It's better than no talent, but it takes quite a bit of investment to get an engineer with no industry experience up to speed: to be independent enough to get t

It's better than no talent, but it takes quite a bit of investment to get an engineer with no industry experience up to speed: to be independent enough to get their own work released/deployed, and to approach engineering in a way where you build things to be resilient (though, for startups, 'throw it all away' makes this less important). It's a win for startups, but it's a small win. There's much lamenting about the demand for seniors being greater than juniors, but also, there's a reason for it. Companies often need folks who they can drop and have be immediately productive. Delivering quickly at scale is a competitive advantage.