Interview with Code.org video director
March 29, 2013 at 1:55 am 2 comments
Interesting interview with the director of the Code.org video. The comments are intriguing and reflect the diverse and contrary perspectives on these issues: “There are nowhere near 1 Million unfilled software engineer jobs in the United States. Becoming a software engineer is a choice that is not a sideline choice, it becomes your whole life. While learning some coding may be a help for students, the premise of Code Stars is deeply flawed.” (Thanks to Mark Miller for the tip!)
Michelle Fields talks to filmmaker Lesley Chilcott about her film Code Stars. There is a dearth of computer engineers in America, and Chilcott is trying to reverse this trend through documentary film. Hear how many computer engineers started their lucrative careers at a young age with very simple programs, and how you can too.
via Decoding Success: Striking It Rich in the Tech Industry – YouTube.
Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: computing for everyone, jobs, public policy.
Computing Ed Research - Guzdial's Take 
1.
Joe Kmoch | March 30, 2013 at 3:31 pm
I don’t understand the context of the quotation in the first paragraph. Who’s saying that? Indeed there aren’t 1 million unfilled software engineering jobs. That 1.4 million jobs that this is based on is a projection through 2020. The projections indicate there will be about 1 million unfilledComputer Occupations jobs (Dept of Labor term, not mine) of which a majority (about 55%) are software engineering/analyst type jobs. So not quite as rosy as is noted in the film, but certainly opportunities by the end of this decade. And this doesn’t even refer to those positions requiring these kinds of cs skills in just about every other industry.
Also, I’d be interested in knowing what the author of the quotation means when the author says that CodeStars is deeply flawed.
2.
Mark Guzdial | March 30, 2013 at 4:11 pm
The handle on the commenter is “michaelsasylum.” I don’t know more than that. Now, there are even more similar quotes — there’s a real pushback on that video.