The programming talent myth

This "myth" is a bunch of things, some valid. 60-hour work weeks amount to bad management, for instance. But the "shortage" of programmers, as of engineers, announced every couple of years (for many decades past) is purely class warfare. Offer what programming is worth, and rock-star programmers will come pouring in. Attempts to drive up enrollments are transparent price-gouging.

Enough women enroll already, along with too many white men who will not be good enough. Send them home, and the numbers will equalize. The skills needed for good programmers don't correlate with skin color, sex, attractiveness, or personality. We get all kinds. Filter out privilege, and talent surfaces. You will end up with fewer graduates, but can put more attention into readying them, and they will do better work.

I know personally a programmer who produced, on a crash six-month project, as much code as 500 other programmers in the group. He is humble because he knows another who produces several times as fast as he does (he says ten), and wears out two keyboards a year, although at a cost to his health.

The reason we need the best programmers coding is that bad code has negative value. Mix good and bad code and you end up with zero value; maybe positive if you're lucky, but just as likely negative. How many programming projects are abandoned every year by otherwise well-run companies?

Mediocre, and worse, managers can cause much more harm than bad programmers, but it's harder to root them out. When there's rooting being done, it's as likely as not the bad managers making the decisions. If you're a good manager, your hands are full protecting your programmers from the products of privilege all around you.