Totally agree with this. I've been saying for at least 10 years that Software Engineer should be a trade not something you go to university for. If you want to

Totally agree with this. I've been saying for at least 10 years that Software Engineer should be a trade not something you go to university for. If you want to be a researcher then academia is the right path, but if you want to build software a trade program / apprenticeship would be much more effective imo. I've interviewed 100s of university grads and most of them don't know how to actually do anything useful. They have the foundations to grow into the position, but they certainly need someone to hold their hand for a while. One great example is IBEW electricians. They do a 5 year program. 6 months class room, 6 months on a job site as an apprentice applying the skills learned. Repeat for 5 years with gradual pay raises until you hit journeyman and it jumps up to full union scale. I think the exact same type of program would work GREAT for software engineering. Learning for 4 months in a vacuum and THEN working in the industry for the first time is a terrible idea. However, doing 6 months back and forth would allow you to apply what you learn and more importantly to learn what you don't know so you can focus on those things during the classroom segments.