I don't really see the difference between this and a good internship in the software development field. Usually you get a mentor and they nurture you fairly wel

I don't really see the difference between this and a good internship in the software development field. Usually you get a mentor and they nurture you fairly well or help you to help yourself (if it's a good internship and not a "oh free codemonkey" mindset). I'd say dev internships are way ahead of the curve compared to other industries. The real problem (imo) is that while there's a huge demand for developers at the end of the day it's still hard to program well and there's a potentially strong penalty on being sloppy while learning and on top of that the opportunity cost of people nurturing you from zero/a low level is pretty high. There's a difference between being able to glue working stuff together and understanding an existing codebase. Most jobs require the latter and solid engineering principles on top. I'm afraid there is no hotfix/silver bullet. Call this apprenticeship or whatever you want, I agree that the right step is taking time to develop talent even if it costs you money now. But the downside is that the workforce is ultramobile so you may invest a lot for no return. I think the management trainee programs of bigger companies could be an interesting model to investigate. They are essentially meant to groom and train future >middle management through on the job training in all areas of the company.