Comment by kunzhi

I love developing junior people for all the reasons you outlined. It's both rewarding and fun. I know that I'm supposed to show up at work to deliver value or whatever, but that all pales in comparison to seeing a young person light up because suddenly they can see the path in front of them. And it's a lovely feeling to have instructed someone one day, then come in the following day or week and they've been on a tear with their new knowledge because they were so excited. One of my favorite feelings in life.

Given that, it really boggles my mind the backward view most people seem to have of junior folks. There's a logic that says: "well, training somebody up is very expensive, and then once they have the skills, what's to stop them from leaving?" Like...really? You actually want someone to stay low-skill and produce shoddy results? Besides, if the only thing keeping the person around is their lack of skills, that says more about the place of work than the person. Can't say it makes any sense to me but I have accepted it at this point.