Good programmers are nearly always contractors in the UK simply because perm positions pay poorly and programmers generally get treated fairly badly so theres little benefit to being perm.

Boy this guy likes to jump around a bit doesn't he ? CNC lathe operators earn minimum wage, Quants can earn six figure salaries, hardly a reasonable comparison.

Some Programmers in finance have seen rate drops of 20-25%, thats hardly going to drive uptake. Others are out of a job, that means that competition for positions is only going to get tougher.

All well and good but as you mentioned will there be an industry left to enter ? Most forum posters seem loathe to enroll on a 3 year degree, and who can blame them with all the short termism. Now we are talking adding on a masters and a PhD, thats 6-7 years of no earnings, this is really only an option for bright youngsters.

Another loser Journo insinuating programmers are all nerdy losers, great !

I've lost count the number of times the business people couldn't communicate basic requirements, make basic decisions, or take basic advice, the emphasis is nearly always on IT, even when IT is doing 110% to try to deliver success. Theres an assumption that no dumb people ever went to business school and got into industry, which I can assure you is not true.

The idea of the Computer Programmer evolved into the Analyst/ Developer quite some time ago, the realisation of a need for multi-talented professionals is not new. The fact remains however that intellectuals that spend most of their time learning and thinking are not going to have the same skillsets as for example a salesperson who spends nearly all their time communicating. Often programmers will be expected to put in very long hours just to get their coding done on top of their other duties, sometimes they have to perform support, test, management, business analyst, development, architect roles all in a days work, often they will have to carry other staff members. Imagine what would happen if a programmer were to ask a project manager or a business analyst to write their code? Yet the reverse is not at all uncommon.

However I do agree that getting a Masters in the current climate in a Maths/Science based subject is probably a good idea.

Translation: "Recession? What recession?! We're bringing in more cheap labor from India!"