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Comment by rob74

1 day ago

Or, to put it in another way, the amplitude of the pork cycle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_cycle) is higher for software developers than for other jobs.

I had not heard of the pork cycle and thought this was going to be about the factoid that the McRib only exists when pork is cheap.

... partly because it's quicker to get started with software projects?

No expensive machines or lab equipment, sometimes not even office space needed, just people with laptops

But the cycle wave length should ... Be similar to how many years people spend studying? That doesn't seem to be the case here?

Quoting the Wikipedia link:

"high salaries in a particular sector lead to an increased number of students studying the relevant subject; when these students enter the job market at the same time after several years of studying, their job prospects and salaries are much worse due to the new surplus of applicants."

Maybe you could say it's related to investors' pork cycle (of different/unknown wavelength) not students' pork cycle :-)

Or maybe just one-time opportunism: low interest rates etc