Developer hiring and the market for lemons
I think the author is talking past Joel to some extent. Joel&#x27;s emphasis is not on good developers not changing jobs, but more about the fact that they very seldom go through a traditional application process of sending in a cv to a hiring manager. Instead, these people &quot;travel as fast as beer&quot; when they&#x27;re looking for a new position - they mention it to a friend or colleague who has a beer with someone else who sends over a job offer.<p>It can seem paradoxical that companies are saying that they can&#x27;t find people to hire, and even with the tech boom there are developers who can&#x27;t find jobs (at least ones that they are completely happy with), but this is because a huge percentage of CVs on desks are from people who have needed to  take the time to send off job applications, and are often therefore representative of the not &quot;great&quot; developers.