[LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow?

[grove at zeta.org.au]

On Sun, 13 Jan 2008, Janet Hawtin wrote:

> It feels like we are optimised as a culture of consumers.

I think you're right.   And things like DMCA do not help. 
The "hacker mentality" is now readily equated with terrorism.

Chemistry sets are now sold so as to be practically inoccuous as possible.
Hacking a modern car engine is not the same due to use of sealed electronic
modules and most of it being "on a chip".

Why bother building it when you can get a ready made Shenzen special
from Bunnings or whereever?

Everything is slowly being reduced to a commodity.   And if it doesn't 
support some sort of "standard" then it is not allowed to be marketed
or is strictly regulated.

I see Dick Smith shops as a good example of this.   They used to be full
of electronic bits and you put most of your things together as a hobby,
which might later lead to a skill set that took you into a trade or career.

Now it's a shop full of USB coffee warmers with the electronic bits
a stub of it's former glory.

The skills are now only out there in a few die hard 20 year olds 
who are sill enough to have a crazy hobby and the rest resides in 
people who are now over 40 and gradually retiring.

Let's look at a 17 minute movie that sort of sums it up for me - 
who can honestly say they know someone who has at least 2 of the skills
shown, let alone the whole set:

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/01/make_your_own_vaccum_tube.html


rachel

-- 
Rachel Polanskis                 Kingswood, Greater Western Sydney, Australia
grove at zeta.org.au                http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/grove.html
 		The price of greatness is responsibility.