Post

thinking about tech internships/apprenticeships. - very high value to be hired as a intern/apprentice/junior - meh value to hire an intern/apprentice/junior (because: they're net-negative at the start + fast turnover is the norm) how do you reconcile to preserve this positive externality?

one answer is: pick the tails. ie: a company can maybe only get 75th percentile mid-career eng, but 90th percentile interns. this is kinda the norm already, because you then hope to retain the 90th percentile interns as 90th percentile mid-career engineers

another answer is: build companies that are okay with more, less experienced work. for eg, in big tech, imo there's a lot of super interconnected work, and the Mythical Man Month holds, ie: adding more, less-skilled people can actually slow you down. something more consulty can work better?

it seems fun to try to answer the apprenticeship question, which is this: "what sort of software business could hire primarily high-school graduates, teach them more than college does, pay them a (low) salary, and still end up profitable?"