Redmond's Lament: Where have all the programmers gone?

  • By Paul McCloskey
  • 03/20/07
Top researchers at Microsoft Corp. are lamenting that the number of students pursuing computer science is on the decline just as the demand for solutions to big computing challenges is rising, according to a report in Electronic Engineering Times.

"We are at a low point of interest in computer science," said Rick Rashid, senior vice president of Microsoft Research at an annual meeting in Redmond, WA. "Jobs will go begging in the next few years because we don't have the people willing to take on the field."

Rashid told EE Times that that while the dot-com bust might have caused "part of the problem,… I am worried there is a broader decline in interest. You even see it in places like Japan, Hong Kong and Korea."

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About the Author

Paul McCloskey is contributing editor of Syllabus.

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