Sure, we’re all plugged in and online 24/7. But fewer American kids are growing up to be bona fide computer geeks. And that poses a serious security risk for the country, according to the Defense Department.
The Pentagon’s far-out research arm Darpa is soliciting proposals for initiatives that would attract teens to careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), with an emphasis on computing. According to the Computer Research Association, computer science enrollment dropped 43 percent between 2003 and 2006.
Darpa’s worried that America’s “ability to compete in the increasingly internationalized stage will be hindered without college graduates with the ability to understand and innovate cutting edge technologies in the decades to come…. Finding the right people with increasingly specialized talent is becoming more difficult and will continue to add risk to a wide range of DoD [Department of Defense] systems that include software development.”
Hey 12 stories in a row Mr. Cherman.
It’s officially CHERMAN UNCENSORED now.
You should just get your own blog instead of riding the coat tails of The Dvorak. Unless Cherman is actually The Dvorak, then it could be called D’chorvak Uncemin….which sounds more like a venerial disease than a blog so maybe don’t use that name.
Either way why not go for a bakers dozen and post one more.
Geeks are smart enough to know not to work in government lest they be driven out of their minds or become mindless drones. It’s especially bad if you are a geek who is used to the private sector before going into government work. *shudder* I like my dynamic private sector, creativity-inducing never-do-the-same-thing-two-days-in-a-row job.
Maybe if the US had a better educational system…
But you can make so much more money being a corrupt politician.
Seriously, the jobs and pay weren’t there.
Sounds like DOD wants to outsource along with everyone else. So where’s the incentive to get into tech anyway? I’ve seen too many techies laid off and RIF’d over the years. It’s not the safe haven it appeared to be a decade ago. You’ll spend a few years building systems and a reputation, then some “project manager” sends everything to India, and hands you the pink “Thanx now get out” slip. Besides, isn’t it the goal of computer research to obsolete whatever technology exists today? Sounds cannibalistic don’t it?
#5 Right on Commodore. I work in high tech, and many of the entry-level tech jobs are going overseas. They don’t want to hire Americans, they want to hire cheap Indians/Chinese/whatever. So kids aren’t going to go into high tech, there’s no jobs!
Let’s see … first we get rid of free education at any state universities, then pay the big money to money manipulators and encourage companies to send technical work offshore to other countries, and bring smart people from other countries here for a year or so to learn the for-now latest technology, then send them back home to use that knowledge to compete with Americans. Ridicule technical work and deify a few dozen sports heroes. Then sit there and scratch your head wondering why there is no technical skill up and coming. Sounds like a plan.
the amazing part of these photos with Mr. Bill Gates is that he is smiling in these mug photos
He sure does not look so joy-free today
The benefits of too much money I guess from what was a computer software monopoly
If you work in front of a computer you can be outsourced.
Salaries and working conditions are in a downward spiral in North America.
Blame the XBox. Kids don’t dink around with computers anymore. They are addicted to the closed architecture consoles that don’t allow for easy tinkering that made yesterdays geeks. The XBox was intended to eliminate the need and now we have a generation that doesn’t know a CPU chip from a RAM chip.
But they can sure put a Predator UAV through its paces.
The only thing that might save them is that their cars are all computer controlled. They have to get into the code and hardware to hotrod their rides.
Of course, it is easier to hack a $1000 computer than a $10,000 Toyota. I expect the dumbing down trend will continue.
I left engineering because the prospects of hiring in the US suck. We get laid off from every job we get.
Make the pay and job security in engineering like it is for Wall Street bankers and notice how the trends change!
It’s that simple.
…and furthermore…
I wouldn’t recommend that a kid entering college today enter’s STEM education. He’ll get shit upon if he does.
Because of the priority given to foreign workers (who are eager to come here, well educated, and highly motivated…but will work for less) the employment prospects for American techie kids are grim.
The problem is a direct result of labor and immigration policies our government has put in place to please the tech companies, allowing them to hire cheap foreign labor rather than have to pay more for American talent.
If you are smart enough to be a geek you know better than to trust the government with anything.
Real stats from local college, that I take interns from (computer programming 3 years).
Last two years has been worse, last semester, out of 30 students only 15 passed, and about six are actually good.
Yet, all 30 were “good” candidates, good grades in Math, etc.
Culprit? Online games World of Warcraft / Halo, etc.
Game junkies. Oh, this is Quebec, Canada.
English-only speaking colleges in N.A., figures are much higher.
Not because the French know two languages, rather the English barrier prevents them from getting too immersed in the alternate reality games.
Met a geek who ran the IT system for a regional FBI IT forensics lab…he had stuff you dream of and a great budget.
#15 – Mark Derail – Not because the French know two languages, rather the English barrier prevents them from getting too immersed in the alternate reality games.
This is pure bullshit. I’m fully bilingual and I have no problem immersing myself with something I like. The problem with the Quebecers is that they’re so fucking uptight in their “French” culture and “uniqueness”.
Maybe the US should stop making it so dam difficult for Canadian geeks to work south of the border
I worked for the DoD for many years as an engineer. They had a real love/hate relationship with us. The DoD would love to outsource every technical position they have to contractors here or overseas. The only problem is that no one in the Pentagon wants to take responsibility when missiles don’t hit their targets. That’s why they hire geeks. Someone to blame when things go wrong.
I think the real draw of foreign techs is that ignorant tech management can treat them however they want. If you include headhunter fees an Indian\Russian engineer can cost at least as much as an American. They can’t switch jobs often and keep the visa, though. That’s an awful lot of leverage.