The problem isn't filling the rocket scientist shortage with brain surgeon retrains. It's finding the unemployed shelf stacker who's really just 6 months of good training from being you rocket scientist. Otherwise you're just creating a shortage of brain surgeons.

It's VERY hard to find quality developers. I agree with the article that HR is a huge problem, but I'm a hiring manager and I still don't see a great deal of quality.

While it's not as extreme as shifting industry, I recently took the advice from a few HN threads I'd spoken up on and while I'm looking for a PHP developer, I didn't insist that PHP be one of the languages you already know.

Did that work? No. I still didn't get an influx of quality applicants.

I also said in the ad that I was more interested in a cover letter than a resume that shows where you've worked or gone to school, and I'm interested in your Stack Overflow or HN profile. In other words: I'd love to hire a hobbyist.

But none of the 5% of this country's unemployed applied.