[devmonk]

I'm all for going just what needs to be done, but I think you are not giving good advice about "hiring scrubs". I worked for a successful company that had a younger less experienced developer write the original code. But he was not a "scrub". His code could have easily have been written by another developer with a few more years experience. Yes, he made some rookie mistakes in the code, but it worked and was close enough to keep the company going.

However, you often get what you pay for, and that goes for both hiring inexperienced developers and offshore/contracted development.

If you do hire young/inexperienced, make sure they have a mentor that enforces good practices or have code review/are pairing and that these developers seem to be learning good practices.

There is a difference between bad and "good enough".

[mathgladiator]

I updated the post.

The key is not to just hire scrubs. The key is to build a company that has enough excellent programmers, "good enough" programmers, and enough scrubs to keep products moving at a good pace.

There are some deeper points that I failed to make, and I will write about them in the future.

[smokeyj]

I got a job being that "scrub" while under the direction of the lead developer, very helpful. I was in high school so they paid me nearly minimum wage, but I landed a salaried gig my junior year in HS. I gained the experience needed to provide value to other companies, while subsidizing the cost of my intern by working - a win win IMO.

[mathgladiator]

That's awesome. I think the company that hired you was very smart. I'm going to write more on this, but the central theme will be about how companies should focus on nurturing and providing opportunities to grow better talent rather than waiting for it arrive in a nice package.