And were they able to keep those jobs?<p>I firmly believe that programming is a creative and not production job. With that in mind, some people are naturals and everything just clicks for them. Others are perhaps silver tongued and can talk their way into the job even without the needed skills up front. Those will either learn on the job, ride on coat tails, or flame out. And then you have those who clearly have no clue and the hiring process was flawed in some deep way.<p>The real test is, do they still have the job 3&#x2F;6&#x2F;12 months later? If the answer is yes, then either they deserve the salary or their boss doesn&#x27;t.