Bingo to this. The sad part of the engineering world is that most companies are looking for that unicorn developer that just so happens to have used their exact tech stack. Oh and they also need to be able to optimally solve CS problems on the spot in a high pressure, time crunch situation.
So anecdote time. This is my one experience talking to management all the way up to the core "founding" members of a company I worked at once. They were trying to hire rapidly during a heavy scaling period of the company. However, the skill set they needed (actually required in this case) to run their new locations was indeed looking for unicorns. These people existed (I was one of them), but the ones they managed to find who also passed their interview process declined offers. I understood why - the market had shifted a lot and even with a subset of the required skills, these people could find higher paying, less stressful work. The value prop of the potential options also had significantly fallen.
I had multiple conversations where I brought this up, yet for some reason, those in the founding group simply did not believe me. Who would turn down the chance to work at a hot startup? They had joined for far less and during far more stressful conditions. What's being offered now should be more than enough, right?
I came away from those meetings and that company learning that some founders don't realize that unicorns, like themselves, are often the type to do exactly what you said rather than join them.
Bingo to this. The sad part of the engineering world is that most companies are looking for that unicorn developer that just so happens to have used their exact tech stack. Oh and they also need to be able to optimally solve CS problems on the spot in a high pressure, time crunch situation.