Let the Other 95% of Great Programmers In

December 2014

American technology companies want the government to make immigration
easier because they say they can't find enough programmers in the
US. Anti-immigration people say that instead of letting foreigners
take these jobs, we should train more Americans to be programmers.
Who's right?

The technology companies are right. What the anti-immigration people
don't understand is that there is a huge variation in ability between
competent programmers and exceptional ones, and while you can train
people to be competent, you can't train them to be exceptional.
Exceptional programmers have an aptitude for and
interest in
programming that is not merely the product of training.
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