I can't comment for the US as I'm based in the UK but I have been thinking about this problem from a recruitment point of view as I muse on long term directions for the company I work for.
I work developing applications in the engineering and CAD/CAM space for which we need engineers who understand vector maths and 3D geometry, memory/processing tradeoffs, multi-threading, C++ (for low-level and cross-platform components) and most importantly the ability to think in terms of systems and complex interactions between sub-systems.
I don't see this changing, yet the number of developers on the market in these sorts of roles is decreasing (especially at entry level) and the cost of employing those remaining seems to be increasing significantly.
We do have one working for us and this has worked out well. I think you might have a point in your use of the word "targeting" - it raises possibilities of advertising and targetted promotion outside of the normal channels.
Should be easy to test this with a small linked in ad campaign targeting people in games industry groups or working for EA. Other people you should look at are those working in film/sfx they are notoriously badly paid and fit your bill.
I work developing applications in the engineering and CAD/CAM space for which we need engineers who understand vector maths and 3D geometry, memory/processing tradeoffs, multi-threading, C++ (for low-level and cross-platform components) and most importantly the ability to think in terms of systems and complex interactions between sub-systems.
I don't see this changing, yet the number of developers on the market in these sorts of roles is decreasing (especially at entry level) and the cost of employing those remaining seems to be increasing significantly.