The primary complaint of Seattle’s universities is that training competent computer programmers is very resource intensive. You can’t just sit the students down in a lecture hall all four years of their training (amen to that). Instead, much of the learning takes place in small groups in the lab. This apparently, makes the task of enrolling CS majors an expensive and resource limiting prospect.

Seattle Area Lacks Computer Science Majors

There are some job seekers who aren’t having much trouble finding work – computer scientists. In Seattle alone, there are thousands of computer-related jobs waiting to be filled. And yet here’s the hang-up. While those jobs in Seattle are available, one of Washington State’s leading universities is not graduating enough people to fill them. The number of Bachelor’s degrees awarded in computer science has remained unchanged for the past decade.

http://www.npr.org/2012/05/31/154040185/seattle-area-lacks-computer-science-majors

Photo Credit: Canadian Veggie from Flickr.com

The future of computer science majors is expected to spike in demand for these graduates. Where will they come from? Certainly, government spending cannot afford that short-term bite of training this skilled workforce, but it has a very long term, and real impact on the nation’s economy. Perhaps attention to this looming demand of the workforce can be deferred; if so – for how long?

Photo Credit: Canadian Veggie from Flickr.com