It's blatantly obvious that some people seems to be particularly gifted in various areas, such as writing, art, or music. Clearly hard work is involved too.
The scientific consensus seems to be that intelligence is hereditary to a large degree. Probably a lot of other abilities too such as musicality. My own anecdotal observations indicates that musicality appears to be hereditary, which is especially noticeable in pre-school kids. (but yes, environment is clearly a factor too, etc.)
But still, the evidence points in a certain direction.
Why would this not extend to software development skills?
Just the connection to intelligence alone makes large groups of people unsuitable for a software development job, as it definitely requires above-average cognitive skills to be a great developer.
Sure, everyone can learn to play the piano. But it's not enjoyable to listen to all of them...
Having said that. I think there is much to gain from attracting non-stereotypical maths-geeks into computer science or rather software/systems engineering. I genuinely think that some of the stereotypical traits are impediments to becoming a great software developer.
And also. Everyone should learn how to code, at least just a little bit, as it is good for you, and it's important to understand how the world works and it's limitations and possibilities.
The scientific consensus seems to be that intelligence is hereditary to a large degree. Probably a lot of other abilities too such as musicality. My own anecdotal observations indicates that musicality appears to be hereditary, which is especially noticeable in pre-school kids. (but yes, environment is clearly a factor too, etc.)
But still, the evidence points in a certain direction.
Why would this not extend to software development skills? Just the connection to intelligence alone makes large groups of people unsuitable for a software development job, as it definitely requires above-average cognitive skills to be a great developer.
Sure, everyone can learn to play the piano. But it's not enjoyable to listen to all of them...
Having said that. I think there is much to gain from attracting non-stereotypical maths-geeks into computer science or rather software/systems engineering. I genuinely think that some of the stereotypical traits are impediments to becoming a great software developer.
And also. Everyone should learn how to code, at least just a little bit, as it is good for you, and it's important to understand how the world works and it's limitations and possibilities.