## 17 Are we losing skills in IT and computer science? 

In our modern world, where IT (Information Technologies) and computers are everywhere, we face more and more bugs, errors, crashes with sometimes serious consequences. I don't teach things anymore to students in the dual education system. But I'm listening to colleagues or relations who are in this role. Many of them tell me that their students have less computer or programming skills. At the same time, IA is developing for programming in what is called "Vibe Coding". And more and more libraries are needed to make apps, games, websites. Is it just a matter of increasing complexity or is the new generation losing skills?

I can't answer this question alone. I'll use some examples to try to understand what went wrong. In recent CPUs we had bugs and fixing them means adding instructions and slowing down the CPU as expected. This isn't the first time in CPU history. Remember the MMX? But now the CPU architecture is more complex, with more cores, more instructions, in a smaller and smaller size. I don't remember such bugs in ARM CPU at the moment... Who knows? And to all this we add the complexity of retro-compatibility, which can be hard (difficult) or soft for instructions, applications and games.

Speaking of games, the creation of games is so different now than it was in the 70s and 80s, when a man/woman could write a program alone on a computer. Then you needed specialists for graphics, music, modeling, physics, ... Now it's a team of programmers and other specialists led by a director, even for small games on smartphones, except for minimalist concepts or sometimes retro games. But if the creation is now more complex, the development time is sometimes the same for the teams, with the pressure to release the game before Xmas, etc... Don't worry, it will be patched, updated online, now, something you couldn't do before the Internet. But what I see in my work is that the tests are forgotten and the time to test bugs is getting smaller and smaller in the development teams. When it comes to games, it's not that important. But imagine the same for security applications? 

In my job in the automotive industry, I often see bugs and errors in software. That's normal when it's in development...but that's not always the case and I see it in my company and in other companies' products. Soft is also more important than in the 80s. The drive panel is a soft one. The engine is managed by a soft, especially in EVs. And I see people coming from the IT industry or computer science school working on it with the same methods that we see in games. It's not well tested. Hardware is also in development with design problems. Too many people sharing information at the same time with multiple databases with errors in the versions, not knowing which version to use, etc. It's not always a problem of skills, it's more a problem of organization. What I see in software, I could see several years ago in engine cartography and definitions of engine parts. The problem is that some directors think the same as in the game industry: you can go fast, it will be updated after the release. No, it's wrong and 
it can be dangerous.

These facts show several problems. Many directors think that everything is easier and faster because we can use computer programs. But they forget that today everything is more complex, with many more parameters to manage than in the past, when they did more technical work. I also see this in metrology, where we have to write programs for 3D measuring systems for smaller and smaller parts. And IA is not the solution right now. Sometimes it's the problem, because it copies all the defects that are in the big databases. When you fix a problem in a software, don't think that all the IAs that copied your data before have updated their databases. But think that someone might use the bugs you just fixed for another software. Vibe coding is being used more and more and it could be disastrous for the future.

I don't think we're losing skills, but we're losing best practices. We have to face more complex problems and new tools. You have to remember that time is always the same and we're not better or worse. We are just human beings and errare humanum est.

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