Hiring
“The Real Software Crisis” [BYTE Magazine, January 1996]
![“The Real Software Crisis” [BYTE Magazine, January 1996]](http://brucefwebster.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/byte-logo.gif "“The Real Software Crisis” [BYTE Magazine, January 1996]"){kind=logo}
[This commentary of mine, published in the January 1996 edition of BYTE Magazine (p. 218), used to be available on-line at BYTE.com, but no longer is, so I’ve re-posted it here. In the 17 years since I wrote it, I’ve seen nothing to change my mind.] The shortage of top-notch programmers threatens to become the […]
Book review: “Why New Systems Fail”
My review of Why New Systems Fail by Phil Simon is now up on Slashdot. Here’s the opening paragraph: Over the last forty years, a small set of classic works on risks and pitfalls in software engineering and IT project management have been published and remained in print. The authors are well known, or should […]
Is IT work true engineering or just plumbing?
And I mean no disrespect to plumbers for that comment. Many states require plumbers to be licensed, unlike software engineers. I was reading the comment thread to this Slashdot post on the declining percentage of women studying computer science. All the explanations you would expect are offered, with a fair amount of point and counterpoint. […]
The engineering shortage: Japan
Today’s New York Times reports that Japan is “running out of engineers“: After years of fretting over coming shortages, the country is actually facing a dwindling number of young people entering engineering and technology-related fields. Universities call it “rikei banare,” or “flight from science.” The decline is growing so drastic that industry has begun advertising […]
The Dead Sea Effect: why would IT engineers leave Google?
In my post on the “Dead Sea Effect“, I talk about why the overall quality of personnel in large corporate and government IT shops declines over time (short answer: the great IT engineers leave for greener pastures, the not-so-great ones stay and entrench). So, why would IT engineers leave one of the most highly regarded, […]