Microsoft Taps PBS To Advance Its National Talent Strategy With 'Code Trip' 43
theodp writes: You don't have to be Mitt Romney to question PBS's announcement that it will air the Microsoft-funded 'reality' show Code Trip, in which Roadtrip Nation and Microsoft YouthSpark will send students across the U.S. for a "transformative journey into computer science." Of the partnership, Roadtrip Nation co-founder Mike Marriner said, "Roadtrip Nation is proud to partner with Microsoft's YouthSpark initiative not only to inform others of the many career routes one can take with a computer science background, but also to engage in the much-needed conversation of diversifying the tech field with more pluralistic perspectives." YouthSpark is part of Microsoft's National Talent Strategy (pdf), which the company describes as "a two-pronged approach that will couple long-term improvements in STEM education in the United States with targeted, short-term, high-skilled immigration reforms." The Official Microsoft Blog reports that filming of Code Trip began this week, with the three students traveling around the country to speak with leaders including Hadi Partovi, the co-founder of Code.org and 'major supporter' of FWD.us, who coincidentally once reported to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and is the next door neighbor of Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith and a jogging partner of Steve Ballmer.
You guys understand why they're doing this, right? (Score:2)
Heh, might as well.
Re: (Score:1)
Do you really expect complete altruism? How about, you know, letting them help out with the added benefit that they may end up employing some of them in the future. I can not, really, accept that this site is full of people who are against education. It is not as if they are going to force people into STEM fields and then enslave them in Redmond. They will benefit as will others. Not everyone is going to go into the field so it may just foster interests from those who may not have considered it before.
So lo
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Considering that they will likely be providing the hardware gratis then, yes - it is likely to be Microsoft products. Do you expect anything different? Do you have a good reason for expecting anything different or, really, even desiring anything different? Never let perfection get in the way of good.
Re: (Score:3)
That's like a 5-10 year plan. The messaging here is that Microsoft wants engineers from the US and wants people to become computer programmers, and they're doing "everything they can" to stimulate it, so just let us hire all the H1Bs we want this quarter. The messaging presents the premise that
Re: (Score:1)
Every single person I know, except me actually, has or is going to upgrade to Windows 10 or plans on using it with their next computer purchase. I have been asking local computer users this question for months and no, I have not been advising them to not do so but I have suggested that they keep an eye on their privacy settings. I am not sure what that is worth but it is not my job to change their minds. Let them use what makes them happy.
I do not know any local people who use Macs.
On the tablet scene a num
Re: (Score:2)
From what I can tell they seem to like the idea of getting an app and having it work across their desktop, tablets, and phones.
Wasn't the Internet supposed to do this for us already?
Re: (Score:2)
I was thinking more of the evolution of the Web browser from document viewer to (in theory) cross-OS/cross-device application platform.
(50? I've wondered about that. I think my posting limit must vary with the phases of the moon or something--seems to change without rhyme or reason.)
This push for STEM is getting creepy. (Score:1)
No one knows what the future will be like and what will the demands be for a profession. There was this cry of a shortage of nurses for years. And after the crash of '01 and '08, kids jumped into the 'safe' career of nursing because there was this shortage.
Today, the job market for nurses is the worst ever.
I see this push for STEM people creating a super glut in a few years. And employers will just make the standards even stricter - and still bitch how they can't get anyone "qualified".
I don't see the gro
Wish Microsoft would sponsor a UX talent strategy (Score:2)
Why is it always about jobs (Score:2)
I became a programmer because I like programming. The fact that I can make money doing it is just a happy coincidence.
Spoiler alert! (Score:2)
Spoiler alert!
The roadtrip will end in India.
There is no shortage (Score:4, Informative)
I would contend that there is a shortage, but it is mostly for senior level people who may have some niche experience, which is true of almost any field. But for your run of the mill jobs, you don't necessarily need this. Most people, by definition, are average.
Oh, and companies don't get a free pass, either. Many of them what a top 1% coder for bottom 50% wages if at all possible.
Lastly, if there was such a shortage, we'd see companies hiring people that didn't have their "required" experience, but had a couple operational brain cells that could be coached up. I saw this during the dot-com boom.
Re: (Score:1)
http://spectrum.ieee.org/stati... [ieee.org]
IEEE is an organization of engineers who have a vested interesting discouraging competition to keep their salaries high, and Spectrum has always pandered to that perspective. Their views of this issue as about as slanted as Slashdot's hive mind.
I would contend that there is a shortage
So would I. Most STEM fields have an unemployment rate of 3% or less, while the national average is over 5%.
Most people, by definition, are average.
Nonsense. That is NOT the definition of "average".
Re: (Score:1)
IEEE is an organization of engineers who have a vested interesting discouraging competition to keep their salaries high, ..
Define "high".
Most STEM fields have an unemployment rate of 3% or less, while the national average is over 5%.
That average also includes un-skilled labor, fields that are having problems and fields that had shortages at one time but then became saturated because of propaganda like this: example, nursing. Nursing has the worst job market in history because of the thumping of "shortages" for years.
Right now with the collapse in the oil markets, some petroleum engineers are now asking, "would you like room for cream?"
ANY and EVERY company that says that they can't get "qualified" people are full of shit
Defund PBS (Score:3)
How dare PBS save taxpayer money by airing something that another group paid for. We must punish them for this outrage by removing their funding!
Conversation or Propaganda (Score:2)
also to engage in the much-needed conversation of diversifying the tech field [slashdot.org] with more pluralistic perspectives.
LOL yeah, why don't you try actually clicking that link and reading the comments. /. was totally fed up with this "much needed" agenda (and the spurious justifications for it) well over six months ago.
Re: (Score:2)
How on earth can you be that huge and JOG?
Lots of people do, because exercise makes you hungrier. If you jog for an hour, you'll burn ~400 calories, which is the number of calories in a good sized bagel with cream cheese.
Exercise to keep yourself healthy and strong. If you want to lose weight, change what you eat [fourmilab.ch].
Horrible name, missed opportunity (Score:2)
They should have named it "Code Sweat" and used this music as the theme song:
https://youtu.be/CJ0p7k-KzWM [youtu.be]
"I wake up...in a Code Sweat. Hah!"
Maceo, blow your horn.
Translated from MicroSPEAK .. (Score:2)
We want more H-1B visas
2015 'Code Trip' a Remake of 2008 'Code Trip'? (Score:2)
Coincidentally, Microsoft in 2008 launched its own Code Trip [msdn.com] project, which it described as "a road trip, a bunch of developers cruising around in a tour bus and geeking out. It's also an online TV show (or video podcast, or vodcast, or whatever the kids call it nowadays) chronicling their adventures throughout the western United States." So, the Microsoft-funded, Roadtrip Nation-branded 2015 Code Trip PBS show looks like a remake of sorts of Microsoft's own 2008 Code Trip, albeit with a more diverse cast [staticflickr.com]
Well, what do the Reps want? (Score:1)
WTF is Romney Reference (Score:2)