It sounds like we've just had really different workplace experiences in software.
I've never seen a scenario where a trained employee replaces a more senior one. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it's just not something I've seen in my career (e-commerce, a food delivery startup gone global and now a consultancy).
Also, I've seen people take jobs that promise mentorship multiple times. I've seen multiple people take entry level apprenticeships that offer rigorous software development training. I've also seen multiple mid and senior level devs leave for jobs that offer meaningful mentorship in management and offer clear career growth options.
So I guess it really just comes down to this: mentoring others can be a trap if the industry or company makes it a trap. It's up to a company to embrace mentorship and training and ensure it works for both mentor and mentee.
Maybe you're lucky, or very good a picking companies and having the luxury of doing so, or maybe you just haven't worked in the field long enough, through multiple nasty downturns in the market. I started my career four decades ago, for "big ones", rode down one metro area's effective end as a high tech region, and lived through the dot com bubble and bust.
I would say it's a mix of all of those things. I have been lucky in my career, but before I went into development I was most assuredly unlucky. I do pick good companies, I've declined jobs from places that paid more but were a quality of life hit. I do have a luxury of choice since I'm younger, but I'm planning my family and saving sensibly so that choice isn't a luxury I can't afford down the line.
But the more I reflect on this thread, the more certain I become that mentorship is important and cost-effective for any industry.
A company that can't justify training and mentorship is either two things: financially poor or culturally rotten.
This is American capitalism, for all it's good and bad, this is a company first society we live in. A company that can't plan to have enough money to train employees is irresponsible. A company that won't train employees is pernicious. Either way, count me out. In the competition of employers I'll take the one that invests in me, and as I've said earlier, I've seen others follow suit.
This isn't some hippy dippy stuff. I don't want a company to cradle me. A company that can't or won't see the value in training its employees to be more effect in the industry its in has to be a special type of near-sighted. For a variety of reasons this is hardly a death knell for them. Plenty of places consider you a liability and glorified typist, they do just fine, but the rot is there and even if it won't kill them, they are a company diminished.
I've never seen a scenario where a trained employee replaces a more senior one. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it's just not something I've seen in my career (e-commerce, a food delivery startup gone global and now a consultancy).
Also, I've seen people take jobs that promise mentorship multiple times. I've seen multiple people take entry level apprenticeships that offer rigorous software development training. I've also seen multiple mid and senior level devs leave for jobs that offer meaningful mentorship in management and offer clear career growth options.
So I guess it really just comes down to this: mentoring others can be a trap if the industry or company makes it a trap. It's up to a company to embrace mentorship and training and ensure it works for both mentor and mentee.