[jbreckmckye]

I'm struggling to add this all up.

On the one hand, I have some evidence that my job is hard: I have spent ten years learning to be proficient at it, still know only a narrow slice of it, and find it challenging every day. I have a solid degree from a world-renowned university, so I know I am not stupid. I also interview candidates, and know that many applicants simply cannot do the job.

But on the other hand, there is such a sheer volume of resources like this, which imply very clearly that becoming a programmer is a trivial thing. So many in fact that I am starting to doubt the evidence of my eyes and ears.

So which is it? Is there a weird drive to constantly undersell our skills, a knowing wink to the managers who have always secretly suspected us of being nothing more than glorified typists? Or are the bootcamps right, and I've spent a decade learning replaceable trivia? And why is making statement #2 seen as positive and inclusive?

[cosmodisk]

There's space for everybody. I do programming ( not full time) at work: usually it's simple queries against the database and business logic around the returned collection. Sometimes it's a bit more complicated and then I have to do an integration with an external system. Would I be able to write some traffic optimization algorithm for Netflix? Not a chance. Would I be able to help an average SMB by automating some of their processes? Absolutely. Someone is sitting in a fancy office on the 50th floor in Manhattan writing some heavily optimized code for a bank making $1M/year, while some other is doing simple PHP plugins for WordPress in some sweatshop. Both are called programmers. Same with bankers: one you meet at your local bank branch who doesn't even know what nostro account is, while other is doing some M&A trying to pull billion dollar companies together. It doesn't matter how many schools, bootcamps,or even leet universities will open,the fact that probably less than 0.01% of general population could barely become mediocre developers won't change any time soon.

[booleandilemma]

Programming is hard, and it’s only getting harder.

Managers don’t like this. They want to be able to hire programmers off the street with no experience and pay them a cheap salary. They want programmers to be plentiful and interchangeable. That is the dream.

But that’s all it is, just a dream that will never be realized no matter how many bootcamps and websites like this one come about.

The reason for this is there is no substitute for experience. Real experience. There are no shortcuts to becoming a developer. So don’t undersell yourself, your knowledge, or your experience.

[MattGaiser]

> But on the other hand, there is such a sheer volume of resources like this, which imply very clearly that becoming a programmer is a trivial thing.

It takes a few weeks to get to the first level. None of the people coming out of these bootcamps are building secure software at scale.

Imagine if you wanted to become a house builder. Coding bootcamps teach you to build a doghouse, which is easy to learn within a few weeks. People will pay for doghouses, so you may as well start there.

Over time, you build sheds, barns, and then move on to homes.

[brlewis]

>there is such a sheer volume of resources like this, which imply very clearly that becoming a programmer is a trivial thing

I think they imply that becoming a programmer is a matter of hard work and the right explanations. I'm 100% sure of the hard work part and maybe 60% sure of the right explanations part.