Finding that good 1% of companies has been like finding a needle in a haystack, especially as an outsider where you don't even know what the needle looks like.
Also, tech recruitment has been broken since the beginning. It has been based almost entirely on resume buzzwords (in the pre-selection phase) and one's ability to solve puzzles quickly within a constrained time frame (for the selection phase). Neither of these things are relevant to the job of software engineering; what's relevant is solving problems in an optimal way. HR who worked for big tech could have put focus on engineers' track record on past projects instead of ignoring it completely. Also, in latter years, DEI quotas further distorted the already COMPLETELY BROKEN recruitment process. Like rubbing salt into a gaping, infected wound.
I'm looking forward to high interest environment. I hope there is a huge crash and that most tech companies go bankrupt so that the industry can finally make room for people who know what they're doing.
Just look at what's happening in society and tell me that tech has been successful. Only innovation we got are LLMs, but wait to see how they're going to be applied to industry... If we keep going down the current path, it's not going to be good.
The tech industry over the past 10 years has felt like a show, completely detached from fundamentals. I was hoping that I would be given the chance to compete on a level playing field. It didn't happen since I started my career.
Every playing field in the tech sector has been rigged and distorted by private equity, national governments, foreign governments, intelligence agencies, big corporations, startup incubators, the media/social media, law firms... Absolute psyop from every side. Every well-connected corrupt midwit and dimwit benefited; everyone except skilled creators.