[marcus_holmes]

You're right... re-reading it carefully I found I missed the point he was making about companies hiring unskilled developers.

I guess I read the whole article with the mindset that coding is not primarily a commercial activity. Therefore hordes of novices is a great thing, a fantastic thing and his point got a little hard to reach for me because I'm not seeing them as potential hires for a commercial team and all I saw was scathing criticism of newbies.

I've been a big fan of his work on software craftsmanship, something I get completely; it's the difference between a master carpenter and a DIY carpentry enthusiast. Don't let the DIY enthusiast build your house, but don't discourage them either, the world needs their enthusiasm!