It's hilarious because companies use such scammable ways to define who is "top 0.1%"

Also there's a ton amazing engs out there who want and need work but the companies all only want that one "perfect" guy (or gal), as if such a thing exists

I've seen a lot more employed shitty devs than I've seen unemployed amazing devs. In fact I don't know a single competent developer who has trouble getting work.

This is in Norway, maybe it's different elsewhere.

My observation of the situation in Germany is different: I know quite some quite skilled developers who have/had quite some trouble getting jobs.

The other hand, the bad developers (impostors) who easily found jobs were typically sycophants. On the other hand, many highly skilled developers were rather more stubborn (they can't stand bullshit), very honest, and not "corporate politicians".

There’s low correlation between success and ability once you hit a baseline.

There’s an element of chance, and stuff like leetcode is just a veneer of science over a vibe based process, which conveniently scopes out management culpability. Personally, I think it’s hilarious that Silicon Valley types have essentially enshrined civil service exams for hiring.

> Being a good developer and being a scammer are completely uncorrelated variables.

One could expect good developers to be less inclined to fraud as they may not “need” it as much.

That also made me thing of Berkson’s paradox: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkson%27s_paradox

If these were really independent traits they would look negatively correlated as we talk about people who are good OR scammers.

It's not about need, it's about beating the system. The "hack".

The “need” of beating the system. Good developers may or may not have a lower deficit of “it”.

IMO being a good corporate developer is not very correlated with being a good "hacker" (finding ways to exploit systems). They may be correlated a little but not very. Being a good startup founder is probably correlated with being a good hacker, much more than being a good corporate developer is. Startups have to find and exploit niches.

Exactly. It's so bleak that this industry throws integrity out the window in the name of productivity.