I just assume communities like that are dead, because SWE used to be an actually good job and fellow SWEs were probably on average more competent. Then the 2010s happened. Coding bootcamps, floods of people who are just coming into the field because it pays well but without a fundamental curiosity or interest in what’s technically going on, MOOCs, FreeCodeCamp… you name it.
Everyone was told to learn to code and that they could code. I think it’s even fundamentally true. I don’t want to gatekeep knowledge, but the people orchestrating this kind of thing were just trying to make today’s moment happen: make software engineer labor cheap.
Except what they did is they just attracted a lot of people into a field who are clueless, or as you said careerists, AND cheap. So now we’re in the 2020s and ChatGPT has come and just made everything that much worse for everybody. Let’s take stock of the kinds of people who became SWEs over time.
Always true: You could be very talented and self-taught. These people do exist.
before 2012: You had to pass an accredited computer science curriculum to get
into the field.
[ Up until 2012 everyone fit the above two categories. Computer science is not
an easy topic. It weeded out people who couldn't keep up with the work. This
kept the skill level relatively high. ]
2012-2021: You had to hack it in a coding bootcamp or MOOC with a basic
certificate that claims competency. More people could just claim being
self-taught than before. Especially for the web, frameworks can cover for the
harder parts of programming. Think: the NPM importer developer.
[ Now you have a lot of people joining the field with various competencies. Some
of these people are really good, but many are not. Computer science departments
expanded to accommodate more students with massive grants from places like the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, so more people are coming into these programs,
too. ]
2022-2023 (layoffs)
[ Now the situation is getting desperate for many people. People who were nicer
before are now tightening their belts because they've seen hundreds of
thousands of layoffs. Do you want to be next on the chopping block? Are you
happy with life right now? ]
2023-2025: You just ask the chatbot to give you the answer. You have no way of
assessing if it's the right answer.
[ Anyone can do this. Many people try to do this. I've spoken to very tired
recruiters who just have to sift through endless bullshit AI spam applications
and applicants. People who were bad at their job are now offloading what little
skill they used to have to this, and are therefore de-skilling themselves, too. ]
I think you want to rewind the clock, but unless you build a new community and set the rules this stuff is just dead.
REAL