A lot of the time, life intervenes. And a lot of the time, they say that just to shut their friends/family up about an issue.
Aziz talks about commitment-phobia, but on the other hand, one of the most frequently given personal growth advice I've seen in the last 20 years was: learn to say no. Stop trying to agree to every single thing someone proposes to you. I suppose they're flip sides of the same coin - say "yes" only when you mean it, and say "no" otherwise.
Not exactly relevant to this context, where the question is "[Why is there] simultaneous shortage and oversupply [of programmers for the EA movement?]".
People don't post job ads or tweet about wanting to work in EA because their friends and family are nagging them about it.
My answer to the question is that people have an idealized version of the person they'd like to be, and this differs from how much work they're actually willing to put in to follow through. This goes for both the people claiming to want to find work and the company (i.e. people) claiming that they're looking for someone to hire. In other words, there is a simultaneous shortage and oversupply because people are flakes.
- "I'm going to start working out"
- "I'm going to 'learn to code'"
- "I'm going to follow through on that thing from Craigslist"
- "I'm going to meet up for coffee"
- "I'm going to change jobs"
- "I'm going to find somebody to fill this job"
Aziz on flakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RbMv7HUiO4