[groaner]

If I want a $1,000,000,000 unicorn, and can't find it, is it because I'm not paying enough?

The fact that many SV companies want mythical beings to solve their engineering problems is an entirely different issue, but this does not invalidate their claims of a "shortage." It just means that they have failed to come up with a business that is capable of being worked on by the existing talent pool.

[powertower]

> If I want a $1,000,000,000 unicorn, and can't find it, is it because I'm not paying enough?

To be fair with the analogy, that should rather read...

> If I want a $1,000,000,000 unicorn, one out of the 100 that are in existence, and I can't find someone to sell it, is it because I'm not paying enough?

The answer then becomes - Yes.

Top engineers in the US are not mythical creatures, they do exists. Hence why the original analogy is disingenuous.

[nightski]

If you could take a horse and teach it to become a unicorn, then I'd say yes.

[eli_gottlieb]

If you want a unicorn at any price and your business simply cannot deal with the fact that unicorns don't exist, then you suck and you deserve to fail.

I don't mean you in specific, but this is the simple fact about unicorn hunting.

EDIT to note: this does not apply in the mythical "Lake Wobegone"-like areas people are sure to point out to me, where I've heard that a full third of the population are unicorns ;-).