It's really not that easy a problem to solve and sometimes the suboptimal solution seems better than the alternative (which would be to hire nobody until we fin

It's really not that easy a problem to solve and sometimes the suboptimal solution seems better than the alternative (which would be to hire nobody until we find a good senior developer). Despite the fears of over-abundance of programmers driving down wages being around at least since I've started working, there is a shortage of good senior programmers. A lot of companies (many non-tech) need programmers these days, most programmers are not that great, most work is not that exciting but it still needs to get done. So it's also often not even about the cost of programmers but about their availability (for the price you can pay). Let's say you're running the internal software department at ACME Insurance and Customer Care Services in your average big-but-not-major Western European or North American city. You need programmers to develop and maintain your creaky Java Enterprise Edition + Oracle DB internal system that has been appropriately handling your insurance and customer care services needs for the last 18 years. At this point centuries of developer-years have been spent on this system and it's crucial for €/$ millions or revenue yearly that your company depends on. You can't offer the kind of compensation, prestige or interesting projects that the local FAANG development offices can offer to easily recruit great senior developers. What do you do?