[tchaffee]

This source shows the IQ range of nurses and computer programmers as very similar. With programmers going both slightly lower and slightly higher than nurses. Meaning there are no nurses that have as low an IQ as the lowest IQ programmer. Proving your claim definitely wrong.

https://www.gwern.net/docs/iq/ses/2002-hauser.pdf

The jobs require different types of cognitive ability and I'd guess the average programmer would fail miserably at being a nurse due to not having the right type of cognitive ability.

[rendang]

I'm pretty skeptical - that's 30 year old data and I doubt the programmer category corresponds closely with the profession today.

What kind of intellectual capacity would the average programmer lack compared to an RN? Physical/energy/personality demands I could see being a barrier, but not cognition.

[tchaffee]

> I'm pretty skeptical

Feel free to provide an better source. You made a claim that looked like a bad guess and it was pretty easy to find a source showing that you were wrong. What data is your claim based on?

> What kind of intellectual capacity would the average programmer lack compared to an RN?

The ability to pick up on social queues for example. The cognitive ability to recognize when logic isn't appropriate and empathy is more appropriate. The cognitive ability to read between the lines about what someone is really saying about what they need instead of taking their requirements literally. Software developers are nearly four times more likely to have autism than the general population. So you could start there. To be clear, I'm not saying all programmers or even the majority of programmers are bad at all of the above. But claiming that it's all raw IQ and there is no difference in cognitive skills between jobs is disingenuous. I certainly don't want a math genius with poor proprioception as my nurse.

> that's 30 year old data and I doubt the programmer category corresponds closely with the profession today.

As someone who has been programming for more than 30 years, I can assure you that you are wrong about that guess. In fact there are so many more programmers today and the demand is so high, that it would be a far safer bet that the low end of the IQ range is lower today. At bigger companies especially, some programmers barely contribute and still manage to keep their job for years.

[seti0Cha]

I admit, I didn't read all 92 pages of that doc, I just skimmed to the chart at the bottom. I guess you are using "computer occ" value for programmer? If so, there's a lot more interesting things in there than what you pointed out. For example, the lowest scoring "computer occs" on chart 7 are way below that of "administrative occs", as well as high school teachers, service managers, social workers and clergy. Hard to tell, but looks like clerical-other also has higher minimal requirements. Am I missing the real data or misunderstanding that chart? Because frankly, it looks pretty implausible.

[tchaffee]

> I guess you are using "computer occ" value for programmer?

I'm using "Technicians and comp. programmers"

[BigJono]

The average programmer fails miserably at being a programmer. Most of the value in the industry is generated at the top.

I'd guess the average nurse is pretty good at their job. I've only been in a hospital once so tiny sample size, but everyone looking after me there was great. I can't imagine it's an industry with boatloads of cash floating around that lets people cruise by with mediocrity.