The decline and fall of the American programmer

Reviewer: John W. Fendrich

Mander is the director of the Computing Laboratory at the University of Kent, Canterbury, England. In this short article, he has written his observation of what has occurred and is occurring since the publication of Ed Yourdon’s 1991 book [1]. Mander observes that not much of what Yourdon predicted has happened—not yet, anyway—although there continues to be a shortage of labor with information technology (IT) skills in the US and the UK. Mander observes that, since the late 1980s, the University of Kent has educated IT professionals, but only a small percentage of them have remained in the United Kingdom. He points out a possible United Kingdom brain drain. He also points out that the IT skills shortage will become critical before sufficient numbers of graduates can be produced through the traditional format of the United Kingdom educational system. Mander’s solution to these problems consists of three components. The first is to educate more of the workforce in a more apprenticeship-like format, with less of a boundary between education and employment. The second is to establish academic practitioners (until now, a preserve of the medical profession) in the computing profession, who will bridge the disparities between academic and industrial salaries and will provide a vital conduit for the flow of research ideas and practical applications. The third is to foster massive interaction between universities and companies, by means of co- locating them, much in the manner of teaching hospitals. Aside from a quote from the Yourdon book, there are no references or an index for this short article, so the ideas are probably mainly Mander’s. His ideas are an astute observation of current problems in finding skilled IT labor, and they call for a radical change in higher education, at least as far as IT education goes. It certainly flies in the face of the dichotomy between industry and academia: those striving for sustainability of their jobs and business units versus those with high-powered academic egos. The scenario might work, but might not in every case. It will be interesting to see if some elements of industry and some elements of academia make business ventures in this area. Mander does not make much of a business case for the change, but he does make an academic case that seems reasonable. Online Computing Reviews Service