"Everyone Wants To Become A Web Developer These Days"
Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 11:07 pm
I turned my AM radio dial the other day to listen to a talk show host. He said something the other day that struck a bell with me. He just hung up a call with a diesel mechanic out of San Francisco or something. He said, "Where are our diesel mechanics these days? Are they even training in this field these days? Who will be left to run our country's most important parts of our infrastructure in the future? It seems that every kid I talk to these days wants to be a..." {and get this!} "...a web developer."
You know, I never really thought of it that way. I've been using computers since 1979. I was like one of the first few kids in my county to use a TRS-80 computer and an Apple II with Integer Basic. My parents never believed me when I first said I could write small programs on computers. My dad even got mad at me that day as if I was fantasizing! He said, "Guys who want to work on computers wear white coats and have to train for years to learn how to write programs for them. There's no way I'm going to believe you know how to write programs, and there's no such thing as a computer that sits on your desk." I had to drag him to my junior high school to show him the new computer, and he reluctantly didn't want to do that. I then loaded a small program I wrote and played it for him, and he was stunned. He said very slowly, "I guess I was wrong, Mike." My parents were very poor in 1979 -- they were paying for their college educations and playing "catch up" on that and the bills. So, they could never afford a computer for me until like my senior year in high school. So, I was so fascinated with computers that I would carry a book on BASIC around with me and write functions on paper. And then when I could get a hall pass to the library, I would type the programs in and watch them run. When I got to college, same story -- couldn't afford a PC -- so I carried around a book on C and would go to the computer lab to run the programs. When other guys were reading books, I was reading computer manuals. I was learning C before even my college professors were -- they were still focused on Fortran, RPG, BASIC, and *gasp* Pascal. I tested out of Pascal 1 my second week in class because I <span style='color:blue' title='I'm naughty, are you naughty?'>smurf</span> off the teacher, answering all her questions she asked. At the end of class, she said, "Everyone go here except that guy in the back with the blue sweater. I want you to come forward." I came forward and she said, "So, you think you know this Pascal, eh?" I said, "Yeah, I've already read the book on it." She then said, "Okay, want to take the final? Think you can do that? If you can take the final, right here, right now, up in my office with an hour-long time-limit while I grade papers, and you get nothing less than an A, then I'll let you pass this course and move on to Pascal 2." And that's exactly what I did. I even passed her bonus question with flying colors.
So, writing software? Heck yeah. It's what I do.
But it didn't dawn on me until that talk show host said that statement that, yeah, kids these days are growing up on Facebook and MySpace, and are walking around with iPods and iPhones that can surf the web sort of effectively, and we serious web developers here who are trying to make a living will have this challenge now, and in the future, by these kids. These kids, at their least, are learning how to paste in some Javascript or do a little HTML. Others are learning jQuery. And some more may start to play with PHP, but probably through Windows.
And the situation is now worldwide of course. I'm seeing some amazing software work. And for those who think English is a barrier -- I'm seeing some extremely well-spoken, well-written English speakers in places other than the UK, Canada, Australia, or the USA. Just today I met another PHP and Linux developer from the Netherlands, now relocated to Spain, and his work is impeccable, top notch. And, better than me, he's got a lower debt-to-earnings ratio than me and plans to keep reducing that through environmental means (solar power, organic farming, etc.). (See what I mean about alternative passive income sources? Was not so far off, after all.)
I mean, why go to 6 to 8 years of college to become a chiropractor, doctor, or lawyer, or even 4 years as an accountant or what have you, to get out and suffer through the regular economy and its lack of jobs, its traffic, its layoffs, and its slow cycle of career promotion? Some may want to just do 2 years of college at an institute after high school, and then just go out and earn cash in the web economy, which, to me, seems far more resilient to crisis than the regular economy. In fact, I almost wish now that I never wasted time beyond my first two years in college and just jumped out to do software. But I didn't have the web back then and its fast-paced access to cash for those who find their niche. Kids these days, do.
Food for thought...in fact, I could probably do myself a favor and write some doom-and-gloom book about this like you see on the shelves in bookstores about the future...and get rich from it. Ha!
You know, I never really thought of it that way. I've been using computers since 1979. I was like one of the first few kids in my county to use a TRS-80 computer and an Apple II with Integer Basic. My parents never believed me when I first said I could write small programs on computers. My dad even got mad at me that day as if I was fantasizing! He said, "Guys who want to work on computers wear white coats and have to train for years to learn how to write programs for them. There's no way I'm going to believe you know how to write programs, and there's no such thing as a computer that sits on your desk." I had to drag him to my junior high school to show him the new computer, and he reluctantly didn't want to do that. I then loaded a small program I wrote and played it for him, and he was stunned. He said very slowly, "I guess I was wrong, Mike." My parents were very poor in 1979 -- they were paying for their college educations and playing "catch up" on that and the bills. So, they could never afford a computer for me until like my senior year in high school. So, I was so fascinated with computers that I would carry a book on BASIC around with me and write functions on paper. And then when I could get a hall pass to the library, I would type the programs in and watch them run. When I got to college, same story -- couldn't afford a PC -- so I carried around a book on C and would go to the computer lab to run the programs. When other guys were reading books, I was reading computer manuals. I was learning C before even my college professors were -- they were still focused on Fortran, RPG, BASIC, and *gasp* Pascal. I tested out of Pascal 1 my second week in class because I <span style='color:blue' title='I'm naughty, are you naughty?'>smurf</span> off the teacher, answering all her questions she asked. At the end of class, she said, "Everyone go here except that guy in the back with the blue sweater. I want you to come forward." I came forward and she said, "So, you think you know this Pascal, eh?" I said, "Yeah, I've already read the book on it." She then said, "Okay, want to take the final? Think you can do that? If you can take the final, right here, right now, up in my office with an hour-long time-limit while I grade papers, and you get nothing less than an A, then I'll let you pass this course and move on to Pascal 2." And that's exactly what I did. I even passed her bonus question with flying colors.
So, writing software? Heck yeah. It's what I do.
But it didn't dawn on me until that talk show host said that statement that, yeah, kids these days are growing up on Facebook and MySpace, and are walking around with iPods and iPhones that can surf the web sort of effectively, and we serious web developers here who are trying to make a living will have this challenge now, and in the future, by these kids. These kids, at their least, are learning how to paste in some Javascript or do a little HTML. Others are learning jQuery. And some more may start to play with PHP, but probably through Windows.
And the situation is now worldwide of course. I'm seeing some amazing software work. And for those who think English is a barrier -- I'm seeing some extremely well-spoken, well-written English speakers in places other than the UK, Canada, Australia, or the USA. Just today I met another PHP and Linux developer from the Netherlands, now relocated to Spain, and his work is impeccable, top notch. And, better than me, he's got a lower debt-to-earnings ratio than me and plans to keep reducing that through environmental means (solar power, organic farming, etc.). (See what I mean about alternative passive income sources? Was not so far off, after all.)
I mean, why go to 6 to 8 years of college to become a chiropractor, doctor, or lawyer, or even 4 years as an accountant or what have you, to get out and suffer through the regular economy and its lack of jobs, its traffic, its layoffs, and its slow cycle of career promotion? Some may want to just do 2 years of college at an institute after high school, and then just go out and earn cash in the web economy, which, to me, seems far more resilient to crisis than the regular economy. In fact, I almost wish now that I never wasted time beyond my first two years in college and just jumped out to do software. But I didn't have the web back then and its fast-paced access to cash for those who find their niche. Kids these days, do.
Food for thought...in fact, I could probably do myself a favor and write some doom-and-gloom book about this like you see on the shelves in bookstores about the future...and get rich from it. Ha!