Stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (USA):
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/c...
1990 Number of Jobs 565,000
2010 Number of Jobs 363,100
2012 Number of Jobs 343,700
This is a shrinking industry. Computer programming jobs are tied to manufacturing so as manufacturing leaves the USA, so to do the computer programming jobs. Don't get caught up in the hype about startups: look at the actual numbers. The government tracks these jobs. The numbers are shrinking.
Especially worth a look:
http://americawhatwentwrong.org/story/programming-jobs-fall/
"In its 1990 Occupational Outlook Handbook, the U.S. Department of Labor was especially bullish: “The need for programmers will increase as businesses, government, schools and scientific organizations seek new applications for computers and improvements to the software already in use [and] further automation . . . will drive the growth of programmer employment.” The report predicted that the greatest demand would be for programmers with four years of college who would earn above-average salaries.
When Labor made these projections in 1990, there were 565,000 computer programmers. With computer usage expanding, the department predicted that “employment of programmers is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2005 . . .”
It didn’t. Employment fluctuated in the years following the report, then settled into a slow downward pattern after 2000. By 2002, the number of programmers had slipped to 499,000. That was down 12 percent–not up–from 1990. Nonetheless, the Labor Department was still optimistic that the field would create jobs–not at the robust rate the agency had predicted, but at least at the same rate as the economy as a whole.
Wrong again. By 2006, with the actual number of programming jobs continuing to decline, even that illusion couldn’t be maintained. With the number of jobs falling to 435,000, or 130,000 fewer than in 1990, Labor finally acknowledged that jobs in computer programming were “expected to decline slowly.” "
"Projected Annual Growth of STEM Job Openings 2010-2020"
And then for "Computing and Mathematics" it says 52%!!!!!
Think about that! 52% annual growth! In an economy growing perhaps 2% or 3% a year, when things are good! That is absolutely ridiculous!
Also, note that this is a projection, and the projections on this subject have been reliably wrong. Consider the history of Bureau of Labor Statistics that I quoted above. They kept projecting growth when the reality was the loss of jobs.
Even if you make the charitable assumption that the 52% was actually a projection of all growth from 2010 to 2020, it is now 2014 and we know the first 4 years of their projection is entirely wrong.
The evidence is strong: computer programming is a profession that is shrinking in the USA.
