[devonbleak]

At some point we'll find a new equilibrium.

Everybody is currently so desperate for this talent, there's been a big shift toward remote work meaning competition that used to be highly localized is now everywhere, and giant companies are on hiring tears so it's driving up the market rate for the talent and companies that can't afford that are having a huge problem hiring.

We're already seeing the knock on effects of this as contracts with IT vendors come up for renewal and we're being charged XX% more this year for no marginal benefit from what we had last year.

At some point the customers of those companies can no longer afford their products at the rates they have to charge to pay engineers that much and hiring freezes, layoffs and pay cuts will start happening. Until then everybody's trying to suck as much money out of the system as they can - that's just capitalism.