I'll grant you it isn't a perfect market. From the employer side, there's what you shared, as well as the fact that SWEs, like most employees, are not fungible commodities.
From the employee side, there are definitely non-monetary factors that play into the sale of labor as well. And H1Bs (in the USA) or other legal restrictions also impact how labor is sold.
However, would you dispute that there is some level of free market for software engineers? I think there's some level because:
* people can switch jobs (except as legally restricted above)
* companies compete for talent (as indicated by the rise in salaries from 2020-2021 and the AI hiring frenzy now)
* you can have an oversupply of labor (as we're seeing in other areas of software in 2024)
Those all seem like aspects of a market, if not a perfect one.
From the employee side, there are definitely non-monetary factors that play into the sale of labor as well. And H1Bs (in the USA) or other legal restrictions also impact how labor is sold.
However, would you dispute that there is some level of free market for software engineers? I think there's some level because:
* people can switch jobs (except as legally restricted above)
* companies compete for talent (as indicated by the rise in salaries from 2020-2021 and the AI hiring frenzy now)
* you can have an oversupply of labor (as we're seeing in other areas of software in 2024)
Those all seem like aspects of a market, if not a perfect one.