That's another really good point. There's not much in the way of apprenticeship in software.
Companies will often pay for relo expenses for someone, providing they stay for X years (else they repay the relo money back). Companies could do something similar with education, whether it's local college classes, inhouse training, etc. If you leave within the first year, you pay the company back those expenses. Or... have retention bonuses for people for staying past 1 year, and invest in education for people at lower wages. Many companies would find some real gems out there, waiting to be discovered, and would engender far more loyalty than most currently get.
I'm not sure I am following this. If you want to attract actual talent, you have to pay full relocation. The good ones have stable jobs they enjoy. And they are going to pay their own relocation for a new job that may not work out? I don't think so. The only people that pay their own relocation are the desperate and the completely untalented.
As far as having to pay back if you are laid off or the company is otherwise dissatisfied due to their own lack of having a decent vetting process, ha ha ha. Indentured servitude. That's a new one. I'm sure that will get the best of the best. Not.
Relo packages are a perk that's given out to those with a certain amount of experience. I got one last time I changed jobs, but I barely squeaked in (official policy was that it's only for candidates with 5+ years of experience, I had 4 years, they said "We'll work something out"). And I would've had to pay it back if I worked at the company for less than a year.
The vast majority of my friends did not get relo packages, because this is their first job out of school. Companies don't typically offer relo for fresh college grads.
I thought this discussion was about junior engineers?
If you can't find employees, you have to get out of the mindset of "perks" that employees are lucky to get and start offering what it takes to get what you want.
Or keep whining there's no employees.
One of these paths is more productive than the other.
The university I attend, Taylor, just began a track in their Computer Science major a few years ago designed for this exactly. It lets students work in a team atmosphere, and get a few major projects under their belt before they graduate, with critiques and advice from professors. I have a few friends who chose that track and are learning how programming really works, getting a little bit of class credit, and getting an on-campus work study job out of it as well.
There are small startups that will hire entry-level people. However, I agree, the relationships with the entry level people are not necessarily of the mentor-apprentice variety.
Companies will often pay for relo expenses for someone, providing they stay for X years (else they repay the relo money back). Companies could do something similar with education, whether it's local college classes, inhouse training, etc. If you leave within the first year, you pay the company back those expenses. Or... have retention bonuses for people for staying past 1 year, and invest in education for people at lower wages. Many companies would find some real gems out there, waiting to be discovered, and would engender far more loyalty than most currently get.