My take is that for one reason or another (and I wouldn't count premeditated evil genius as high on the list of reasons), the FAANG and adjacent companies have

My take is that for one reason or another (and I wouldn't count premeditated evil genius as high on the list of reasons), the FAANG and adjacent companies have been hiring the developer equivalent of people to dig holes and fill them up for a few years now. Think about it - does Google really need teams of developers with something on the order of half a million in total compensation each in order to develop some new product that they're going to cancel in a year or two? Essentially, you've got an oligarch class in the US/World with more money than they know what to do with and it gets put to weird uses. Tech/VC seem to be the sexiest use of that money and so it gets directed in that direction and comes out everywhere. ZIRP exacerbates it. And it seems the end of ZIRP and other effects finally pop the bubble. What really sucks is when your family's healthcare is dependent on your employer playing the above game.