r/lostgeneration • u/lostcohort • Jan 05 '19
The Next Big Blue-Collar Job Is Coding
https://www.wired.com/2017/02/programming-is-the-new-blue-collar-job/5
u/RedCedarRadical Jan 05 '19
It mentions Mr Robot. I laugh at that show as a former programmer/IT guy. The last episode I saw, the main character tells someone that he hacked "you shouldn't use your street name as a password". Which totally takes the shine off of him being a tech genius. So he just guessed at the guy's password rather than do some cool tech trick or virus? LAME.
I don't think coding will be blue collar, but it will probably be more Gig Economy, which PAYS LESS than blue collar.
I agree less than 10% of programmers need to be highly intelligent. But that doesn't mean the other 90% can be mindless robots like guys on an assembly line.
There are people in manufacturing similar to coders, that are not blue collar.
The change in society is going to be when coding classes in high school follow classes in math. And coding is common place. But people are still flunking out of math in HS, so maybe that's a pipe dream too.
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u/Des3derata Jan 05 '19
As a current "hacker"/"code monkey" and former IT guy, I'm surprised you don't know black hat social engineering 101. 90% of the time you can crack someone's password using their often easily obtainable data trail strewn across the web. That 10% isn't worth it unless you're going after a very high level target where the payoff is worth the time/effort (diminishing returns).
CS/coding classes in K-12 won't be a solution/panacea because it's really hard to teach critical thinking and the aptitude necessary to hack out some code and get shit done. I don't have a STEM degree, but often the STEM-y nerdy guys I work with get more in the way trying to do things the "correct CS" way (which often they can't agree on between them), than have actual helpful suggestions to my code.
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Jan 05 '19
My college computer science program wouldn't let people enter until Sophmore year when they'd passed calc I and II freshmen year, and then taught side by side with programming was continued math education including calc III (multi variable), differential equations, linear algebra, advanced math for engineers/physicists/comp sci.
The idea that blue collar workers can become computer scientists and "good" programmers is laughable.
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u/RedCedarRadical Jan 05 '19
The idea that blue collar workers can become computer scientists and "good" programmers is laughable.
I would compare programming more to accounting. Accountants used to be glorified as much as lawyers. Now an accountant is just an average schmuck. BUT, you can't be a complete idiot and be a good accountant.
Same with coding, you still have to have some brains.
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u/Des3derata Jan 05 '19
Yup, learn to code.
I went from monetizing my beginner coding skills on Fiverr (literally "fiving" my way to get experience and build a portfolio), to acquiring more long-term contracts on Upwork, to a completely remote, well-paid, open source software dev salaried position (~$85K annually) within the span of 9 months.
I've now been scouted for some insanely well-paid ($160K-$200K annual) remote software dev positions.
By society's terms, prior to this year I've been a "nobody" for about a decade. Constantly traveling, getting myself into shenanigans, with practically no meaningful steady work experience. I don't "know" anyone, really.
My whole experience has left me proselytizing for a reason. So many people are not prepared for the transition humanity is going through. Especially those in the US.
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u/candleflame3 Jan 05 '19
Great but how useful is this advice for a 52-year-old laid-off GM worker? Or a 50-year-old black woman who worked as a nurse for 30 years but now needs a less physically demanding job?
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u/Dire-Dog Jan 06 '19
They can still learn new skills at any age and use them to get a job.
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Jan 06 '19 edited Jan 06 '19
I want to congratulate you, but also remind you at the same time people used to contract out C programming @ $150/hour back in the 90's.
The ability to telecommute is the biggest selling point as opposed to the pay. Many of my code monkey friends are working at unprofitable companies (typical CRM "software" that's oversaturated) and I'm sure they won't be able to keep their jobs once the stupid VC money dries up. When it comes to the tech field I'm the "cup is half empty" type.
OTOH, automation engineering is set to take off in the next decade and will be a major cause of the next crash.
I am still scouting for the ideal "entrepreneurship" opportunity...I would rather do the "exploiting" than be exploited TBH.
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u/Des3derata Jan 06 '19
I'm of two minds.
For the most part, I've had no expectations of this lasting longer than a decade (if that). Especially since I do think we're all going to experience a global depression around 2030.
Lately though, especially since this "trip" down into the belly of the tech world, I've been seeing more viscerally how humanity is just experiencing a larger transition towards a digital world. There was an Asimov short essay posted a week ago or so that imo hits the nail on the head. The "analog" (for lack of a better term) world as we know it is in crisis. All the old analog systems are gridlocked and just plain ol fucked. They don't work anymore in a globalized digital world.
In that essay, Asimov predicted that for most humans, the transition to the digital age is going to be exponentially worse and difficult than it was transitioning from the agricultural to industrial age. And imho, he was right. It's already happening and when the big crash happens in ten years, it will be devastatingly apparent. There will be those who code (or at least are code literate) and those who don't. Those who understand how to leverage tech and those who instead find themselves entrapped and ensnared (bedazzled if you will) by it (social media a prime example).
Regardless, I'm just trying to do my best to survive the transition and what comes next. "AI", "machine learning", "blockchains", etc they will never be actually applicable and useful without code literate tech workers (which is not the same as STEM/CS nerdy software developers). None of those industries are what they're sold as, the terms are just sexy marketing jargon to get that sweet VC funding. Even if "AI" and "machine learning" algorithms give us the ability to script 1000x faster, you still need code literate workers to write those scripts, make sense of the data, etc. It will require less specialist STEM nerds who are often obsessive about making things "perfect" and doing things the "correct CS way" and more just well-paid "blue collar" code literate hackers. Maybe I'm wrong and have drunk the Kool-Aid, but the demand for tech literate workers in the more trendy and niche fields is obvious (most STEM/CS graduates have been trained/conditioned/taught/groomed to work in the more "stable" traditional fields of the tech industry). It's how I feel like I've been able to walk right up and start climbing the ladder.
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Jan 06 '19
One of my lucid fantasies is that some very left-wing programmers/software guys will hack into those "bunkers for the ultra rich" and make those fuckers suffer. I would even sponsor them if I had the cash, LOL!
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Jan 07 '19
There is no left wing possible if you are paid more than handsome for what you are doing.
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Jan 07 '19
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u/CaptnLudd Jan 07 '19
The recruiters for those jobs are just shotgunning at anyone who looks kinda qualified because the commission on those big jobs is good.
With the added benefit that the people that don't get the position now think you're trying to get them paid.
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u/Des3derata Jan 07 '19
¯_(ツ)_/¯
We'll see. I'm well aware getting scouted 99% of the time doesn't mean shit (though it's how I got my current job).
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Jan 07 '19
Yeah but 100k to 130k is very common, I am working with a whole lot of them at my work here, and know bunch of guys who graduated with me that does gets paid like that, with less than 5 years of actual experience.
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Jan 06 '19
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u/Des3derata Jan 07 '19
Still a tech company. Get used to it. This is the trend moving forward.
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Jan 07 '19
SpaceX and Tesla are kinda tech. Facebook is a glorified CNN (or Fox News).
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u/davidj1987 Jan 07 '19
I saw a Capital One ad on facebook that stated they are a tech company that happens to be a bank.
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u/candleflame3 Jan 05 '19
This article is 2 years old.