[iamcasen]

I'm not sure quality has gone down as much as the need for programmers has drastically expanded. Now pretty much all businesses have the need for custom software to some degree, and many of those businesses do not have a big budget.

What do you get when you have millions of businesses who need ten million dollars worth of software but can only spend 100k? You get lots of shitty developers coming out of the wood work to meet this demand, and you get what you pay for.

In the 12 years I've been doing this, I've just noticed that all the good software developers are working at the places with big bucks, and all the shitty developers are picking up the scraps.

[ghostwthemost]

I'd beg to argue this point. Those who are stimulating this employment exercise are more often than not degree holding. And that is where we have fallen. School != expertise in any regard.