Back when I was really, really at the top of my game, when I was really an experienced and skilled coder, I couldn't find squart, or was considered a hardcore unemployable for some unfathomable reason. You make a few valid points, but overall I have to disagree with the thrust of your thesis. Fundamentally, those doing the hiring are clueless, which is why so many frauds get hired, and the real programming talent is filtered out.
Recently, the local news wondered if the Seattle area would have more tech startups with ensuing local Microsoft layoffs, but with their established pattern, it is far more likely that the market of patent trolls will grow.
It used to be that the hotshots would leave a well-established startup to begin their own startup, but they aren't hiring the real talent anymore, just offshoring jobs and importing foreign visa scab workers. They have destroyed the pattern of amortization at the cognitive level.
