Every company and industry needs more programmers!

The more than 85,000 professional developers from over 80 countries that are part of the Evans Data Corp (EDC) developer panel are part of a larger global developer population that is over 22 million strong. While this number seems large, the demand for more programmers is even greater. Beyond the computer scientists, software engineers, computer engineers, and full stack developers working today, every industry and company is looking for additional programmers. If they don’t exist, then we’ll have to encourage more students to learn how to code, create citizen developers, and train occupational programmers.

CEOs say their Company Needs More Programmers

Last month at the White House American Technology Council Roundtable, Tim Cook (CEO of Apple) said “coding should be a requirement in every public school. We have a huge deficit in the skills we need today versus the skills that are there. We’re trying to do our part, or hopefully more than our part in doing that. But, I think leadership in government is key.”

In a recent CNN Money interview, Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, said “”A car today has hundreds of millions of lines of code. We do see a shortage if we don’t address this and I mean fully fundamentally. Every child needs to have these skills.” To help drive more computer literacy, GM is donating money to Code.org, Black Girls Code, the Institute of Play, and Digital Promise.

In a LinkedIn post last August, GE’s CEO Jeff Immelt said “If you are joining the company in your 20s, unlike when I joined, you’re going to learn to code. It doesn’t matter whether you are in sales, finance or operations. You may not end up being a programmer, but you will know how to code.”

What Can Be Done?

Apple is offering a free computing curriculum for high schools and community colleges. Apple also has classes in their Apple stores and Swift Playground learning tools to attract students to take up programming. Microsoft helps students use MineCraft to learn computer programming. There are many other companies also providing software, devices, curriculum, teachers, mentors and more.

As a developer, take a look in your home town to see how you and your company can help encourage students to learn how to program. Post a comment if you are involved in teaching kids how to program.

David Intersimone “David I”
Vice President of Developer Communities
Evans Data Corporation
davidi@evansdata.com
Blog: https://devnet.evansdata.org/
Skype: davidi99
Twitter: @davidi99