Anecdote: At the startup (now acquired) that I work for, we simplified the architecture so much that we spend under $3k a month in infra for tens of millions in revenues a year while having 99.9% availability for 5+ years now. I don't have any big name tech to add to my resume. The fact that we ran a e-commerce site with a low budget and few engineers was never recognized by recruiters. They called me based on my experience with "distributed systems" 8 years ago. All recruiters (well, most of them at least) can look for is keywords.
On the other hand, we also had difficulties hiring "good" engineers. People chose either a company with a brand name recognition or one that's working on "exciting" technology.
As engineers, we fail to appreciate that we are there to serve business first and foremost.
As leaders, we fail to put our companies first.
This is an industry wide problem. If past trends of other major industries are any indicator, the whole "meritocracy" of tech industry will disappear within the next decade.
On the other hand, we also had difficulties hiring "good" engineers. People chose either a company with a brand name recognition or one that's working on "exciting" technology.
As engineers, we fail to appreciate that we are there to serve business first and foremost.
As leaders, we fail to put our companies first.
This is an industry wide problem. If past trends of other major industries are any indicator, the whole "meritocracy" of tech industry will disappear within the next decade.