[cmiles74]

I did a two year technical program, it was called "Information Systems and Data Processing"; this was maybe two or three years before this book was published ('94-'96 maybe?). It wasn't an apprentice program but all of the people teaching the programming classes had worked with the language professionally. It made a big impression on me at the time, I think it prepared me (somewhat) for the big empty spaces that you don't really notice until you start working on a project.

It's clearly no replacement for a computer science degree, but I think there's a real benefit to spending time with people who have done the work professionally.