This is all very sensible as long as it's a buyers' market. What I get frustrated by is a sellers' market where the buyers gripe about how there are not enough qualified candidates. At that point, employers should be figuring out how to identify and cultivate inexperienced potential. I thought I had sensed some of this "there aren't enough qualified candidates!" hype in data science (for instance, that's the vibe I got from the article we're discussing), but the first-hand reports from people on this thread are making me think that probably isn't the case; that is, that people in the field feel that they can be very choosey and still fill their roles. If so, it seems to me that this is all working as intended.