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Comment by jmtame | Hacker News Reader

It was only a few centuries ago that we paid this exclusive, elite upper class in society called scribes to write and transcribe things for us, because we weren't literate enough to do it ourselves. The parallels are pretty surprising today: we're paying an exclusive, elite class called programmers to write in the languages understood by computers. Software is eating the world, jobs are being displaced, and the demand for technical talent is as high as its ever been.

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Scribes were reasonably well off, sure, but to call them an "exclusive, elite upper class" goes beyond stretching it. Scribes were decently paid clerks that worked for scheming, sword wielding thugs who only gradually became literate themselves.

I don't think we're an elite, upper class now either. We're decently paid clerks that perform an essential task for our scheming, private jet flying, yes, thuggish overlords that for now at least haven't become computer literate themselves. Yet.

But the day will come that they will have, or at least will have become computer literate enough to operate the software that has displaced us.

If that day comes after I've died, I don't mind. Otherwise it'll be a problem.

Is programming that elite though? wages seemed to have hardly changed in the U.K. in the last 10 years (accounting for inflation). Also programming pays a similar amount to other jobs requiring a degree and is certainly a lot less than jobs like accountancy, finance, law and medical doctors.

For example, average programmer salary in 2004 was about £31k and in £38k http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/programmer.do and if you calculate £31k in today's money you get £38,440 [http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1633409/His...]

What no-one will talk about is: the economy never actually recovered from the dot-com crash. The last 10 years were a mirage built on debt. So now we need to deal with TWO aftermaths. And that is why economists say UK standards of living will revert to 2002 levels.

I don't know about the UK but in the US accounting, law, and medicine require appropriate licensing keeping supply low and wages high(er). But I dont think programming will ever reach the prestige of law/medicine since in the former you are engineering machines whereas in the latter you are engineering the human body and society, which will always be way sexier.

I'm just talking about supply and demand which should have kicked in if there is a shortage. Perhaps shouldn't have mentioned Doctors thing, which a different issue.

I saw an interesting chart, but can't find it now, that showed the average salary of programmers in the US hadn't budged in 10 years either... Hardly something you would expect if there was a true shortage.

Since I never pass up a chance for the joke: A lawyer or accountant with 30 years of experience is charging a lot of money or semi-retired... A programmer with 30 years of experience is likely unemployed.

I actually happen to know TONS of unemployed lawyers and accountants. There's quite an oversupply of lawyers. Not sure about accountants, but they are increasingly marginalized anyways.

You must know a lot of unlucky people. The unemployment rate for lawyers is 1.5%!

http://www.cooley.edu/newsevents/2011/081111_lawyer_employme...

Everybody can talk, but few people can be successful salesmen. Anyone could learn to play a musical instrument, but few people are actually doing it and even fewer people are good at it.

Related to scribes, even if mostly everyone knows how to read or write, that doesn't mean that book authors are obsolete. Writing novels and technical books is an endeavor that requires much more than simply being capable to read and write.

So I don't really get why this analogy is being made. Well, actually I do. It's for the same reason why recruiters are doing keyword matching on resumes.

There is also a defect in this comparison in that the journalists weren't helping displace average joe's jobs, but programmers are.

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