Decades of research shows job training programs don't work at scale because of lack of *supply* of appropriate good jobs. There are always nice learned-to-code stories (I'm one: started coding as a kid and it literally saved my life) but those don't scale.https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/12/us/mined-minds-west-virginia-coding.html …
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I have seen many, many "teach computers to poor people" efforts over the year and studied them in my disseration. My most common observation is that they are wasting people's time and should just give people the money directly. Focus should be on living wage for realistic jobs.
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Replying to @zeynep
Without disputing anything you're saying, what are "realistic jobs" in some areas? Apart from (perceived) job supply in programming, it can (often) be done remotely. That's rarely true of other fields.
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Replying to @SteveBellovin @zeynep
Are there a lot of entry-level programming jobs that are remote, though? I get the impression that most of the remote opportunities are for mid-career level work. (Could be wrong)
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Replying to @mattblaze @zeynep
It takes really good management and management infrastructure, which is often lacking.
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By often lacking, I suspect you mean as rare as hen's teeth, at least for beginners. I doubt I'd have become a good programmer without live discussions with colleagues just sitting around. Even social media don't have the required bandwidth and immediacy.
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Yep, absolutely. Even wading through the culture of online forums where you can, if you know what you are doing, get some help is a totally alien experience for most of these people.
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Yup. I noted in a blog post a few months ago (https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/blog/2019-03/2019-03-11.html …) how lucky I was that I had someone else who could answer my really dumb questions, or I might never have succeeded in learning to code, back in the mists of time.
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Replying to @SteveBellovin
Steven M. Bellovin Retweeted Steven M. Bellovin
Oops, wrong blog post. It's https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/blog/2016-02/2016-02-01.html … — which is relevant here, too.https://twitter.com/SteveBellovin/status/1127682079733559296 …
Steven M. Bellovin added,
Steven M. BellovinVerified account @SteveBellovinReplying to @zeynep @oclsc @mattblazeYup. I noted in a blog post a few months ago (https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/blog/2019-03/2019-03-11.html …) how lucky I was that I had someone else who could answer my really dumb questions, or I might never have succeeded in learning to code, back in the mists of time.1 reply 2 retweets 4 likes
Yeah. Some very basic stuff can be a hurdle if you're isolated—and then someone shows you how and it seem so obvious.
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Replying to @zeynep
True story of the first thing I didn't get… I was learning FORTRAN II, where you indicated a continuation card by putting non-blank, non-zero in column 6 of the next card. Only five continuation cards were allowed—but how could a program fit in just six cards? Had me puzzled…
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