The first sentence of the article shows the problem.
For years, we heard about the tech talent shortage — that there were a glut of jobs and not enough bodies to fill them.
The problem wasn’t ever “bodies,” which people have always misunderstood. It’s qualified workers.
I worked in tech for a long time, at a bunch of different companies, and I never once worked anywhere that there was a glut of jobs and “not enough bodies” to fill them.
The people going into these careers includes a large number of people who want the money but aren’t qualified do what we’re looking for.
Its more than that; companies also continuously propagate the message of “shortage of workers” while continuing to raise the requirements for entry level positions more and more. It reaches a point where “entry level” is not attainable for most fresh grads to get experience, and keeps their starting wages (and continuing wages) very well depressed due to the high supply.
Its a very targeted campaign to make sure educated workers are oversupplied, tied down with student debt, and don’t get too many ideas of independence in their heads.
I graduated in 2002, just as the dot com bubble burst. Similar scary headlines abounded then. I’m not employed in it, but I don’t recall the tech sector disappearing and us all going to live in caves. Maybe I missed it?
The problem this time around is that companies think junior developers can be replaced with AI. This is delusion. Some think they can replace senior developers with AI. This is LSD heroic dose delusion.
These delusions will work themselves out in a few years, after a very painful burst bubble, but right now it means junior developers aren’t getting hired. In 10 years, there will be a shortage of senior developers because all the missing juniors now will translate into missing seniors then.
Yeah the same thing happened with the dot com bubble.They didn’t try to replace junior developers with ai, they just gave them pool tables in lieu of having any plan at all! When I graduated there were very few jobs in programming at all, and those that were were flooded by people with a lot more experience than a new graduate.We’ll get through it this time too
