not basic rules of security. They are so much more dangerous than people who know neither!
by dcalhoun on 3/28/12, 5:29 AM
Sad to see San Francisco's own Dev Bootcamp not mentioned here: devbootcamp.com (and my own writing about my experiences with the program douglascalhoun.tumblr.com). By the way, our hiring day is Friday, it's not too late to tell your founder/ recruiter friends: devbootcamp-spring2012.eventbrite.com
by SpiderX on 3/27/12, 10:18 PM
I don't see this as a trend, people who want to know how to program will learn. It's the same as if cars were just invented 30 years ago and people start learning how to work on cars. The auto mechanic didn't go out of business, in fact I think he got more work as people realized that they don't need to go out and buy a new car every time their old one is broken, they can hire someone to fix it.