Is Computer Science Dead?

There's an interesting article on The Age today about the downturn of university students studying computer science. One of the reasons quoted is the wide-spread assumption that there are no jobs in the industry.

Is Computer Science Dead? : Mashup discussion

As someone in the industry, this can only be a good thing. When I was studying, just after the dot-com boom and subsequent crash, the outsourcing trend hadn't really taken effect yet. There were still a lot of people studying in the field in the assumption that they will make money.

Now, it's getting back to the point where people learning computer science do it because they want it to - not because of some expectation of AU$100k+ salaries. Less graduates mean more jobs, and the people in the industry will hopefully be valued a little better than they are now.

So let every man and his wife think that all the programming jobs are going to India. There'll always be plenty of high-value challenging jobs in the field for the rest of us.