These courses are themselves a sign of how high demand for programmers is.
In general you often hear stories in the newspaper about "we cannot hire programmers!" but I know tons of unemployed programmers.
If you go actually look at the job postings in a lot of areas it is slim pickings right now. The pay is bad, the benefits are worse, and the competition is high.
Schools continue to pump out CS grads and compensation continues to plummet.
I think what they mean when they say "there aren't enough programmers" is "we have to pay them too much, look at India!!"
I also wouldn't describe my current job as "pay is bad, the benefits are worse, and the competition is high" because that would be lying.
Also, we're hiring. Check out the careers section http://www.rhythmia.com/
From people who graduated after me (in particular 2008 and beyond) they talk of even longer unemployment and even worse prospects.
Unless you work in a niche area it is damn hard out there.
Won't call C++ a niche area. I don't know where you are, but have you considered moving to a place with more developer jobs?
Even the jobs coming out of London aren't that good. My current job is better than most. As I said there is a lot of unemployed programmers around here and competition remains tight.
A lot of people got thrown out when a bunch of service and or financial companies went bust, and they've been stealing all of the interesting or well compensated work.
UnoriginalGuy said "If you go actually look at the job postings in a lot of areas it is slim pickings right now." I suspect he's right, and there are places/fields where demand is poor, but there are also others where that's not the case.
I have to say, having relocated several thousand miles myself, I find it hard to sympathize with the unwilling.
I wouldn't really call that unemployed in the sense of desperation that most people mean.
(Not for much longer, I'd like to think)
I think you need to clarify this rather questionable statement. I do not know a single unwilfully unemployed programmer.
I speak to other humans who have a BSc in CS who are currently unemployed and have been unemployed an extended period.
If you need further clarification I am happy to try and provide it. But if you could tell me exactly what you want to know that would be helpful.
I'd advise your unemployed CS grad friends to come over here (Sydney) for a working holiday; they'll get work within days if they have in-demand skills (web/ios/android).
I work in DC, which arguably has one of the more vibrant tech scenes in the country outside of SF, NYC and Chicago. With that said, my managers have told me they spent months looking, both themselves and through recruiters, without finding any qualified candidates. I don't have a college degree and I have minimal professional experience in the field(internship). I don't even have much of a portfolio. I've been interested in computers since I was ~12, and programming for a bout that long. They hired me because I ask the right kinds of questions and have proven I can solve my own problems for the most part.
Now, the pay and the benefits aren't -amazing- like what you'll find from some hot companies, but it's pretty decent, more than enough for a comfortable lifestyle and buying myself some shiny toys every now and then. I would gladly take the lesser pay and much more relaxed work environment over the "rockstar programmer" falsehood that would likely be projected on me at a higher paying company.