[ashray]

You guys are so naive. The only reason Jeff doesn't want everyone to program is so that we can have the benefits we have right now. There's currently an industry shortage, it's awesome for programmers right, left and center. We get better perks, better benefits, better pay.

There are definitely benefits of having more programmers, or people familiar with programming, however there are two caveats:

1. With more programmers there will be a much larger signal to noise ratio. Good programmers will become much harder to find.

2. It'll drive down the value of each programmer, regardless of industry quality.

The same thing happened to the aviation industry in India. There were pilot shortages, then they found that pilots get paid really well. Everyone and his cousin became a pilot, boom - quality and more importantly perks/pay went down. Now there's a pilot surplus (of mostly inexperienced n00bs) in the country. These guys are all unemployed and the airlines are all talking about "how difficult it is to find good and experienced pilots". But the pay has gone down..

So yeah, nobody learn how to program PLEASE. I want to be the only programmer.