We need to stop equating QA with young people & students, & we need more entry level positions in other roles.

I can’t stop thinking about this guy in his 40s recently looking for help. Labourer all his life, back is giving out, been instructed by his doctor to find new work.

He’s worked in management within construction for ages and lead teams and would have plenty of project management experience to bring with him. But producer roles without a credit are hens teeth.

So he starts to learn to code. He wants to program games and he’s not bad at it!

But he can’t find a job doing that that supports his family. All the junior roles are salaried for single dudes with no dependents.

His wife has reached her ceiling in her job and can’t make more money without a risky career-switch too (at the same time, so doubling the risk).

So he’s gone back to dangerous work in construction.

And I can’t stop thinking about him.

He literally breaks his body, goes home at night and learns to code in the hopes he can find something.

There’s not only not enough jobs, there’s like no sideways entry jobs.

There should be more jobs that sustain families.

If we were serious about diversifying the talent pool we would stop setting salaries that cater to young dudes with no dependants. And stop expecting everyone to start in QA. (Which is hard & its own thing? Not a rite of passage!)