It's nearly impossible to hire good developers. Just as you've noticed. It's also really easy to find a job if you're a good developer and have the references

It's nearly impossible to hire good developers. Just as you've noticed. It's also really easy to find a job if you're a good developer and have the references and public-facing projects to prove it. It's the other 90% of the guys who have all the trouble finding jobs and who contribute to this sense that "there are no jobs out there". That's not actually true, but it may as well be for them. Shame too, since a lot of those 90%'ers are actually pretty good. They just don't have a ton of experience, enough good references, or a single big hit they've built that they can show off.