I've seen that, but he couldn't afford the tuition fee. Plus, the "highly selective" is somewhat discouraging, as I'm not sure he has anything to offer that would make him stand out from the crowd, more the opposite.
well, that's a good start. but reading HN is about as close as I ever get to startups, so I really don't know what technologies to recommend him to study, nor what scope his projects should reach before he can realistically expect to be employable. Any pointers? e.g. Is RoR as ubiquitous as I imagine it to be?
my first job out of uni was in medium-size finance software consultancy @£35k, up to £37k in less than a year. Trying to live a family life on that wasn't fun (definitely possible, just not fun). Moved 80 miles south for a £34k salary, reduced hours & stress, no dry cleaner bills, much cheaper rent and 0 commuting costs (cycling). Don't miss London one bit :-) OTOH, I've not had a raise yet and can't see one coming any time soon.
p.s. all numbers are pre-bonus, but for junior devs they're near-negligible in both companies anyway.