The article “So long to tech’s dream job. Shut-up-and-grind era is here” (Aug. 10, Business) mentioned how artificial intelligence coding agents are taking away entry-level coding positions. What it didn’t mention is that coding is the easy part. The hard part is defining and specifying a problem in a way that it can be coded for the system on which it is intended to run.
This situation is yet another example of leaders of industries not learning this lesson:
Universities, colleges and technical schools are not there to train people for your company. They exist to educate people so they can make wise decisions in business situations and entire industries that don’t exist yet.
So expecting a college graduate to have the exact set of skills for your special situation is counterproductive. Nobody can predict what the needs of industry will be after four or five years, so all a college student can do is study what interests them.
If a student is interested in solving puzzles, they need to be warned that while computer programming is like solving a puzzle, on the job you don’t get to choose the puzzle. And then you must solve it or risk losing your job.
Mark F. Martino, Kirkland
