I think you actually have hit the proverbial nail with the hammer. I've seen firsthand the terrible talent pool, at least here in the south-west US. We've done ourselves a disservice trying to get everyone and their brother to become a programmer because...economy! and more accurately, I want more money.
They haven't hit the proverbial nail with the hammer, they've hit the railroad spike with a sledge; IMO it's 100% about your environment and the demands and obligations your development team has against it's own obligations to deliver. I'm not going to say microservices are the cornucopia, smoking gun or even smoldering slingshot, but much of the dissent in this thread seems predicated on the idea that they are the end result and not merely an optional path to take for desired outcomes of deliverability.
