Why Can't Programmers.. Program?

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000781.html

 

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Aren´t you using an Operating System?

The answer to your question would be the same answer to the following question:

"Why can´t chefs.. cook?"

 

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He's right though, young programmers today are too specialized in high level coding. They don't even think about optimiztion(which sometimes requires a mechanical look at the code).

 

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But that is so general, you cannot generalize like that. Same thing happens in every profession.

 

I think the ability to learn and pick up new concepts is WAY more important than being able to rattle off pre-learned knowledge. Especially today, when 2 minutes on google will net you the answer to any question you could possibly have. No, I have no idea how to parse an XML file going into an interview, but give me 10 minutes on google and I'll learn.

A lot of companies don't understand this, and almost all post-secondary instutions don't. It's yet another consequence of the internet that nobody's learned to deal with yet.

 

The internet is therefore a God... perhaps?

 

In the sense that it was created by man? Possibly.

 

Sometimes on the rare occasion though resources like the internet aren't available. Which is why companies look for people with prior knowledge as apposed to being able to surf the internet for an answer. However the topic of the blog didn't concern itself with what a person knows, but more to do with what the "Educated" have or have not been taught.

For instance their declaration was those with degree's couldn't pull off a simple program, was the problem due to them using google to solve answers and therefore have no physical memory of a solution as they didn't really address the problem or was the curriculum lapse and didn't cover some of the basics?

I know for one, a course I was on at one point gave an awful lot of problems since the languages used didn't allow quick integration with followup degree courses since they neglected to teach the fundamentals of C/C++.