I guess any industry seems less esoteric if you're in the middle of it - to me it doesn't seem esoteric, there's a LOT of ASNs globally and they all need network engineers... Or other people who work in the various specialities in the telecom business.
I've never worked for a cellular carrier so as an example there's whole swathes of telecom stuff I only have a passing familiarity with.
But I suppose that software engineering in general, there probably are a lot more coders out there. At least judging by what I see in Seattle.
The isp community in and mid to large sized city is probably still small enough that most people know each other.
Could also be an aberration caused by the generally poor hiring practices used by these software companies. I have no idea what the talent pool actually looks like for these two industries.
I have noticed there appears to be a huge divide between the FAANG'ers and the FAANG'nots from my perspective. The smaller companies in the area, all generally know each other. Similar to your experience
The networking world is...weird. Very different from the coder world. I think it comes down to the fundamental truth that the network cannot fail while code can fail fast. Therefore, networking hasn't undergone the multiple seismic shifts that software has and tends to be populated with a more conservative cast of characters.
I've never worked for a cellular carrier so as an example there's whole swathes of telecom stuff I only have a passing familiarity with.
But I suppose that software engineering in general, there probably are a lot more coders out there. At least judging by what I see in Seattle.
The isp community in and mid to large sized city is probably still small enough that most people know each other.