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Software: Most modern software is written by huge teams of programmers. But there is still room for homebrew coders, at least in some unusual niches
BEFORE Henry Ford unleashed the practice of mass production on the world, every little town had a few dozen artisans who made the lives of citizens easier. A cobbler made the shoes, a tailor sewed suits and a carpenter built furniture. Mass production sounded the death knell for many specialist craft jobs, and the rise of computerised supply chains finished off most of the rest. But now, a century later, the trend is reversing itself. The new craftsmen do not stitch leather, cut cloth or saw wood: instead, they write software.
This is because, as digital gizmos proliferate, consumers are running into some niggling problems. How can you synchronise a Sony Ericsson smartphone with a Macintosh computer running Microsoft's Entourage software? How do you send instant messages from your PocketPC or Palm handheld? How do you maintain a weblog quickly and easily? Such difficulties are typically faced by just a few thousand people with specific and unusual requirements--too few to merit the attention of the big computer firms, but enough to provide opportunities for a growing band of homebrew coders who set out to develop niche products.
In many cases these programmers are making a decent living in the process, thanks to the availability of high-speed internet...