You're right up to a point, but I've seen far worse red flags. Like companies that can never acquire these heroes in the first place because no one competent would work there that long.
As somebody else mentioned, these companies end up regularly throwing millions at consultant projects that always fail. In other words, they pay a hefty premium for shitty temp "heroes" that give them less than employee heroes would have given them.
You see this a lot in the traditional finance sector, where managers don't appreciate tech workers and relentlessly fuck themselves over trying to save a dime.
Yeah, somewhat counterintuitively treating tech as a cost center will inevitably lead to wasted funds. But hey, that just makes incumbents die faster and give way to organizations treating tech as an investment. Which are the ones you want to work for as a tech person anyway.
As somebody else mentioned, these companies end up regularly throwing millions at consultant projects that always fail. In other words, they pay a hefty premium for shitty temp "heroes" that give them less than employee heroes would have given them.
You see this a lot in the traditional finance sector, where managers don't appreciate tech workers and relentlessly fuck themselves over trying to save a dime.