Basically I went back to school to be a pharmacy tech because it seems like a hopeless job market after looking hopelessly for 18 months even after having survived as a web developer since 1995.
And companies will still swear up and down that they can't find talent at any price even as talent streams out of the industry to other fields due to being snubbed.
There's also ageism at play
crazy that they claim to want 10+ years experience but also won't entertain the idea of a 20+ year old veteran. Where are all these mid-30's (assumedly) principles and staff engineers coming from, especially since no one wants to invest in junior engineers the past decade.
To be fair, some mid-30s have 20 years of web dev experience. Others have a “lot” of experience because of the quality of the experience gained over a shorter period of time. Some have even fall into both camps.