There are simply very few positions for programmers throughout the country. That includes the Bay Area. As much as everyone wants to believe it isn't true, it's true. There's very little demand and way too much supply.
Programming is a losing profession, and if you're in it you should get out while you still can. Get into sales, marketing, and/or management instead.
For the last 10+ years of my working in the programming area, the only problem that I constantly observed everywhere was hiring good people. There probably was a time around dotcom crash when supply actually exceeded demand and nobody was hiring, but that passed quickly. Normally what I see and hear - internally, externally, in conferences, etc. is "do you know anybody good that does X? We're hiring". Maybe of course I'm living in a bubble but that has to be big enough bubble to accomodate significant number of people.
You can also see it in other way. Just look at the salaries - if supply exceeds demand so much, the salaries should be pretty darn low, right? It's better have low paid work than no work at all, after all. So, are they?
>That includes the Bay Area. As much as everyone wants to believe it isn't true, it's true.
Source? Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence (or at least some.) There is plenty of evidence that counters your claim. (To start with, craigslist.org/sof has 90 listings on Friday while in 2004 I remember when it had like 8.)
Then apparently we're the only company that has crazy number of openings and I personally talk to people every week that aren't what we're looking for.
As a developer looking for work, I am curious what you are looking for in your future employees. Looking at your profile and comment history gives me no hints.
Perhaps you have enough people to weed through that you don't want to post here and get a few more, but I know that I am not the only developer on HN that is looking for work. I'm also certain that other people would also appreciate knowing where to look for employers who have "crazy number of openings".
What hyper specialized positions are you hiring for that none of those you've interviewed can possibly fill? Did your job listing requesting a developer get answered by waves of auto mechanics?
To echo what others have said : are you sure you're not raising the bar to imaginary and unrealistic heights? You wouldn't be the first would-be employer to sigh woefully just because you couldn't find a mythical wizard-rockstar hybrid.
Maybe the problem is what you're looking for? All of these people you're interviewing aren't capable of being trained to do the job? They're just not smart enough for that or something?
Programming is a losing profession, and if you're in it you should get out while you still can. Get into sales, marketing, and/or management instead.