Joe's Comment about Coal Miners

[Grumpy]

Campaigning in New Hampshire, the former vice president said, "Anybody who can go down 3,000 feet in a mine can sure as hell learn to program as well. ... Anybody who can throw coal into a furnace can learn how to program, for God's sake!"

I've been waiting for someone to address this, maybe someone did before now and I missed it, but here it is -

Joe Biden and the coal miners: Apex of hypocrisy

Just how much of a leftist is Joe Biden? Remarks that Biden made in December 2019 about the flexible abilities of coal miners are a revelatory starting point. Campaigning in New Hampshire, the former vice president argued with consid...

www.americanthinker.com

 

[Sneakers]

I do not want this guy running our country.

 

[Hijinx]

How many jobs does Biden thin are open to programmers. Does he think that if every coal miner was an expert at programming there would be enough open jobs to put them all to work.?
Dream on you dumb F**k

 

[SamSpade]

Having been a programmer for 30+ years, I was a bit insulted by this - as though programming was just the damned easiest thing in the world to do, on a par with sweeping the floor or digging a ditch.

I really wish I had been there to ask "really Joe? Can YOU program?".

 

[PrchJrkr]

Having been a programmer for 30+ years, I was a bit insulted by this - as though programming was just the damned easiest thing in the world to do, on a par with sweeping the floor or digging a ditch.

I really wish I had been there to ask "really Joe? Can YOU program?".

On top of having the aptitude to program there is also a discipline that many, myself included, just don't have. I found this out in community college Cobol class. I tried, and got fairly handy with Unix Shell scripting later on, but to say I could make a living programming would be a lie. Luckily there were enough positions available in IT that don't require programming, that I was able to have a good run. On the other hand, my older brother has been a programmer since the early eighties. It definitely isn't for everyone. Joe's smoking crack.

 

[SamSpade]

It definitely isn't for everyone. Joe's smoking crack.

He's never going to catch serious heat for saying something so profoundly stupid as that, especially if he gets elected. I know on TV they make it sound like any nitwit can hack their way into the Pentagon in seconds - routinely. Or any store with a security camera or that there exist databases on the planet containing detailed information - along with biographies - of every person on the planet. I enjoy these shows, but they are ridiculous.

I am not brilliant by any measure and I've reached the point in my career where I have zero, ZERO desire to learn the latest computing technology.
One of the first things any programmer learns is how NOT to keep re-writing code - the sort of joke - because it actually IS sort of true - is you only ever write one program and everything else is cannibalizing that. Not totally true, but I do it often - and I borrow code. Or steal it. We have a whole section of my project which a co-worker - who has since passed - I later learned he lifted almost all of it off the Internet. I figured it out once while I was researching some of his code online - and found it there, letter for letter, variable for variable.

Joe's comments are dumb for any number of reasons. For one, some kinds of coding are disappearing. Second, jobs in the industry requiring actual coding are shrinking - a lot more is either higher level stuff - or does involve some sophistication that doesn't necessarily make use of coding. For example, more and more of the statistical packages we have require extensive knowledge of mathematical models. Another is obvious - you don't take a guy who has worked in a mine for thirty years and place him at a desk competing with twenty year olds (because they're not going to hire them to do COBOL and FORTRAN).

What was he GOING to say? Wait tables? Cut hair? Bag groceries? He couldn't mention a career where the pay is lousy and advancement is zero. But he could have said 'run for Senator or VP. Because I doubt Joe can find the keys on a keyboard.

 

[GURPS]

this is why hash tag learn to code became a thing, trended and then was blocked by Twitter and Facebook


It’s Now Considered ‘Offensive’ To Tell Laid-Off Journalists ‘Learn To Code’—It Wasn’t For Coal Miners

 

[PsyOps]

I am not brilliant by any measure and I've reached the point in my career where I have zero, ZERO desire to learn the latest computing technology.

I thought that for years. I cut my teeth on Cisco and stayed there for over 20 years. Then I got offered a job setting up a Juniper-based network. I had marginal experience with Juniper so I was a little apprehensive about it. But, I took the job and jumped in. Now, I feel nearly completely comfortable with the new language.

Of course, learning the language was the curve, the basic premise behind networking was still the same. So, the curve was far smaller than someone jumping from coal mining to network security or any other IT skill.

The point being, I would never consider jumping from what I'm doing now to something like coal mining or oil rigging. Not because those jobs are less or beneath me, but because it requires learning a skill that is completely out of my comfort zone. Could I learn those skills? I think so. But, it's more about desire.

I have no doubt that, if forced to, any coal miner could learn what I do with good training. But, that isn't even the point here with Biden. He's demanding people change their careers so he can destroy an entire sector of our energy technology? The arrogance of these people telling us - the people - that what we do for this country, as a living, isn't worthy of their agenda. People that sustain nearly everything we do - heat our homes, provide electricity, fuel our cars, trucks, semis, buses, trains, planes, etc... need to just find another job, because big government is going to come in and create a fantasy world that would somehow replace these energy sources.

They think we're stupid. They think we live in this same fantasy world. They're wrong!

 

[Hijinx]

Because I doubt Joe can find the keys on a keyboard.


I doubt he could find his ass with both hands and a flashlight.