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Most programmers are closer to skilled tradesmen, which doesn't fit into the author's dichotomy of mindless blue-collar workers and university-educated engineers. And the trades' apprenticeship model would probably work better for most programmers than the alternatives.

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That's because the authors' understanding of what blue collar workers are, are largely defined by his stereotypes. And those stereotypes are even worse in Russia than they are in US, because it had a strong class divide around that in the USSR (ironically). I grew up there, and coming from a "white collar" family, the idea of going into trade school was unthinkable, precisely because it was stereotyped as that dirty place full of brainless brutes. And such stereotypes, once they become popular, tend to be self-fulfilling, at least when it comes to "dirty" (lack of funding etc).

“And the trades' apprenticeship model would probably work better for most programmers than the alternatives.”

Make the bootcamps longer and more rigorous and you are there.

So... college?

It seems colleges don't focus on teaching practical skills. I am always surprised that a lot of fresh CS graduates barely know how to write code.

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