Programming Field

joemc3

I was wondering why there was such a shortage in programmers in America. It seems there are many jobs open in every state for various languages. With the basic nature of people wanting to be employable and good pay ranges one would think that people would flock to it. Could it be the barrier to entry for programming is higher? Or that you need to wait a few years before coming employable?

Mow

I got bored learning programming. I struggled with object orientation and quit because I lost interest so quickly. I may someday go back and revisit it.

bpenn

Programming is one of those things where either you hate it or love it. Its not for everyone, though having a decent grasp on scripting and automation should be a goal for many professionals. Quite a bit of the jobs also ask for specific language skills and it can be hard to find that niche person sometimes.

Mike7

Depends on your definition of programmer.
Freelance one man show or programmer in a large organisation?

Translating user requirements into functionality is not easy.
Users can ask for any feature and expect your app to be flexible enough.
Unless there is an analyst around, users may also expect you to be SME (subject matter expert). It does mean that you can be a valuable asset that bridges between business and technical sides.

Or you may be asked to take over someone's else code. The code may be so badly written that you feel like re-writing it.

Or your web/mobile/desktop app breaks every time a new browser/iOS or Android/OS version is released. You are always in demand.

Then there may be other requirements from technical side: scalability, high availability, security, easy to deploy, configure and troubleshoot. Now you are expected to be IT infra, info-security and possible cloud computing expert.

But it can mean that you learn and know a lot, and works well with everyone as you need to interact with different parties to get things done. This makes you a valuable asset in a large organisation.

Scripting is another matter if you are doing sys admin tasks. Scripting for automation helps. Even Microsoft is moving towards this direction; some of their OS settings can only be configured via PowerShell.

BradleyHU

you got to love it, or at the very least like it a decent amount, in order to actually really wanna do that for a career.

i HATE programming. I know how to code in 2 languages, but it's so boring...the support/infrastructure side of things appeals to me way more than development...

Params7

There will always be a shortage of programmers. Not just in America, but everywhere. If you can enjoy coding, go become a software engineer and make big $$$.

paul78

The shortage probably isn't in programmers but in software engineers. I don't really see a shortage of web developers or people who can do basic scripting. But there is a lack of good software engineers who can design and implement middle-ware and platform software - I.e. software that used by other software developers or by IT staff. Just my 2 cents.