CONTACT CAROLINE
facebook
rss
tumblr
twitter
goodreads
youtube

  • Home
  • Write Away Blog
  • Books
    • Books
    • Trompe l’Oeil
    • Heart Land
    • Gothic Spring
    • Ballet Noir
    • Book Excerpts
  • Video Interviews
  • Press
    • News
    • Print Interviews
    • Plays
    • Ballet Noir in the Press
    • Trompe l’Oeil In The Press
    • Gothic Spring In The Press
    • Heart Land Reviews
  • Contact
  • About
  • Resources
    • Writer Resources
    • Favorite Blogs
    • Favorite Artists



Coal Miner As Techie

Apr 25, 2018
by Caroline Miller
Clive Thompson, coal miners and plant workers ideal as computer coders, Code Is King, computer coding, easy transition from blue collar jobs to coding
0 Comment

Courtesy of dreamtime.com

Geometry was my downfall in high school.  Languages weren’t much better.  I have an aversion to memorizing material.  All those theorems and all that vocabulary made my head spin.   On the other hand,  my brief but spectacular introduction to organic chemistry was a delight.  I loved puzzling out how elements combined to form  compounds.  Years later, I experienced the same delight when I discovered a chain of 1s and 0s could create computer code.

Simple coding is no more difficult than picking strawberries. Americans don’t like to do the latter which is why we need migrant workers.  Coding, however, isn’t physically intensive, pays well and the nation has a growing need to hire those who can do it.  Clive Thompson predicts computer programming will be the next blue-collar job. (“Code Is King,” by Clive Thompson, Wired, Dec. 2016, pg. 40.)  

I believe Thompson.  From my experience, coding is less about being a wunderkind and more about being a proletariat.  The work doesn’t demand knowledge of algorithms, and is “something equivalent to the skilled work at a Chrysler plant.” (Ibid pg. 40)  A coal miner, accustomed to being a team player and working with engineering technology could also adapt to the job.  Happily, coding pays an average of $81,000 a year. 

Because coding is skilled rather than intellectual work, employees needn’t enroll for an expensive degree in computer science.  Community college courses will do.  And, after training, a job is assured.   “…the field is set to expand  by 12 percent from 2014 to 2024, faster than most occupations.” (Ibid pg. 40.) 

The technology we fear will destroy jobs could create them, says Thompson.  That’s good news for the working man and woman.

(Originally published 1/31/17)

 

 

Social Share

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

*
*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

Subscribe to Caroline’s Blog


 

Archives

Categories

YouTube-logo-inline2 To access and subscribe to my videos on YouTube, Click Here and click the Subscribe button.

Banner art “The Receptive” by Charlie White of Charlie White Studio

Web Admin: ThinPATH Systems, Inc
support@tp-sys.com

Subscribe to Caroline's Blog


 

Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Sitemap | Privacy Notice

AUDIO & VIDEO VAULT

View archives of Caroline’s audio and videos interviews.


Copyright © Books by Caroline Miller