Big Tech Killed the Golden Age of Programming

Big tech g̶e̶n̶e̶r̶o̶u̶s̶l̶y̶ lavishly supported programmers for a whole generation. This is something to be happy about.

Don't be naive, there was neither generosity nor support, it was always about business: talent was scarce and plenty of competition for it existed. Thus compensation kept going up.

The "generous" overlords didn't think twice about cutting tens of thousands of developers to please wall street, even if financially there wasn't the smallest need for it.

Adam Smith: It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

I am not using the word generous in the unselfish sense, but the large, abundant sense. Apologies for any confusion.

I wouldn't call it generosity - it's supply and demand like anything else. There is money to be made from tech products, whether that's software itself or anything (i.e. almost everything) containing software. There is a limited supply of good developers with the skill/experience to develop complex products and ones with high reliability requirements.

It'll be interesting to see how the use of AI-based software development tools plays out, and affects the job market, but so far - together with offshoring - it seems to be mainly a matter of limiting entry level opportunities. Whether this persists or not remains to be seen - companies seem to be hoping/expecting that AI will let them cope with fewer entry level developers, but given that currently you need a human to use the tool it's not clear to what extent that is actually true.

Trump has recently, somewhat unexpectedly, been making noises about offshoring and H1B developers - saying that US companies need to be more patriotic in their hiring practices. It remains to be seen if this will progress from bullying to actual policy/law changes, but a reversal of offshoring would do a lot to improve the US job market for developers, especially entry level.

Not the clearest word choice, is it?

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/generous

bigtech salaries are weird because all sides feel like they're getting away with something.

bigtech looks at the marginal cost of an employee compared to marginal revenue gains they'll drive and sees a clear win. from their perspective, employees are underpaid relative to the money they bring in.

employees look at a mid-six-figure TC package for a very cushy job with minimal accountability and think that they're getting away with something amazing.