Training workers in coding could narrow the tech skills gap
AMI SARNOWSKI
In a recent op-ed piece, Genesis10 CEO Harley Lippman calls on the Trump administration and U.S. businesses to work together to bring technology jobs back to the United States. While few would argue against this position, it does raise important questions. With low unemployment in the U.S., who will fill these roles? How can an underutilized talent pool — displaced blue-collar workers — be retrained for new jobs in technology to help close the gap?
First, some background. As you know, there is a tech talent gap, and it continues to grow. It's become more challenging to find skilled talent needed to fill roles in companies across the country. And the situation may worsen before it improves. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the number of computer and IT jobs to grow 13% through 2026, adding more than 500,000 new roles to the economy in the next 10 years. That's faster than for other occupations.
Meanwhile, President Trump continues to move forward with plans to reform immigration policy, which could affect the tech talent pool. Most recently, the administration announced in August "a major historic change to U.S. immigration policy." The Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy, or RAISE, Immigration Reform Act proposes to limit family-based immigration to spouses and minor children and establish a new points-based entry system. RAISE, the administration says, will help prevent the displacement of U.S. workers.
But have immigrants taken jobs from — and lowered wages for — American blue-collar workers? NPR asked this question in a piece in which its reporters fact-checked comments made by Stephen Miller, a White House senior policy adviser, during a press conference announcing the new plan.
NPR found that economists don't agree on the response to the question. Some say new immigrants depress wages for teenagers and workers with high school diplomas or less. Others say an influx of immigrants overall revitalizes the economy. For instance, the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine, says immigration's impact is a relatively minor factor in the $18 trillion economy. But also their research points to some evidence that new immigrants can reduce the employment of previous immigrants.
There are forces other than immigration that affect blue-collar worker displacement to include the increase use of robotics and automation, declining unionization and government policies on overtime.
Politicians routinely bemoan the loss of good blue-collar jobs, writes Clive Thompson in a story, The Next Big Blue-Collar Job is Coding, on WIRED.com. If he's right about coding becoming the next big blue-collar job in America, training for programmer roles and who gets encouraged to pursue them could change. It would introduce more coding classes at the vocational level in high school, and community college and mid-career folks would have the opportunity to pursue intense months-long programs like Dev Bootcamp.
Rusty Justice, co-founder of Bit Source, a code shop that builds its workforce by retraining coal miners as programmers, highlights why blue-collar workers are a good fit, saying, "Miners are accustomed to deep focus, team plan and working with complex engineering tech." Could this be another avenue for job creation and job retention in the U.S. as well as a source for talent to aid in shoring up the developer skills gap?