Why? Clearly, it's happening. He didn't just make that up. Nearly every week I see new bootcamps like this popping up—usually Ruby, but sometimes Python. Nobody is saying that graduates of these bootcamps are fully-formed developers. It's a start; enough to get a job and get one's foot in the door (and keep learning on that job from experienced devs and progress from there). There is no shame in any of this, especially when companies are desperate for talent.
"Enough to get a job" is the ridiculous part. If you start from scratch, then you can learn a lot in 6 weeks and code up some stuff that mostly works - but if companies really are hiring those people so early, then the desperation you mention is really showing. Is the USA developer job market really so starved for any warm bodies in those seats?
BTW, by legal/HR definition any job which can be taught in such time (within 4-6-8 weeks) is 'unskilled labour' - i.e., the same type of job as flipping burgers, driving deliveries and digging dithes; every job requires some skill and gets better with experience, but if you can do the job after 6 weeks, then that explains a lot about that job position...
You have to start somewhere, right? You're assuming that all those people are going into straight-up developer roles. I'm guessing many of them are starting in junior roles in a best-case scenario, othewise doing testing or an internship until they get some solid commits under their belt or have their code reviewed consistently. I also think you are applying some federal, governmental definition of "unskilled labour" to the market for developers. I doubt any of the companies you see in, say, the typical "Who's Hiring?" thread here on HN (or in the rest of the market) care much about that. They just want to get the work done.
Also, equating new developers, no matter how n00b-like or inexperienced, to burger-flippers is an attitude that is pretty unfortunate and insulting, and if I ever sniffed that out in a company I'd avoid them even if interviewing for a senior role. Company culture is important, and you can tell a lot about a business by how they treat their least experienced people.
But this is the simplest thing in the works to understand ...
I said I can't believe someone would state this ... because it naively misses the obvious bubble nature of what's going on. ... Yes it may be a free for all, any poli sci major can get a programming job ... we have seen that movie before. There was also a time when there free money everywhere get a loan for, get an ARM for your house no big deal ...
But if I said "hey guys, the banks are now giving money for free, we should get on it" ... It may be the case in the future that there is a stretch of time where that is true ... But any sensible person would have the reaction I had. Just being honest.
