I don't HN is reflective of all the jobs out there. There's tons of C work at places like Apple, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, Ericsson, Lab126,and so on. And then there are plenty of smaller companies doing hardware things like cameras, augmented reality, and so on, though this kind of work usually requires an intersection of things like computer vision and embedded work.

You will, of course, greatly expand the possibilities if you include C++ or Objective C in your search. I know plenty don't like C++, but many places treat it as C with the modularity that C++ classes sort of provide, plus the standard library, so it is pretty nice to work with.

These languages sometimes receive dismissive comments on HN, but the work is often fantastic. I'm at a C++ shop, and my days are filled with linear algebra, nonlinear optimization, computer vision, AI, HW interfacing, and so on. But then there is the bootstrapping problem that you mentioned.

Look to companies that aren't based on the web. Applications - databases, security/virus scanners; hardware - tablets, augmented/virtual reality, drones, automation&control automotive (entertainment systems, self driving cars, control systems). You may be able to get into this stuff by being strong in something else "I'm strong in Javascript, but also know C", get hired to do mobile work, and then stretch out and start learning the stuff you need to interface with hardware. Don't take job reqs too seriously. Places often have a laundry list of requirements, but it is hard to find help, and if you have something that they want you can usually explain that their requirement of, I dunno, Unity or Qt is pretty silly, as you can pick that up in a week or two.

Certainly HN who's hiring threads are going to be weighted towards startups and smaller companies, and especially web and mobile companies, with less emphasis on hardware.

That said, it does occur to me that android allows you to write native c/c++ code and link it to your java program. You'd think there would be more people looking for that.

A lot of the C programming opportunities come in firmware development. It doesn't all require working with kernel modules or EE. Think of things like Nest, fitbit, etc. You could get an ARM microcontroller board and build up some gadget with it to see if the work interests you.

At Oracle we use C extensively on the database-related products.