[ThrowawayR2]

Yes, most programming is Lego programming but the parts of the industry that require deep CS knowledge are the ones that build the Legos. The jobs are out there, though they are harder to find: OS development, compiler/ language runtime development, hardware related jobs like low-level embedded systems and driver development, games development, database engine design, FAANG-level distributed systems, etc.

[the_only_law]

They also seem to tilt much heavier towards the > senior level roles, with many I’ve seen demanding a decade of domain experience.

I imagine that most lower leveled positions are sources from university pipelines.