i know exactly what thats like, i see it every day.
a good training course and mentoring is invaluable. the right teacher could teach a chimp 4gl and make a great developer out of him.
sadly lots of (but not all) shops don't know any better and even if they did they wouldn't know where to start.
i see lots of companies hiring young people with zero experience so they could make them work ridiculous hours for ridiculous pay and putting them strait to work.
i've met tons of 4gl developers that have been programming for over a decade and have no idea what a transaction is or think locking is some kind of database limitation that has no other reason for being there.
the ones that do come on top take the initiative and start teaching themselves but i rarely see shops with training programs.
what happens is that these developers are frustrated out of their mind and hate every thing about their job, and after a year or two they kill the customer site and leave a lasting impression.
and that could very well happen here.
we could lose alot of customers this way.
btw i also do outsourcing these days for very competitive rates and i believe religiously in training. ones that never end
give us a try.