Parents of the HS Class of 2014

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
14401

<p>

Our S-11 is now doing quite a few campus interviews and following a campus career fair and one of the things he kept hearing was whether or not the kids had any coding ability and/or expereience. He doesn’t but is trying to see if he can catch an elective course next semester but by then the recruiting season is all but over and hopefully he will have a job offer or two. He has a half day corporate campus visit for 2nd round interviews tomorrow and is being flown to Chicago on Thursday evening for a dinner and Friday round of interviews with another prospective employer. It’s amazing how fast things change in a few years. He got his LSAT score back today so he has another decision to make. Job or law school? It will depend on the job and possible FA offers. These events are only 3 years away for our Class of 2014 kids! </p>

14402

<p>Sorry for the length of this, but I couldn’t figure out how to link to this WSJ article:
Mothers, Tell Your Children to Be Software Coders
Sept. 26, 2014 </p>

<p>Now that Alibaba has gone public in a $25 billion deal, an avalanche of IPOs may follow. Dozens of disruptive mobile, cloud, network systems and biotech companies are rumored to be ready to tap public markets. Even before Alibaba, about 190 companies had raised $40 billion in 2014, a 40% increase from last year, according to a recent report from Renaissance Capital. Investors who remember the dot-com days of 1999 may cringe at the thought of a deluge of IPOs. But it may be a sign of vigor.</p>

<p>These companies all have one problem: They can’t find enough coders. And every modern company, regardless of industry, needs software developers. The public has taken notice of the shortage. Britain, for example, recently announced that coding would soon be core curriculum in the country’s primary and secondary schools. In Estonia, coding class starts in first grade.</p>

<p>The coders living in Silicon Valley enjoy a seller’s market. One I met lives in San Francisco and commutes to a fast-growing publicly traded Web company in Silicon Valley. She takes an unmarked, Wi-Fi-enabled bus each way, allowing her to code as she commutes. But it can take two hours to get home on a Friday afternoon. Plus the Wi-Fi is kind of slow. So she’s interviewing at a privately held company in San Francisco, and in this market, why not?</p>

<p>I also chatted about this shortage with a recruiter who works for a prominent venture-backed startup. I asked what hiring is like these days. He lowered his head, slumped his shoulders and said, “It’s tough. Everyone that’s any good knows they are good and don’t hesitate to tell you how good they are.” He networks until he finds someone decent. “They’re maybe 27, 28 and working at Google . Can’t stand it. They’re just one of 52,000. They just get lost. They can’t make an impact. But they’re pulling in $240,000.”</p>

<p>So he makes them an offer. The coders go back to Google, Facebook , Apple or Twitter ; the companies bump their pay to $280,000 and give them $8 million in restricted stock units, typically vesting over four years. The recruiter tries to match this. He offers $180,000, which is about as high as his company can go—with $10 million in stock. The problem is that the stock is funny money. The company is still private and so the valuation is basically a made-up number that won’t be realized if the company never goes public.</p>

<p>“Then,” the recruiter tells me, “the wife gets involved. ‘Wait, you’re going to walk away from a guaranteed $8 million? Oh no you’re not.’ So it’s back to the drawing board looking for decent talent.”</p>

<p>This may explain why a two-bedroom, 1,300-square-foot apartment in San Francisco runs $6,000 a month. And why a four-bedroom, 2,200-square-foot home on one-seventh of an acre in Palo Alto costs $3.65 million.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, send us your coders.</p>

14403

<p>Dang. Kid used to joke she was going to marry for money. Why? Looks like she can be the money.</p>

14404

<p>Wow, suddenly I want to learn to code!</p>

14405

<p>My D came home for the first time in two months for Fall break. It was a really fun visit, but I forgot how messy she is. Literally in a five minute span there were 15 things strewn about the family room and kitchen table. How is that even possible? When I brought her back last night she was proud that her dorm room was “clean.” I’m proud of myself too, I didn’t say a word about her definition of “clean.” Her next door neighbor popped in and said he sometimes makes up the beds, I guess so guests can sit on them. So much for tidiness being gender specific. At least they use copious amounts of Glade Plug-Ins so the room smells good.</p>

<p>And she talked about next semester classes and that she might want to be pre-med. Now this is what I wanted in a school, for her to experience different classes and pick a major that she would never have dreamed of in high school. I can see her as a doctor, however, 15 years ago I also envisioned her as a Dixie Chick until I realized she wasn’t very musically inclined. But after reading the above posts, now I wish she would become a coder.</p>

<p>She happened to pick up the mail yesterday and said that Willamette University (her first acceptance last year, so it will always have a warm spot in her heart) was still sending her mail, until she saw it was for her brother (sophomore), which is his first piece of college mail he has received. Pretty coincidental, unless he somewhere put he was interested in the school. Who knows.</p>

<p>Everything I hoped college would be for her, I think she’s experiencing that right now. And that makes me so happy.</p>

14406

<p>As an old “coder”, realize that those salaries are very regional and specific to a certain skill set. Think how quickly your PC or cell phone becomes obsolete…so do a lot of programming languages…</p>

14407

<p>To all of you parents of future coders and doctors, I’m jealous. And those of you who have sons, can I forward D’s picture? She’s an English major so she needs to marry well:). </p>

14408

<p>’“Then,” the recruiter tells me, "the wife gets involved.’</p>

<p>Really? In the Wall Street Journal? And people ask why girls don’t want to go into software development.</p>

14409

<p>@overtheedge, I understand. I thought my D was leaning towards something like an English major so when she said possibly pre-med I had to tell myself to calm down and not go overboard with questions (the more excited I get, the more she tends to withdraw.) </p>

<p>And in finding a hubby for your D, I was joking with a college girl about her mom trying to find dates for her, when she said that it was all fine until she put it in the Christmas card last year. Kids don’t understand, it’s just what parents do. </p>

14410

<p>@LibbyT - That’s funny! I don’t think my D would speak to me again if I did something like that! Fingers crossed your D remains pre-med! </p>

14411

<p>Don’t worry about English majors! My DS '04 was a linguistics (basically the same curriculum as English plus stats) and French major. She got a full ride to law school and a Rotary fellowship to study a year in Africa. If you do what you love, you do it well because you enjoy working on it. When you do something well, the money (at least enough money) will follow!</p>

14412

<p>@Maryjay60 - All kidding aside, I couldn’t imagine my D as anything other than an English (or something similar) major. It is her gift and passion. And I totally agree with you. D would make a great editor, but a lousy coder. I do worry about her ability to support herself out of school although I think she’ll be fine in the long run. Your D sounds awesome! </p>

14413

<p>I’m a programmer/developer and a database administrator and those salaries mentioned in the WSJ article are for people that are “superstar” and have some “niche” skills. Also you have to consider the high cost of living in Silicon Valley. The article make it sound that everybody that can code command those salaries.</p>

<p>Coding is not for everybody. When I was in college, I have classmates that are basically “genius” but terrible programmers.</p>

14414

<p>I’m older than most of the parents on this thread, but when I went to college no one really worried about making a living. When we did think of such things (which was rare) we all thought that if we did our work and did well in our respective fields there would be a job out there somewhere that might not make us rich, but would provide us with a comfortable living. For our kids this is no longer the case. </p>

<p>When our boys were little they’d occasionally play ‘musical chairs’ at a birthday party. I’d say to my wife, “This is good, because it’s preparing them to live in a world of diminishing resources.” It’s unfortunate that in many cases our kids are not free to follow their passion because it won’t be remunerative, and that college has become to a certain extent ‘trade school’. There is a lot of worthless tripe being taught (that deservedly leads nowhere), but there is also a lot of wonderful stuff (like English, music, etc.) that doesn’t lead directly to a clear career path. </p>

<p>No real point here except some venting. My kids are math/science/business oriented, so they should be fine, but I feel for kids who are caught between learning what they’re interested in and learning what’s practical.</p>

14415

<p>D has pretty much always wanted to major in math + something. She really likes math. Always has, and she brought in 40 hours of DE and AP, so she can easily double. At the beginning of the yer she thought Art. I was thrilled. I love the arts. My older D, who’ll graduate with over 180 credits this may, has voice lesson every semester and has been a nats finalist every competition she’s entered. It just so happens that both happened to select employable majors (for the moment anyway), but I’d have been fine with music or studio art, too. </p>

<p>I vent, too @asleepatthewheel because I advise freshmen and every year more walk in with tunnel vision on what they perceive to be lucrative careers. They cling to these notions sometimes wether or not they are successful enough for the goal and sometimes even whether or not they enjoy the class work. </p>

14416

<p>My younger son is required to take two, computer science classes for his math major. He is currently in the first, and he is quite honest. Computer science is not for him. He will learn what he needs to learn, but he prefers math and economics. Working in finance really interests him. He took AP/DE English in high school for two reasons – the teacher was awesome, and he would not need to take it when he got to a four-year school. I’m all right with that, because we all have our strengths and likes. The kid is already talking about getting a job on campus to pay for some of his personal interests like his fraternity dues and is investigating internship possibilities for the summer. His older brother was a math kid, too. But he chose economics and political science because he loved the material. He is an incredible writer, too. That skill probably got him his full scholarships for undergrad and law school.</p>

14417

<p>I’m just now catching up after not being on for a few days. Parents’ Weekend was great. I’m not sure how all the organized programs, etc. were since we didn’t attend any of them, but we had a fun time with DS. It was nice to have the entire family unit together. I took DS and his roommate out to dinner on Friday night and got to know the roommate a little bit. They really get along which is good because they spend so much time together, whether in the room, at the fraternity, or at team events. DS was injured and did not suit up for the game on Saturday but we went anyway. The weather was damp and windy (no surprise for Cleveland) but we had a fun time tailgating and socializing with the other team parents. DS is off the injury list this week so I will get to see him this weekend at his away game. </p>

<p>This weekend is Fall Break but DS will not be coming home. Besides the aforementioned away game on Saturday, they have team practice on Monday and Tuesday. Hmm, that reminds me to check with him on whether the dining hall is open or not. If not, I will have to give him funds for meals.</p>

<p>@1dilecon‌ - We had our first taste of jamon iberico in Spain many many years ago when DH and I visited for 10 days. DH travels to Spain about twice a year for work and eats it every chance he gets while he is there. When we are in Europe we look for it in the stores because it is readily available there in the higher end shops. Over spring break we bought some at Harrod’s and kept it in our flat to snack on. Once we were having lunch at the British Museum and the restaurant offered it and all four of us ordered it! There are very few sources that can import to the U.S. and it was only recently approved so you can imagine how excited we were to find one. Oh my gosh, we sound like crack addicts.</p>

<p>DS took programming courses in high school (it is a graduation requirement) but was only meh about them so he will definitely not be pursuing that course of study. He is required to take a MatLab course but that will be it. And I agree that the WSJ article is misleading. Yes, the superstars can command those salaries and perks in Silicon Valley but those superstars are not just coders. They are strategists, product developers, visionaries, etc. That is not to say that CS is not a lucrative field. It is – but six figures for an entry level candidate armed with an undergrad degree is atypical, probably even in Silicon Valley.</p>

14418

<p>Hi all! I think this is the longest I’ve been away from the board since my D was getting ready to move in at Barnard. My surgery was successful and recovery has been easier than I expected it to be. </p>

14419

<p>That’s wonderful news, @2016BarnardMom‌!</p>

14420

<p>Yesterday my D received a hammock chair for one of the trees near her dorm. She and her friends got a bright idea and slung the chair in the hallway between two doors. She sent a picture of two people in the chair, and my husband and I commented to each other that the door knobs were going to break. We agreed that sometimes college kids really aren’t that smart.</p>

<p>An hour later a friend texted me that her daughter had to attend a mandatory dorm meeting (different school) because a boy in their dorm had overdosed and died. I can’t even imagine that. It put the potential broken doorknobs in perspective. I just want to hug my child right now.</p>