I think many mid-to-large organizations would benefit greatly from internal training or mentoring programs for technical people. The "thrown into the fire" men

I think many mid-to-large organizations would benefit greatly from internal training or mentoring programs for technical people. The "thrown into the fire" mentality is really not necessary. It just happens that way because that's how the culture has evolved. I bet that the ramp-up period Brooks talks about in The Mythical Man-Month could be greatly shortened with a reasonable investment in mentoring and training processes.