>or work outside the industry (and Silicon Valley)
There are plenty working in the industry outside of silicon valley there are more bootstrapped SaaS than before.
The young developers fed up of silicon valley looking for a family are a great snatch for these kinds of companies.
>All this talk about low wages seems to assume recruiters and employers are stupid
I think it's more about the combination of low wages and complaint about talent shortage, either is fine but both is pretty stupid.
>If they think they could make a higher profit by doubling the wage offer and thus hiring an additional engineer, they would do it.
Yup,which tells us that they are not really that concerned about the hiring of another engineer.
Again: Individual movements, individual market mismatches, don't disprove a talent shortage.
Your arguments only make sense if you assume the worth of an engineer to be virtually limitless, or else there is no shortage. That companies should ruin their business models by treating engineers like kings and handing them all the profits.
Unless they prefer to be unemployed, or work outside the industry (and Silicon Valley), their turning down a job offer because of too low compensation does not preclude a real talent shortage. Usually they are already employed at a wage that pays rent, right?
All this talk about low wages seems to assume recruiters and employers are stupid. But they aren't, for the most part. If they think they could make a higher profit by doubling the wage offer and thus hiring an additional engineer, they would do it. Stupidity or stupid greed is not a smart way to reject that basic economic imperative for an industry as a whole.