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Comment by k__ | Hacker News Reader

On the other hand, how many people can you train to become programmers?

Are you asking if it would be feasible for companies to take in well-educated people, and teaching them the programming/dev-craft?

I don't know. But right now, companies are trying to solve the problem in other ways, which is ultimately not addressing their core need.

I just feel like some sort of educational system (bootcamp'ish) would be able to make a good business case for most companies.

When I finished my undergrad education, my first job was with a big consulting firm. Early 1990s. They did have a 6 or 8 week "boot camp" and they taught new hires how to program. Many of them had had no significant prior background in programming.

I'm asking how much of the population can learn to program.

I once read that you need an IQ above 100 to learn it and be effective with it, I just don't remember how much above 100 it was. 110 or 115 or something...

On the other hand, programming gets easier by the day.

I know a few people in marketing who build impressive stuff just with GUI based programming tools.

Most people, I'd imagine. Given enough time.

But I don't know how many you could train within a cost-effective timeframe.

And learning the basics just doesn't seem to cut it anymore. It seems like most enterprise technology builds on older versions of older versions making it more complex. For instance, AI and ML seems like two subject areas that would be impossible for anyone to work professionally with, if they don't have years and years of experience with programming/math/statistics.

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