Agreed. We're pickier. I work on application that ditributes about 1E9 euros a year (so it's smaller than a bank but that's not exactly a small application either). We're maintenance-mode now. When I hire, I need : some who : - can actually code (many of the applicants can write code, but they don't know important things like : how does a hashtable work, recursivity, etc) - can write reliable code (i.e. ability to test, ability to imagine failure before they happen) - can write readable code (because you knw, we're working in a team) - can handle harsh customer (because when you fail, well, they're not happy)

believe me, we don't have millions of those ready. Many can code, but code in "real" life where you don't have luch room to learn from mistakes, well, there ain't many...