Comment by nickpsecurity

There's a large number of people who might have the skill. Tech companies have been laying people off, too, which increases the talent pool. That lets them be picky. If patient, they'll get a better employee.

On the other side, techniques recruiting is getting harder. They've long had to deal with applications that have nothing to do with the job, by people with no experience, and people who can't code. Now, AI's might be writing applications or sample code. On busy sites like HN, they might also just get many applications. Even a reasonable, hiring manager might have difficulty trusting an application enough for an interview.

Those are my two theories for most of it. Others include companies prioritizing culture fit, status, or job adds that are schemes. Some of these happen in other places.