In the old days we learned directly with a mix of BASIC and Z80 (or 6502) Assembly, at the age of 10.
I was already doing C++ for MS-DOS while at the technical school (15-18 years old) and learned OOP via Turbo Pascal 5.5 and 6.0 before getting into C++.
Just look at kids today doing C++ with Arduino at school with similar ages.
So I really fail to understand the whole pandering "fresh college grad" concept.
I think the point is to bring in as much cheap[er] labor as possible. I mean, obviously people have been managing to cope with complex languages in complex multi-hundred and multi-million lines of code for decades, but now, with the startup craze, there is a need for a vast amount of developer force, that may not be as capable as before. When people go into the business for money reasons alone, things get bleak. I think that concept is for these people. And I get it, money is important! But I think there should be at least some passion there there too, and that's not just for software development, but for most walks of life.
I was already doing C++ for MS-DOS while at the technical school (15-18 years old) and learned OOP via Turbo Pascal 5.5 and 6.0 before getting into C++.
Just look at kids today doing C++ with Arduino at school with similar ages.
So I really fail to understand the whole pandering "fresh college grad" concept.