self correction my a$$ after the bomb, women have had a much harder time getting hired for the available jobs. everyone is back to wanting the stereotypical geeky white 30 yo male

because in 2001 hiring practices after the dotBomb reverted to stereotype. Back in 1998/99 hiring managers did not care about gender, race, age, or a jillion other "filter factors" because they just needed people too badly to be picky using such faulty criteria. Since the layoffs that happened in 2001, hiring managers have used all of those filters to reject applicants. Many women have left the field out of sheer discouragement.