I've sat in front of enormous piles of resumes, desperately hoping that one candidate in 10 might be able to code fizzbuzz or reverse a linked list. Yes, the ca

I've sat in front of enormous piles of resumes, desperately hoping that one candidate in 10 might be able to code fizzbuzz or reverse a linked list. Yes, the candidate pool is awful on average, but this is a survivor effect—the good candidates tend to get hired, and a handful of unqualified candidates keep spamming their resumes. But as an economist once told me, the market clears. If you're realistic about the market price, you can absolutely hire qualified people. That's practically the definition of "market price." Price signals work; when programmer salaries get ridiculous, plenty of competent people take an interest in programming. You can save money by offering other benefits, hiring outside Silicon Valley, being better at evaluating candidates than your competitors, not discriminating based on age/gender, or by figuring out how to work with talented remote experts. But you have to make an interesting offer if you want talented people.