I think we lucked out only because the cost of entry dropped so incredibly fast in the late 70s to mid 80s. $100 and a TV and you could learn BASIC. By the time people who are inclined to form guilds got in, it was already too late.

— Paul Bort (@catzoup) May 22, 2019

I am not a programmer, but I do work in IT (infrastructure and design), and if it were guild-based and education-based, as some people wish it to be, I would’ve never been permitted past the first step as I am not capable of getting a CS degree (due to not having adequate math skills and no ability to obtain them).

So, despite being pretty darn good IT person, I never would’ve made it in my current field if many people had or have their way — and many of those people with all the right credentials but not much in the way of brains are much worse at their jobs than I am at mine.

Some of the very best infrastructure designers and system admins I’ve ever met had no degree at all, and one of them dropped out in eighth grade. Credentialism hurts more than it helps.