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by Grimburger 16 days ago
> companies trying to externalize training costs

Why shouldn't they? You're commenting on a website where the common if not overwhelming view is that people should move jobs every 2 years or they are going to lose out.

3 comments

Tragedy of the commons, prisoners dilemma.

Externalizing costs is a great short term strategy, for startups. We really should regulate any company over a certain size to force them to pay for their externalities but we all know they won’t happen. I’m sure this won’t have any lasting consequences or lead to the collapse of any economies.

In the UK they do have to pay a levy to fund apprenticeships, then they can claim money back to pay for apprenticeships. They also give preference in contracts to companies who hire apprentices.

It’s been very successful. Huge companies, including tech companies, will hire swathes of young people to fill apprentice slots.

But a big reason people only stay two years because we have had decades of companies gutting every incentive to stay somewhere longterm.

Whether or not companies should or shouldn't in their particular case is hard to answer generally. I am in an adjacent field to software and work on products that have lifetimes measured in decades. In that area short term thinking has been incredibly detrimental to organizations. I would also think investing in educating people that are going to work in an industry or are working in an industry will be a net positive to that industry. That is more a vibe based assertion than fact based though.

Why do they hold that view, you reckon?