Many employees with up to five years of experience grew up with computers at home. Even the non-engineers are computer literate. Rookie programmers are in high demand. Because the Internet is so new, many of these programmers have been coding in Java, installing e-mail servers, and configuring NT networks as long as veteran engineers. They also can be taught new tricks.
Rookies have a hunger for knowledge and want to learn.
They are usually not fixed in a particular way of doing things and can easily adjust to a company's culture. Motivated and dedicated, rookies generally outperform all expectations. And, of course, rookies are cheap. Though salaries for employees with less than six years of experience are rising rapidly, rookies are still a bargain compared to someone with 25 years experience. Large and small companies are fast learning that less experienced job seekers are highly valuable.