I’m curious as to what other jobs web developers and coders would pursue if the internet/cellphones/tablets, etc. were to disappear. I’m not sure if this question even makes sense, but I totally agree with Somers when he says that there has never been a better time for developers to do what they do. Tech has become part of our lives. Somers fell into the world of coding by ‘playing’ around and making his own websites in college. Now he has multiple job offers a week! This is both fantastic and somewhat depressing. It’s depressing for the multiple careers and majors that will not be as successful as the ever-growing tech industry.
Somers admits that he doesn’t have the courage to say no to the demand of the sought after tech industry. “The American mind has made that very clear, it has said: ‘Be a specialized something — fill your head with the zeitgeist, with the technical — and we’ll write your ticket.’” He dubs himself as a ‘mediocre programmer’, but accepts this ‘mediocrity’ because he knows it will provide a stable future.
I read through some of the comments in response to this reading after asking myself the same question as the title of the article itself: “Are Programmers Really Worth It?”
The top comment was reassuring. The author describes their own developing background and explains the work they have done towards ‘making real things happen…building tools and technologies that literally could not have existed 10 years ago’. The author has built systems that conserve energy, along with medical management systems. Speaking to that, I think that there can be a lot more to tech, developing, and coding rather than just ‘making boxes’ on a webpage.