The market for software developers right now is super hot. But what I am noticing is that a lot of companies are struggling to grasp the reality that you cannot hire developers for the same amount of money that I was making 23 years ago as a senior developer in the games industry, an industry which is notorious for underpaying people.
I read the complaints on a few private CTO/HR/recruiter forums about the difficulty of hiring and the compensation required to get someone interested.
And I sit and think “Am I missing something here?”
Why would you believe you could hire a Senior Developer, Lead Developer or Principle Developer for $100K to $120K in California of all places?!?
Even the higher compensation at $150K to $160K is admitting that compensation on offer has not kept up with a 4% inflation rate for the past 23 years.
I got pinged today on LinkedIn. The job requires a laundry list of qualifcations and duties that should really be covered by three separate positions, has full-time on-site in an open office, no possibility of work-from-home, and is in the range of $140K (not including bonus) for a Senior/Lead AI/ML developer.
All I can say is “HAHAHAHA! Good luck on that.”
Meta, Google and Apple are going to Thanos snap your competent staff away from you as soon they find them.