[untog]

we have the perfect excuse to avoid all of that - "we're a startup, and we just can't afford it."

And if you're a qualified tech worker, you can say "no thank you" and go to a company that does provide all those things. Startups are not the only employer.

[ditonal]

Yes! Which is what I've done. But can I stop my taxpayer money being used to subsidize flooding the labor market with my supply skills because "startups can't afford to train people" and those poor VCs need highly skilled (but financially naive) employees to fool into building their empires?

[untog]

But can I stop my taxpayer money being used to subsidize flooding the labor market with my supply skills because "startups can't afford to train people"

I'm not sure how many people receiving these tech training scholarships will go into startups. A great many will go into other, established tech companies.

[ditonal]

Billionaire tech execs should also invest in training themselves instead of preaching about the low cost of false negatives right before they say they can't find people. But at least they make fair offers and invest in peoples' career (class action non poaching lawsuit may have helped.) I will note that some of them do have some programs for this already as well, Zuckerberg gave a lot to Newark and others have some programs.