I'm over 15 years of experience, lost my job, and finding a job at 200k+ took months (Bay Area). I'm lucky and found something, but the market is totally different than it was 3-5 years ago. There is a lot of competition, and there are not a lot of open positions.
> I'm over 15 years of experience, lost my job, and finding a job at 200k+ took months (Bay Area)
Contrasting anecdata: I'm over 15 years of experience, started looking while employed, and got a 200k+ job in ~1 month. At an early stage startup in Bay Area. (this year)
I wonder what we did differently. My approach focused on why I'm a unique value prop to my target market following the "What have you achieved for what type of company/project" positioning statement formula.
Too many factors to really compare. Domain, interview preparation, networks, plain ol' luck. You found a startup as well which is a different mentality than a traditional company.
In my comparison, games is still falling in real time and I've found nothing full time for almost a year. But I also randomly got cold called for some part time work that keeps me afloat.
Niche might make a difference too, with demand and supply levels varying between them. Don’t know what the current market is like but in the past my experience has been that niches with higher barriers to entry see significantly fewer applicants (and thus, less competition per position).
It also may come down to silly factors like how nice was your shirt, when you interviewed? We in nerd-world like to think candidates are objectively measurable without bias, but traditional wisdom about how to get a job will always apply. Did one candidate have a better haircut than the other?
