Goats n Sheep
I'll make no argument for a gene or otherwise that separates sheep from goats. I don't know why it is, and furthermore I don't know either the methodology used by these latest researchers nor the curriculum and examinations used to determine success or failure.
What i do know is it's possible to study Comp Sci, and actually come away with some practically useful knowledge of the topic (always a nice bonus where a degree course is concerned), without being, at the end of the day, much of a coder.
And that IS the point about sheep and goats, as will be verified by pretty much anyone who has tried to get people of any age, intellectual ability and previous achievement to learn to code properly: some people take to it naturally, even eagerly, sometimes positively excited, and see into the topic and logic very quickly. Others, even when they can get a program working, just Do Not Get It. And the DNGIs are not necessarily dumb, or lazy, or poorly educated: even some really smart people just don't grok code.
I suspect but obviously cannot prove that if the studies looked at coding ability in particular, perhaps specifically testing for innate comprehension of program logic, instead of just viewing Comp Sci grades, we'd have seen a different split.
For my part, maybe I'm out on a limb here, but I suspect most good coders know this well: they picked it up quickly and sank into the subject like it was a warm bath; and every one of them knows smart people who DNGI, no matter what you or they try to do.
I'm open to being wrong about this (in fact, it would be good to be wrong) but after 25 years in IT, I'm afraid I believe it: where coding is concerned, there are sheep; and there are goats.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
