[widebody911]

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

I thought this article was interesting. It's good to see that people in an area hit by a dying-out economy try to adapt with new, modern skills.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/kentucky/articles/2017-03-13/tech-companies-look-to-reinvent-eastern-kentucky-workforce

But when Interapt, a Louisville-based software company, offered a training program in eastern Kentucky with the help of a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission, Crowl was one of 800 people to apply, 50 to be accepted and 35 to graduate. Now he's developing mobile apps as an intern in Interapt's eastern Kentucky office.

While that's a great success story, that formula will have to be repeated several hundred thousand times. However, the inherent risk of betting on software jobs to save the day is that they're very easy to offshore. I'm willing to bet they've already got some H1's if not offshore operations. This specific Cinderella story (for 1 Cinderella out of 800 stepsisters) was dependent on a grant; the software company probably wouldn't have done this without said grant money. Translation: the company was bribed into training an American app developer. This guy was 29, with some education; how many of his older, less-educated peers are out there, and what options are available for them?