Hire talent, not five years with Java
Once upon a time (1969-ish), my father was hired as a programmer. He was an electrical engineer by training, but had zero programming experience at the time. Given a shortage of programmers, IBM placed an ad in the newspaper, hired smart people, and taught them how to program. Assembly. On mainframes.<p>40+ years later, companies are in a similar situation, but instead, given a shortage of engineers, they are simply whining about it. Presumably, with tools that are 40+ years better that making it "easier" to program, such a system of the past would be reasonably replicable today, no? I've seen a few things pop up here and there - hungryacademy and such, but, by and large, this is the exception far more than the rule. Once upon a time, companies would hire and develop talent, investing years to develop the talent with years of rewards on the end for both sides of the deal. Now? Companies expect hires to come fully trained, ready to deliver from day one, at their own expense (and much debt to the banks). Employees have no loyalty (and for good reason).