[eyeJam]

This is a fascinating article for me. I was a self-taught web developer, but I had studied engineering (not software/computer) in my undergrad so I was very fluent in algebra - which seems to be what programming is mostly about. I struggled to convince anyone that I was qualified, eventually got a crappy job at a fairly high-traffic website and bootstrapped my way up from there. However, along the way I met several programmers, some in high managerial positions, who actually sucked at programming. They could regurgitate bits of code and patterns if they had to, but as far as solving novel problems or teaching themselves new frameworks etc. they were totally lost.

One thing I noticed in undergrad is that it was hard to tell if some people just couldn't "do math" or if they weren't trying hard enough. No one understands complex math concepts the first time they see them and I certainly had to grind really hard in some classes to learn the concepts. But maybe they would have to grind 100X harder than me to learn them? Who knows. I like to think anyone can learn math if they work hard enough but I'm optimistic.

[nibs]

I think most people could probably perform math to a degree that is necessary to be a programmer or any other "close-to-math" profession at a sufficient level to remain employed using widely available tools. I doubt that all people can synthesize University math even if they spent an unlimited amount of time studying.