I started also in the 1960's with IBM 360/50, 360/30, and 360/25. The lady is right. If you want to do well, it will take long hours, nights, weekends, and training. I don't really think employer training has changed all that much. I got my first job based on an aptitude test and one week of COBOL coding training, having only seen a computer once before in my life. From there on, I spent many nights and weekends reading the old black and white 8.5x11 IBM manuals in ring binders. Sure, there were a few training sessions over the next 42 years of my career, but my approach was to keep improving by taking night classes at local junior colleges on my own right up to the year I retired. My wife became a techie in her mid 30's, started, operated, and sold a graphic design company. It rubbed off on the kids, and three of the four are buried in technical jobs in IT. How do we get good technical folks? Exposure to the technology, mentoring, and yeah, a little training here and there. The demands will probably weed out those who can't make it, and I have known a few who should have been, and even were, encouraged to follow other pursuits.