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Demand for AI, cloud and robotics skills is soaring but we cannot get the coders, technicians, engineers - of course we can't. Those jobs require high level education, dedication and training lasting years - it's not easy and it's not "instant".

All our young people seem to want to do is use apps, they are not interested in what goes on behind the scenes to make them work if they give them the easy life, that's fine. Mind you, we are pretty good at turning out Internet influencers, YouTubers, Instagrammers, SnapChatters and Facebookers. Go figure.

It used to drive me mad as a teacher that pupils could not work out: a = 50 So if 2a - 2b = 80 What is b? Yet they could crack a game with many variables in seconds.

Hurrah - I've worked out your equation Frank

And the answer is? But I bet you're crap at Fortnite or Grand Theft.....

Let's be honest. Learning a new programming language is a big investment in time, energy, and brainpower, but once you crack one.....

The very best thing about coding / networking is that you do not need university. There are coding clubs / groups where you can get a cert in Python, Rust, C++, Dart etc for pennies. The same is partially true for networking. Get a few books and do a few Cisco, Microsoft or Fujitsu courses and exams and you are qualified. You can be working as a barista and learning in your free time. It is what I did, and I suspect that Suff might have gone a similar route.

We might not have been baristas, but you get the idea.

It's not a hard equation and I'd be frustrated if a class couldn't work it out too.

It frustrated me when I was a programmer (would that be an app developer these days?) that management turned away from in house development to buying in packages.

Every time I read about "influencers" I get depressed. I mean, really?

Cromwell, I was a supply teacher when the problem was set by the form teacher to a yr 10 class.

We solved it using cans of pop with a discount if you bought more than one. They just could not see it in the abstract form. I went home and had a stiff drink... or three. I might have saved them a few pennies, though.

I thought it a yr 8 problem, at best, but that's me.

WM, a lot of people take time to learn algebra but are good at fundamental maths. I am crap at fundamental maths, but understand both algebra and transposition of formula instinctively which is why programming was not too difficult for me.

Some people cannot see that 100-80 =2*b. Most of algebra is reorganising the equation so it is easy to solve, or re stating it in a way which is easy to solve. Some people can see it and some have to be shown, some will never see. That is a quote from Da Vinci.

I can crack games too, but I'm a bit out of practise.

I went partially that route WM. I went back to college for 2 years to get my brain working again and then into IT where I learned and trained on the job. I'm not a certificate taker so I do a minimum of that, I try to excel by knowing things others don't and that doesn't come from books and courses.