When I was a computer programmer I ended up working with two guys at two separate contracts that were ex-chemists. I asked them why they went into programming and both said it was all about money and opportunity. Interestingly, one had worked in the petrolium industry.
There is another article I read that said the real problem is not that there are not enough people. Rather, there are not enough people that will work for what they are willing to pay. This analogy was used: These companies saying there is a shortage of skilled workers is like a car buyer saying there is a shortage of cars to buy that meet their needs. There isn’t. What they mean is there are no cars that meet their needs that are within their budget.
Cheapskates can never find what they are looking for.
The time is quickly approaching where there will no longer be people who do nothing but programming, it will just be another aspect of their normal job. Think about accountants who write their own Excel Macros, eventually that will expand to more conventional types of programming.