Talented engineers shouldn’t have much problem finding another position even in this market (of course they should find one before leaving I’m not discounting family responsibilities and whatnot), so if your argument is they’re not able to leave and find another job then you’re essentially agreeing with the person you’re replying to.

But it wasn't a pig. It was a reliable system, and then it increasingly became an unreliable one, in a way that is not explainable by the mere increase in demand. Whatever rearchitecture was performed, it was done and is apparently being perpetuated by software engineers who should be held accountable. Not necessarily guilty, or even directly at fault, but accountable nevertheless. "I am just an employee of a bad company" is not a valid excuse for an engineer.

I've interviewed at many large tech companies including Microsoft, and Microsoft Azure was mostly a clown show. So, yes I judge the talent there. I'm sure there are some superstars that I'd love to work with, maybe I'd even work there and try to fix it for the right price, but god damn was it a stark contrast to other companies.

Yes google cloud is actively hiring.