I believe that corporate (or large organisations) have a social responsibility to employ and give inexperienced developers opportunity to learn.
This said, if I had a small company (i.e. <5 developers) then I doubt that I would hire a someone fresh out of tech or varsity.... I don't believe that they have the skill required.... that is business or technical skill. I would rather pay more for more skill - I will save big time in the long run. I would also be looking for someone who is mature as far as development is concerned.... here I don't mean technically - I mean in their approach to development. Yip, this is a generalisation, so it wouldn't rule out all graduates, but from experience (and I have a reasonable amount of experience in this), I believe it would rule out most. Heinz, I think that your suggestion "How about building something as a JUG - all those who are currently not doing anything productive? " is a brilliant opportunity for those with little documented experience. In fact, them just joining the CTJUG would be a good start and increase their profile in the java community. I'm a little cynical though - I believe that 99% of people who need this kind of opportunity will turn it down... for a multitude of "good" reasons. As for the other 1%: if they are even reasonably competent, I say, snap them up. As Riaan said, it's attitude that makes the difference in this game. Lastly, regarding the cliques.... I believe that companies don't have time or money to hire the wrong person. If one of my developers recommended someone then I would definatly consider their application for a position more seriously than others. It has zip to do with cliques - and oh, I'd hire someone of another race/creed/sex if I believe them to be the right person - I don't have any allegiance to my own race/creed/sex in this regard - it's business - I want the right person.
