[barrow-rider]

> What there is not though, is an enormous shortage of software developer applicants.

I can't speak to the software side, but in IT there is a deluge of applicants. Lots of folks retraining, or coming in with 2 years of online ITT Tech-knockoff training. On the mid-to-high level that stratifies very quickly -- once we started filtering by (verified) CCNP/CCIEs/other certs the pool of legit applicants shrank greatly, but there was still a lot of noise.

Anecdote from when I did hiring: we needed 1-2 network engineers, low-to-mid-level and posted on craigslist, plus went through a couple headhunters we've worked with. Engineer needed to be in Atlanta, NC, DC, or Philly (though we did consider NYC-based folks in a couple cases). We posted CL ads in those cities 4 cities (not in NYC) and mentioned that we were in the entry-to-mid-level range.

We got something like 600 applications in the first day, couple thousand before the end of the week. Many were from far away from those cities, including several from overseas. Several applicants were clearly under-qualified, though I was surprised to see the number of overqualified folks, easily 30-40 applications; 7-10+ years and related degrees and certs. We didn't hire the overqualified people -- some looked too good to be true, others we worried about jumping ship quickly or being difficult to manage -- but it definitely threw me for a loop. IIRC we settled for a CCNA with a Big State 4-year degree who had the lowest salary requirements; he stayed on for about 2.5-3 years.