[janbernhart]

I've recruited developers for dozens of companies so hope I can give valuable insights. First of all, there's nothing 'wrong' with the 99 developers that didn't get hired. And in my experience, they will find a job somewhere else. A job that suits them (even) better, hopefully

Thing is, companies and jobs differ, and so do people. I've seen top performers from company A fail in the interviews at company B, and vice versa. Leaving both companies under the impression that the other company employs 'bad' developers.

Whether or not your skills+potential can be used optimally by a company depends on so much details, like cultural fit, to which extend you agree on their paradigms (methodology, problem solving ideas, prioritization, etc).

Long story short; companies are usually looking for the most optimal choice for their job openings, and so are applicants. This results a way more complex matching strategy that just 'could do the job'.

Perhaps John Nash can help us with optimizing these strategies. Until than, I think 1:50 to 1:99 ratio's are here to stay.