[geebee]

People (including me) often say that barriers to entry are low, but I think it's a bit more complicated than that. There are no legal barriers to entry. But barriers to being a "mathematician" are also low. But would you say that the barriers to doing meaningful mathematical work are low? It's out of reach of most of the population.

Anyone can hang out a shingle as a software developer, but are the barriers to getting through the technical grilling typical of a software interview process really low? Just because there are no legal barriers doesn't mean that it's an easy thing to learn.

I don't think that software engineers are suffering from bad pay, but is the pay high enough that it makes sense to be talking about a severe shortage that the government should start fixing? Based on pay, I'd say we should take the "software developer" shortage about as seriously as we take the "dental hygenist" shortage.

[collyw]

The thing is, anyone who has read, say the Django tutorial can say "I have done Django developemnt", whereas that is a world of difference from having a solid understanding of database design and deep understanding of all parts of the framework and able to set up such an app on various different servers.

Interviews in IT seem to be a mess, though looking at what I have been asked in the past few years. Pointless trivial pursuit sytle Python questions and the likes.

[smsm42]

I'd say definitely lower than RN. Not to mention all kinds of certifications that can be expensive and time-consuming too. Great software engineers are rare, but common ones are nowhere near the level you need to be to make a significant contribution to math field. And the pay is much better.

[mgstr]

Most of the developers I've met from the companies mentioned have masters or phds as well as substantial work experience on real-world projects. Those that don't are usually exceptional individuals.

[smsm42]

You have very biased view of the industry then, probably because of the specifics of your social circle. Absolute majority of tech industry doesn't have PhDs and does work that in no way, form or manner requires PhD.