Economics of Software Development v. The Practice of Law

williamha.com

The hole in your argument is that it's much easier to keep finding employment as a lawyer because law as a skill doesn't change dramatically and the more senior you get, the better. Developers skills diminish over time e.g. you're a .net programmer and now you have to learn Python to get a job.

You do have a point.

Learning new technologies may not be as dramatic as a shift though. I don't fully buy into the 80/20 rule, but a 5 year .net programmer would probably be proficient in Python in a matter days. OOP and CS fundamentals don't change (along with the basic principals of laws) between languages. You're also likely just dealing with business requirements and people. But, I guess we won't know for sure until all of us around here get old, or much older.

The correct quote to lead off the story is: The more you learn, the more you earn.

(The current article says "learn" in both places.)

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