This is a byproduct of the (in my view, very positive) tradition in programming of not requiring a college degree. It offers the political class an easy message for dealing with the ramifications of the jobs exodus in places like Appalachia. Nobody would suggest, for example, training people up as doctors or lawyers or accountants to be a solution to that problem. The degree requirements are a signal: “this is not for everyone.” With programming, politicians have gotten this idea that because there are no formal educational requirements, programming and “tech” jobs are an avenue for employing the large numbers of economically displaced. But of course, programming is hard. Most people don’t have the analytical/mathematical mindset necessary to be even competent programmers. All of these coding boot camps and public programs just capitalize on this misconception and wishful thinking.
> But of course, programming is hard. Most people don’t have the analytical/mathematical mindset necessary to be even competent programmers. All of these coding boot camps and public programs just capitalize on this misconception and wishful thinking.
It works both ways too; When bootcamps first popped up, I was dismissive of them until I realized that there was (to be fair, relatively new) high demand for people who could even do the bare minimum of stringing together CRUD apps, forming a labor market that had nothing to do with me, despite nominally being an "engineer". I think a lot of the pathologies of eng hiring stem from the broadness of the role "engineer", which just ends up causing credentialism and the metaphorical ghetto-ization wrt talent of parts of the stack, like frontend.
