Today, if I had to do a regular job, which demands more and more out of me while slowly giving me less and less, then I better have a very solid offer to consider it, otherwise it's not worth the hassle, considering half of what they'll offer will be rug-pulled after some time anyway; we've already seen that happen across multiple companies.

I quit a couple years ago, had enough funds saved from the "golden bubble". Took a nice break, and now I'm doing a bunch of different things, a few earning me enough income to live a decent life.

> they’re just anchoring to a world that no longer exists or might quickly disappear

Good engineers aren't blind. If "value has changed shape" for the employers, then it has changed shape for the employees as well. Enough have figured out that they need to diversify out anyway, since companies today cannot and should not be trusted. Only the most desperate will stick around empty shells of regular jobs - there are enough options for talented people to pursue.