Teaching Flash/Director to a Java/VB developer

[Drakkon]

I've been working for a company for the last year that has been using flash/director to develop applications that can be distributed through disk or online. Its been pretty cool cause Flash now acts like java with its classes and director gives me the power of 3d and now combining the two its like rapid 3d application development.
Finding a programmer that knows flash or director is like finding a needle in a haystack though, there are not many and those that do are in Europe or charge a crazy ammount and want to work from home (something which my boss isn comfortable with at the moment). So that leads me down the path of bringing a VB or Java programmer to the Flash/Director world.
So scenario setup, what would be an easier transition...VB or Java? I wonder VB cause Flash has the same sorta drag, drop program interface like VB but when it comes down to interacting with the objects you create its more like java.
And question 2...for you VB or Java developers...does the proposition of a company taking you on full-time (30-40 hrs per week) during summer break (with the possiblity of hiring you on permanently), spending a week learning Flash under a certified flash developer, and then turning you loose on our projects, getting paid (somewhere between $10-$15 per hour)the entire time, sound appealing?

 

[mAdMaLuDaWg]

Dude... contact the career development services for some colleges around your area... college kids usually have crazy Flash skills and best of all they are willing to work for minimum wage ...ok.. that may be an exaggeration but I bet you could get them for $10 an hour.

 

[Drakkon]

see usually they have flash skills but im taking it to the next level when tweening and all that crap means nothing...its all about the actionscript doing the tweening and color/shape changing...and thats something those kids aren't adept at learning i have found. And on top of that theres a lot of math and logic checking that need to take place...something that regular flash designers dont really get...but i was thinking java/vb programmers would moreso...
But yeah the college career centers are what im hoping to do if its apparent that its appealing to some people that actually have some abiltities...

 

[Drakkon]

bump for more input

 

[DaveSimmons]

A CS student (Junior - Senior) should be able to pick up ActionScript fairly quickly, and the demented frames / timeline paradigm as well once the dust settles from their head exploding.

Of course with a software person they may have absolutely no knowledge or sense about graphics design. But if you put them more on "back end" coding than things like button design they should be fine.

At the college level a java or C++ coder is more likely to be able to write maintainable code than a VB person.