I don't think it's reasonably up for debate that MegaCorps especially (which still hire the vast majority of the total dev pool) don't use talent as efficiently

I don't think it's reasonably up for debate that MegaCorps especially (which still hire the vast majority of the total dev pool) don't use talent as efficiently as they might. And it's not like there's a static pool, either. Hire enough developers at a high enough salary and people will be drawn to the profession. You'd be surprised how many spreadsheet jockeys are basically doing programming already, albeit in a roundabout fashion and a sketchy language/environment, and can be converted into "real" developers in relatively short order. EDIT: Here's an idea: take a group of actuaries (ie, people with quantitative skills, pre-screened IQ and diligence, and exposure to some sort of programming environment) and offer them jobs if they teach themselves Python on their own time. They'll even take a pretty rigorous test at the end if you ask them to; they're used to it. Their salary data is here: http://www.dwsimpson.com/2013_Actuarial_Salary_Survey.pdf http://www.dwsimpson.com/2013_Actuarial_Salary_Survey.pdf Do you think you might be able to hire developers for those kinds of salaries? I'd think so.