[bmurray7jhu]

I think the author is making a mistake by assuming the biggest potential benefit would be the coders taking jobs with "tech companies" in Kentucky. Coders working outside of technology companies can still provide significant added value. Smaller, non-tech companies frequently see enormous productivity benefits by building simple building CRUD applications with a small amount of custom business logic.

[quanticle]

> Smaller, non-tech companies frequently see enormous productivity benefits by building simple building CRUD applications with a small amount of custom business logic.

The problem is convincing these smaller companies of that fact. Many of these smaller businesses are owned by people who are deeply suspicious of technology, often with good reason. They've been burned by slick salespeople who've promised the moon and have saddled them with software that they don't know how to understand or maintain which now has vital financial or customer data.

As a result, many smaller companies (such as sole proprietorships) don't understand how far along software has come, and the role that software plays in allowing larger companies to squeeze them on margins.

[jdpigeon]

Absolutely. One can imagine a more level playing field when things like attractive websites, SEO, and efficient internal data management are more available to small businesses.