It took me 200 applications to land my job, and I think the rest of everyone I know who’s a decent programmer had similar situations. The bottom line is that everyone has employment and only had to move for it if they’re taking a high (120k+ TC for entry level) paying position. This is “falling of trees” compared to any other industry. Being able to land a middle class job directly in the field of your education with…
Not the OP, but your definition of "falling off trees" and mine are very different if it took 200 applications to land a job. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just saying I would never use that expression to describe it.
I really do feel for those without a decent network.