[toptalentscout]

>> To me, it's the top talent of "software PROGRAMMERS" that's the "oil".

So does that make all the rest of us plain programmers the grease?

[doyoulikeworms]

I think all programmers are the "oil". Some are higher quality that others, just as is the case with oil. Maybe tech companies are like refineries?

This analogy is getting strange, but I like it.

[it_learnses]

Yes and right now the industry is trying to create more and more programmers by pushing schools, promising riches, etc. just like the oil industry has been experimenting with various ways of extracting as much oil as possible. Wondering what the side effects equivalent to environmental pollution are in this case...

[GeneralMayhem]

>Wondering what the side effects equivalent to environmental pollution are in this case...

Just like pollution from the fossil-fuel industry, you can pick high-intensity problems that are restricted to the areas nearest the source, or low-intensity problems spread over the whole country/world. For example, the housing pressure in SF/SV is very high intensity but affects only a small part of the world; non-STEM high school and university departments losing prestige and/or funding is less intense in any one place but more widely distributed.