Around 4 million employees left their jobs in July 2021. Most of them are senior developers. If pandemic didn't cause it, who did?

One reason is the ridiculous entry barriers put by tech companies — even in the smaller and mid-sized firms.

• All companies (regardless of size and paycheck) make competent developers go through grueling 4–7 rounds of interviews.
• A verifiable track record is overlooked, while CVs filled with adjectives top the stack.
• The whiteboard interviews test reproducibility of the solutions, not the actual understanding.
• The verbal interviews (+personality tests) are formulaic, and one can rarely get past them without lying about their careers.
• Instead of one competent developer, companies hire 3 inexperienced programmers who are ready to jump the ship within 2 years, leaving huge tech debt for the next troubleshooter (mostly senior) guy.
  There is also rampant ageism in tech. And age-discriminated programmers are those without any representation. Their only way to raise their voice is to revolt, and quit.

As a result, senior and competent developers (age group 30–45) no longer want to join another company. They want to roll out their own business.