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Contrary to public perception, the economy doesn’t actually need that many more programmers. As a result, teaching millions of kids to code won’t make them all middle-class. Rather, it will proletarianize the profession by flooding the market and forcing wages down – and that’s precisely the point.

Capital has a vested interest in passing on as many of the costs associated with labor reproducing itself as it possibly can. In a bougeois capitalist system, public schools often serve as subsidized worker training.

In the fullness of time, no type of worker is in any better position than any other. Whether we build web sites or houses for a living, we have common cause with every other worker. The bosses are always working to get as much labor out of us as they possibly can while they also do everything possible to lower their cost to replace us.

Don't blame the Chinese worker who's getting exploited to do your job for less money and less job security. Blame the asshole in the corner office who is fucking over lives in pursuit of limitless growth, and while you're at it, blame the system that empowers that kind of thinking.

The Department of Labor estimates that the median annual wage for computer and information technology occupations is $82,860 – more than twice the national average. And from the perspective of the people who own the tech industry, this presents a problem. High wages threaten profits. To maximize profitability, one must always be finding ways to pay workers less.

The struggle of the Wal-Mart cashier and the Mexican agricultural worker is ultimately the same as the struggle of the web developer. It's past time that we realize that and stand shoulder-to-shoulder in solidarity with our comrades against the system that exploits us all.


Tech's push to teach coding isn't about kids' success – it's about cutting wages by Ben Tarnoff