Fair. I'm not suggesting he should focus on being amusing in interviews - just that soft skills have value and sometimes in surprising places. Time invested in them is unlikely to be wasted. Time spent grinding leetcode not so much.

His milage may vary; my main message is that we're still in the inflationary universe stage of professional computing so despite the current undeniable demoralising blip a career change is unlikely to be a good idea for someone who enjoys it.

I should also add that someone who spent 10 years in a role before taking an extended break is a much more interesting prospect than someone with lots of long gaps. They sound like they should be front of the queue when things warm up again.