Recently, I found myself at General Assembly's graduation showcase.
It was a simple networking session, with the recent graduates showcasing the skills they have learnt, and the projects they have done while on the 13-week immersive course.
I was curious, what a 13 week education programme would cover, and what would the graduates possibly hope to achieve. I was skeptical. What hopes did these 13 week graduates have of landing a decent full-time job?
I was shockingly mistaken. The event, which i expected to only host a couple of community members was packed. Representatives from start-ups to large technological companies were all gathered that day.
I had the pleasure of speaking with a couple of Start-ups and coyly asked them the million dollar question. How much are you looking to hire these 13-week old Coders? Their response? $4,000 to $6,000. That to me was insane. These guys paid approx $11,000 - $13,000 in fees, left their previous careers, had no prior coding experience (most anyway), went for a short 13 week course, only learnt how to build a website. And yet they were receiving offers for $4,000 - $6,000. Talk about a phoenix analogy.
Most fresh graduates will kill themselves. Whats more those fresh graduates dropped between $15,000 to $100,000 on fees, depending on which institution and course they took, and at least 2.5 years to 4 years ( 7 years for doctors) to graduate! And they can only expect to be paid $2,7000 to $4,000 for their first rodeo.
This was testament of market forces at work if I've ever seen one. The invisible hand. The Supply of coders are limited, the Demand for them is ever increasing, Salaries and benefits will only rise, and programmers will jump between companies.
From General Assembly's point of view, this showcase was a success for sure. They are definitely going to post how successful their course graduates were/are and how much they are getting/ going to get paid. The eventual influx of students will help the startup community in Singapore, and the weaker coders will get culled from the pack.
But this is an over simplification of the impact of coding/technology/glamour of startups. The opportunity at hand is immense, and we should definitely milk every last drop of it. But at the same time we must know and identify which trends are sustainable and which will be the drug that will give us our highest high, and then leave. Giving us our lowest of lows.
Startups will see opportunities everywhere, and see big fast money to be made. But acknowledging that it will always be a passing fad and knowing when to pivot is key. As much as we need to stay to our true north, we will need to understand and acknowledge a pivot when its due.
Back to coding, it used to be a shitty farming job. Where you sit in your dark grubby corner and you just code. But with all these multi-million tech companies doing marketing tours about how working in the tech company as the coder is the best, and that you're a superstar techie. How many of the new generation will really see it for what it is, and how many will perpetuate the stereotype of millennials who give up at the slightest hint of difficulty.
Its really too hard to tell. but gonna learn how to code... It's way too lucrative.
