Rickerism

Picture the pool of available skilled workers as an inverted pyramid.

At the bottom of the inverted pyramid are the hard core software and computer engineers. The hard core workers create the basic stuff necessary for computers, such as compilers and operating systems.

The next level up are architects or engineers. Architects build large-scale enterprise applications that run companies. They also build shrink-wrapped software. Architects understand how to build reliable software that can handle millions of transactions or can run on any desktop, but they rely on hard core workers for operating systems and the like.

The next level up are developers or programmers. These workers can build business applications using Java, Visual Basic and such. They can create databases and web front ends. They need supervision by engineers to build more complicated systems.

The next level up are the scripters. Scripters can write HTML code, read XML and write scripts in languages such as Perl, Python, Ruby and Java Script. Most offices have a scripter to help automate tasks.

At the top are the clerks. These workers use software for most of their business tasks.

There are no concrete delineations between the various levels of the pyramid. For instance, a really good scripter could be considered a junior developer.

The higher one goes on the inverted pyramid, the more common and less expensive the skill level. The lower one goes on the inverted pyramid, the less common and the more expensive the skill level. Scripters are more common and less expensive than architects.

This inverted pyramid concept has direct implications for software start-up strategies. Software for scripters will have a larger market than software for architects. The more than can be pushed to the scripter level, the more readily it can be adopted by the market. That is why the web exploded in the 1990s; any scripter could build a website. That is why Excel is the most widely used database in the world. Excel is not supposed to be a database, but that is how it is used. Business requires databases, and Excel is the most clerk and scripter friendly option available.