Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be coders

Don't let them write programs and hack them too much
Let them be doctors and lawyers and such!

Credit to John Newton for the title!

John brings up the old issue of people not encouraging their kids to go into the software industry.

I teach a few different IT courses at a private college. The real problem is not that kids don't want to study information technology, it's that they all want to become networking technicians!

When I ask my students about this it soon arises that they think becoming a networking specialist is a lot easier than becoming a programmer. It is definitely true that it's easier to study networking technologies than programming, and becoming an entry-level programmer probably takes a bit more hard work than becoming an entry-level networking technician. Being a CCIE level networking engineer is a different story though.

The real reasons why there aren't enough programmers being churned out from private colleges and universities are simple:

1. Private colleges don't encourage students to study programming. Programming teachers cost a lot more and seeing as class-sizes are already smaller, private colleges simply prefer to focus on networking basics.

2. Universities should start by teaching JavaScript, not Java! Studying Computer Science is dreadfully boring for the first 3 - 4 semesters. It's also extremely difficult for the uninitiated. Especially when you're writing code in Java or C++ and you can't "see" what's going wrong and can't decipher cryptic error messages. It would be better to use JavaScript to teach students about for loops, if-then-else logic, simple functions etc. Students will have a lot more fun creating a 'cool' website they can show to the world than they would creating a command line Java app.

It doesn't help that most university teaching staff see Javascript, PHP, Ruby on Rails etc. as somehow 'inferior' to Java or C++.

The problem is not just getting students to study Computer Science, it's getting them to graduate with a CS major. In my first year at varsity, there were about 400 students 'majoring' in Computer Science. By year 3 it was closer to 100.

Considering the current world of web 2.0, universities should be spending more time on web languages and technologies, and less on teaching students to write stand-alone applications!

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My bet with Steve Jobs

I wrote in my last blogpost about how Apple has been doing just about everything right and are winning over PC addicts like myself.

One of the things that really irks me though, besides the price, is that you can't read anything on Apple's website because they are using a dark grey font against a black background. (http://www.apple.com/macbookpro)

Please write a comment below to tell me if you can read it!

Anyways, here's my correspondence with Steve Jobs on the matter (yes, I was surprized he replied to me, even though it was somewhat curt)


On Apr 24, 2006, at 4:09 PM, Henk Kleynhans wrote:


Dear Mr Jobs,

The text at http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/ is entirely illegible. Dark gray against a black background? What were you thinking???

If you fix the contrast on your webpage, I’d bet your sales will increase significantly!

If I’m right, I wouldn’t mind an all-expenses paid trip to Silicon Valley and a Macbook Pro.

If I’m wrong, well, you’ll have a place to stay with a young entrepreneur in Cape Town, South Africa. (I’ll even throw in a township tour)

I have a pretty darn irritating habit of being right quite often, but you’re still welcome in Cape Town in any case.

Best Regards,

Henk Kleynhans – CEO
Skyrove (Pty) Ltd
Tel: +27 (21) 4488843
Fax: +27 (86) 6204077
henk@skyrove.com
blog: www.yeahfi.com

p.s. See my blog post on How to convert a Hardcore PC user into a Mac Fanatic: http://www.yeahfi.com/2006/04/how-to-convert-hardcore-pc-user-into.html






________________________________________
From: Steve Jobs [mailto:sjobs@apple.com]
Sent: 25 April 2006 03:52 AM
To: Henk Kleynhans
Subject: Re: calligraphy & what went wrong with macbook pro
Importance: High

I think its fine.

Best,
Steve






________________________________________
From: Henk Kleynhans [mailto:henk@skyrove.com]
Sent: 25 April 2006 11:06 AM
To: 'Steve Jobs'
Subject: RE: calligraphy & what went wrong with macbook pro
Importance: High

Dear Steve,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

I’ve now browsed the site www.apple.com/macbookpro from a few different machines in our office. It does look fine on LCD screens, but really horrid on normal CRTs.

As I posted on my blog, I think Apple is doing everything right. But it really is truly impossible to read the text on your website.

I have a tremendous amount of respect for you, so I don’t mean to sound cocky, but my wager stands!

You’ll save many people from the fate of Windoze if they were able to read the text on your website.

Best regards,


Henk Kleynhans
Skyrove (Pty) Ltd
Tel: +27 (21) 4488843
Fax: +27 (86) 6204077
henk@skyrove.com
blog: www.yeahfi.com