Ask HN: Is average code getting worse?
I&#x27;m in the camp that would answer &quot;yes&quot; to your question.<p>For me, it went like this:<p>- The nerds did their nerd shit in the garage. Nobody saw them.<p>- Then the nerds figured out how to revamp many business processes with computers.<p>- Then those businesses needed more of that, so they started hiring other nerds.<p>- Not too many nerds existed because they&#x27;re nerds and who wants to be a nerd? So therefore demand was high. What happens to the nerds&#x27; salaries when demand is high? Salaries are high.<p>- Now the nerds are making money. Tons of it. People started to notice that the nerds could sit all day and type at a computer (hey I can do that too!) but they make 100k more than I do.<p>- Eager to cash in on that nerd money, I start to google &quot;how to code&quot;. Codeacademy, Kahn Academy, Udemy, and a plethora of highly expensive code camps show up. I pick my poison and begin.<p>- A Github profile is set up, my LinkedIn is updated, I have a few webapps under my belt, I&#x27;m ready for my interview.<p>- I get a job at Big Tech company as a junior position. A few weeks go by and I&#x27;m asked if I could help interview another candidate. Of course, I&#x27;m qualified enough right?<p>And the cycle continues.<p>This is how I perceived the shift happen. Code Camps were really detrimental since it became very difficult to vet actual skills vs. ability to pass coding interviews. When I worked at Uber this was a huge deal - a lot of people that had just finished code camps nailed the interviews but only lasted a few months because they had no idea how to actually <i>do</i> anything.<p>Of course it&#x27;s all very nuanced and this isn&#x27;t the only thing that happened (making programming &quot;easier&quot; certainly hasn&#x27;t helped). But this was a large factor.