I know. But it has been parrotted in the last decade even by the (usually) smart folks of HN

I think about it this way -- when I was a kid, being able to navigate a command prompt (DOS!) put you in a category way ahead of most adults using computers every day.

Of course, normal users use the terminal as much now as they do, then, but mostly because "they don't ever have to"[0], but yet they're able to accomplish things that might have been relegated to the category of "computer programming" just a decade ago.

Programming software is just another way of using a computer in a more advanced manner than mere mortals. Programming gets simpler, more enter the field, junior developers become more powerful and the difference between the expert and the novice increases or decreases depending on which direction you look at it from.

In 1986, my Dad, a non-programmer, and a "power user" but not expert in PCs, used Lotus 1-2-3 to design an invoicing and accounting tool that had a UI, forms, printed formatted output and tracked everything in a database-like manner in a file. I called him a non-programmer, but was he?

[0] When your PC boots into a `C>`, you better know what to type to get it to do something other than that.

I keep hearing that schools are teaching 'computational thought' and programming, but then I also hear that kids can't do math at anywhere near the expected level, can't read at their expected level, and have zero attention span. Either someone is lying or very wrong.

They’re probably different kids we’re talking about. My personal perception is that the gap of basic reading/math skills between the top 10% and the bottom 90% is widening.

Why ? I’d say parental (real, no phone) presence in the kids life / education.

For sure the top kids are doing alright, and sure those kids are taking some programming as well. I suppose they should just modify most articles by saying 'Top students' and stop implying that the school system that can't teach kids how to subtract fractions is going to teach programming as well to the average kid.

I'd say the modern obsession with dating your equal is having the unintended consequence of creating an academic elite

Did people back in the days date people that were far below their social group (economic and education wise)? I highly doubt it

You're right that it's not new. But now that women are getting tons of degrees for degrees sake, without even taking into account the school, it's creating pressure on men to do the same.

I have an BS in Mechanical Engineering from Berkeley, and I've had women from no name schools with a masters in marketing try to talk down my education.

Anecdata but a lot of kids and young adults around me also seemingly struggle with use of a full computing environment; they’re much more used to something like iPad OS.

I don’t really buy that the next generation is going to be more computer literate, I’ve been hearing that meme for a long time now and I just don’t see it.

My 17-year-old "zoomer" sister is unsure about what a browser is. She believes you need a Google app to access the internet. My millennial sisters aren't very proficient with computers. They mostly use Office and a browser. Things like VPNs might confuse them. Are my sisters a rare exception? Who knows? I know other female and male millennials with non-software developer jobs who barely know how to use a computer.

Yep, I tried to persuade my "zoomer" sister to learn how to program, but she declined. :( She is simply not interested.

>But that is also why the "best of the field" get laid off - why pay FAANG salaries to get the best, when entry/mid-level salaries to get "good enough" still meets business needs?

Maybe a better chant for town hall meetings would be "We're number 2! We're number 2!"...

> so the next generation is growing up with coding being a basic literacy skill.

meanwhile gen z have no concept of file browsers or the command line, they've only ever dealt in apps.

We've been having a phenomenon for years: engineers reported that it was hard to find a good job, while companies reported that they couldn't find good engineers. So, it may be that everyone can learn to code, but not everyone can survive the grind of the industry.