This is written in such a pessimistic tone. I mean sure, tech giants want to have lots of labour available, we get that. But is it wrong? At least some people who wouldn't have had the change to code will get a sniff at it now.
Also, I wonder whether it will matter much to supply. How many CS grads are actually being churned out? I heard it hasn't changed all that much. And people leave the profession too, either they don't like it or they can't hack it.
I somewhat liken it to sports. It's not that easy to like programming if you didn't like it as a kid. Sure, you can learn to kick a ball around when you're an adult, but you're not likely to have time, and the best opportunities to learn and progress will have passed. (OTOH your body won't start failing you as a coder in your 30s.) That's not to say you can't, I'm sure a bunch of late bloomers will appear if I left it at that, just that you tend to know that coding is the kind of thing you like when you're quite young.
So the undiscovered pool of talent is probably quite small. We can give more kids who don't have access to a computer some gear and some intro, particularly in poor countries. But there's cultural and legal issues with tapping that pool. With advanced societies, probably a lot of kids who are going to like coding will already have been exposed.
Also, I wonder whether it will matter much to supply. How many CS grads are actually being churned out? I heard it hasn't changed all that much. And people leave the profession too, either they don't like it or they can't hack it.
I somewhat liken it to sports. It's not that easy to like programming if you didn't like it as a kid. Sure, you can learn to kick a ball around when you're an adult, but you're not likely to have time, and the best opportunities to learn and progress will have passed. (OTOH your body won't start failing you as a coder in your 30s.) That's not to say you can't, I'm sure a bunch of late bloomers will appear if I left it at that, just that you tend to know that coding is the kind of thing you like when you're quite young.
So the undiscovered pool of talent is probably quite small. We can give more kids who don't have access to a computer some gear and some intro, particularly in poor countries. But there's cultural and legal issues with tapping that pool. With advanced societies, probably a lot of kids who are going to like coding will already have been exposed.