I think the arguments are ones we've all heard before.
As a Flash developer myself, it only makes me second guess myself more. Not because it presents a new point of view, but that non-technical people will now harp in on the issue, and I'll have to once more explain why I'm developing on a 'dying' platform.
The thing that scares me though, is that if I want to move on in my programming career, should I be learning <i>another</i> proprietary platform to develop iPhone apps? Seems like Android is the alternative to that, but I just can't get rid of my iPhone.
I don't think pure academic advancement is the answer as a means to invent and thereby dig ourselves out of the recession. More kids graduating high school really doesn't imply that they'll find better jobs or rather even be better off because of it. I would argue it's even the same metaphor for college. Most people go to get better jobs, but in reality, the risk is just as high to not find one, especially in this economy. Honestly I think we're still at the point where people are too prideful to get work just for work. I know plenty of college grads who are "above" working at Starbucks or restaurants of the like. The problem is that there's a definite devaluing of infrastructure type jobs that keep the country running. I think Mike Rowe (my hero) summed it up best: http://www.ted.com/talks/mike_rowe_celebrates_dirty_jobs.htm...
Maybe it's just another crapshoot, but I think it's another way to rethink our education system.
I think the article side steps the value in learning something well by doing it yourself (in the case of the new hire). I appreciate the confidence gained by pair programming and hand holding. But oftentimes even though they were able to be productive with a senior team member, that does not translate to having confidence or being productive when alone. Depending on how the pair worked together, the new team member could have blindly nodded their head. They'll still need to take the additional time to relearn or do it again themselves. In that case, I'd rather pair program to get them ramped up, work on something by themselves, then come back later to review what they've done without side stepping the value in self learning and exploration, which enables them to take ownership of the idea/methodology. Perhaps they'll even have a new approach which is healthy for the team at large.
I've been lending to Kiva for the past two years, and for me, it's been a fulfilling experience. I think I definitely feel a connection to the people I'm lending to through reading their stories and knowing what my loan is going towards. Now that it's open to US small businesses, I thought I would be on the bandwagon since there's a lot of need just on our front doorsteps. However, the current opportunities listed on Kiva in the US are a little uninspiring. I'm not sure whether it's purely psychological in the sense that these people are closer to home (have the perception of already being more fortunate), but I don't feel as though I'm helping someone overcome poverty by paying for advertising for their business. Maybe it's just a different kind of poverty manifested here at home.
He also speaks to Flash/RIA being a dying art, but I wonder what would be harder for the user: installing one of the RIA plugins, or upgrading your entire browser to support HTML5? I reckon the latter, and the penetration rates for HTML5 will be solely be dependent on existing Flash/social sites like Youtube, Vimeo, etc making the switch themselves.
As a Flash developer myself, it only makes me second guess myself more. Not because it presents a new point of view, but that non-technical people will now harp in on the issue, and I'll have to once more explain why I'm developing on a 'dying' platform.
The thing that scares me though, is that if I want to move on in my programming career, should I be learning <i>another</i> proprietary platform to develop iPhone apps? Seems like Android is the alternative to that, but I just can't get rid of my iPhone.