I hire such people. Now, usually they either think of themselves as a secretary or as a programmer, and sometimes feel put upon when asked to take the other ro

I hire such people. Now, usually they either think of themselves as a secretary or as a programmer, and sometimes feel put upon when asked to take the other role, but I think it's completely realistic (and a good idea) to populate your company entirely with people who can at least handle simple scripting languages. It is more expensive, either in terms of time (you /can/ find that diamond in the rough college student who is super organised and a reasonable coder and willing to work for $15/hr, but you have to spend a lot of time looking, and usually kiss a few frogs, and the person will leave for better wages as soon as others notice they are good.) or in terms of salary (anyone who can program reasonably well really is worth quite a bit more than that.)