[illusiveman]

I'm in the process of considering a change, still not actively applying, but I do get several LinkedIn DMs every week from first party recruiters. I don't work with third party staffing agencies.

There is a common theme: they are looking for leadership roles with active contribution and with deep expertise in the tech stack used by the company.

So, where's the issue here? IMO, the market is saturated with generic software engineers, that is, people who can code, who are good at leetcode, but who really don't stand out of the crowd in any particular technology. That's your typical FAANG engineer. And don't get me wrong, there is a lot of talent in FAANG, but most engineers commit to the grinding to join and then just coast through.

And related to that, there is the unrealistic expectations game. As others have mentioned, people in FAANG were living in their own bubble of unreal financial compensations. Now that the bubble exploded, some have unrealistic expectations that decline even high offers just because it's not what they had before.