So what's the answer when jobs like this need to get done?
It may not have to be J2EE, but there are plenty of corporate jobs that have to get done to help build big company infrastructure, and if much of the talent that was available now has more attractive options, is the only answer to escalate salaries? Or to hire in shorter-term contract developers?
Well, if good engineers don't want anything to do with your opening at the compensation you're offering... increase the compensation.
And, honestly, change the position so that the person hired isn't considered just a cog in management's plans, who's expected to be on call 24/7 and to put in 50 hours a week in a windowless room. I wouldn't go back to that shit even at double my current salary.
Agreed. The reason people put up with soul crushing jobs like investment banking is because the compensation makes up for it. Granted, most people in those kind of jobs burn out after a few years, but you anticipate that when taking the job. I have several friends doing the "make tons of cash while young, move to easier job in 5 years" career choice.
Corporate America IT jobs have all the soul crushing without the reward.
It's not really burn out, it's the management cabal that likes to keep the body count high. There's a lot of mildly desperate people who really forced their way up into unstable career positions, and natural genocidal tendencies peek out every now and then. It's innate human behavior. History's purges were not by accident.
It may not have to be J2EE, but there are plenty of corporate jobs that have to get done to help build big company infrastructure, and if much of the talent that was available now has more attractive options, is the only answer to escalate salaries? Or to hire in shorter-term contract developers?