Future of Arts Jobs Ain't Gonna Change

My mom has frequently wondered if the non-science/maths jobs would start paying more in today’s economy as the nature and number of jobs increases. But with “software eating the world” (see my earlier blog), I feel the opposite will happen: the demand for software knowledge will increase and the software industry will continue to disrupt most other parts of the economy. And by extension, jobs in those parts of the economy.

Now, don’t get me wrong: software development rarely needs great science or maths knowledge, but companies still hire only engineers as software developers. (My guess as to why that happens is that companies feel that if you’re an engineer, you must have had the discipline to slog your way through school and college; and discipline and hard-work are welcome in all industries).

Allen Pike writes that writing software used to be a job, not an art:
“Programming hasn’t traditionally been thought of as a medium of creative expression…Software has historically been written by Real Businesses to make Real Profit.”
Until the Internet and the smartphone happened, that is. Now plenty of people write software apps and games and fan pages for the fun of it. And as we know:
“Any creative or artistic outlet, when coupled with the internet, creates an astronomically large supply.”
And once you have such a demand-supply mismatch, inevitably pay will drop in those fields. This is exactly why most apps for your phone or tablet are free and it’s very rare for app developers to make money.

Writing software for the love of it converts it into an art and as Pike points out:
“(The) issue arises with all forms of art. Even when parents see their children excel creatively, they’re of course proud, but often become wary. Your tuba playing sure is nice kid, but how about you keep your grades up so you can get a real job one day? Sure, it’s kind of awful to discourage a kid from their wild dream of being a professional tubist, but you know what? They’re gonna have a bad time. The cliché knows best: artists starve.”

Sad but true. Remember: don’t shoot the messenger…

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