A Funny Java Flavoured Look at the World

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Computer industry 'faces crisis'

I read this article last week but didn't have time to blog about it, I found this on the BBC and this isn't the first time I have read an article in this vain, the title is Computer industry 'faces crisis' The article is about the number of students studying computers at university has dropped dramitically.

It's quite an interesting thought that computers are no longer a fashionable choice for students, what are they doing instead. I can see that the topic can be perhaps more challenging than some of other topics because you have to learn a computer language and then put in the hours to make it do something. Where as in some other subjects like Business Management (which was in my degree) you could often make up parts of the answers to questions and use logic.

The above paragraph is obviously a bit of old man ranting and "it's all easier for these young un's today" type of warbling.

I find it slightly unusual that computer is not being studied as much in university because there does seem quite a lot of jobs in the industry, you get to play with computers. The article says there is a sharp decline in people studying it. I like this description in the article

The industry also had an image problem, he said, with computer scientists often portrayed on TV and in films as "geeky".
I suppose one problem that might occur with computers and studying computer is that it isn't very appealing to women. In my experience I have worked with very few women (1 or 2) so a computer degree is already starting off on the back foot.

The bottom line is that it will be good news for people already working in computers as smaller numbers of skilled people should mean are prices go up. We can but hope.

If you like this blog or and fancy something a bit less technical with some laughing thrown in then check out my other blog Amusing IT Stories. Which is a blog about funny and amusing stories from the IT environment and the office. It is a mix of news, office humour, IT stories, links, cartoons and anything that I find funny


  • Hi Ben,

    The article was UK-specific, by the way.

    The UK is not a hard place to find jobs. There are more jobs than willing workers. That's why we're letting the Eastern Europeans in - for now, at least, they're willing to do the jobs that we don't want to.

    In London, I expressed surprise that the barman wasn't English - he was Swedish, and replied "it would be odd to see an English barman in London".

    I'm guessing you're in the UK yourself - I'm based in Manchester, how about you?

    Many students will go for whatever degree seems easiest, or the most fun. My current girlfriend did a degree in American Studies. And not in America. She doesn't know why.

    By Blogger Ricky Clarkson, at Tue Nov 28, 01:22:00 pm 2006  

  • Yeah I am based in Birmingham and there seems like there is definitly enough jobs for everyone at the moment.

    I don't think many students consider jobs when they choose their degree course and you can study a degree in anything these days.

    There are lots of science courses shutting down because they aren't getting enough people to do them.

    I wonder if it will have any effect in the future, perhaps skilled workers will be drafted in. Then again people can be taught to program without having a degree in it.

    By Blogger Hosky, at Tue Nov 28, 02:40:00 pm 2006  

  • I've been to Birmingham about 6 times now, and still haven't seen daylight there. Not that Birmingham has perpetual night, just that I've been for a salsa night out a few times and come back the same night, albeit at 4am..

    Perhaps one solution to the problem of science courses would be for the Universities of 'repute' to demote the 'Mickey Mouse' degree courses to HND level, or some other non-degree qualification.

    Science courses always seemed to be 'cool' at college (non-UK people, college is before University here, and doesn't involve degrees), but at degree level seen as too hard. Perhaps that's because A-Levels just don't exist in subjects like 'Gambling Studies', 'Leisure and Tourism'.

    One option is to choose a funky title to 'hide' a science course. This is based on a real course, but with a changed name and description (as the course is only planned, can't tell competitors about it yet): Mediaformatics - if the students read past the title, they'll realise that it's got wave theory in the acoustics part, and coverage of advanced data processing like, er, MapReduce in the informatics part, and is therefore hard.

    The above details are entirely made up, but they demonstrate a point. Make the course look sexy (but don't hide information on it), then actually teach them useful stuff that will get them good jobs at the end. And no, the stuff isn't actually hard. I haven't come across anybody yet who can't program, given some instruction and coaxing. There is only fear of failure preventing people.

    17-year-old prospective degree students simply don't know the job market and current trends as well as Universities do, because employers harangue Universities to provide them with the graduates that they want.

    By Blogger Ricky Clarkson, at Fri Dec 01, 12:35:00 am 2006  

  • By Anonymous Anonymous, at Tue Oct 06, 06:17:00 pm 2009  

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