I agree that companies need spend more time developing talent than chasing a dwindling pool of people who already have it. My mom had a similar career path to

I agree that companies need spend more time developing talent than chasing a dwindling pool of people who already have it. My mom had a similar career path to your father - she was hired out of college in the late 60s with zero programming experience by one of the railways to work on scheduling systems. There is one difference, though - the opportunity to learn programming (actually, to learn most things) has exploded in the past few decades. In 1969, I think you needed access to expensive technology (like a mainframe) to have the opportunity to learn. Now, a few hundred bucks and a web connection gets you started. So if someone wants to be hired into a programming position with no experience in 2013, that does say something about the candidate that it didn't say in 1969.