Form my own POV you’re correct. The market is good, salary offers I get are normal, everything I see looks like the pre-2020 market to me. A lot of these reddit CS subs are full of kids who are either still in college or graduated into the hiring frenzy, so their perceptions are pretty skewed and they tend to catastrophize.

Plus, one weird lowball offer and a weird “explanation” from some recruiter isn’t indicative of a trend.