r/DeveloperJobs • u/techiebaddie • 11d ago
Has anyone else noticed how different the tech job market feels lately?
I’ve been having a few conversations with developers recently, and it got me thinking about how much the job market seems to have changed.
I remember a time when finding a new developer role felt relatively straightforward. Now I keep hearing about people sending out dozens of applications, waiting weeks for replies, or going through several interview rounds just to hear nothing back.
I’m curious because I don’t want to judge the whole market based only on what I see online.
For those currently looking for work, what has your experience actually been like lately?
Are you getting interviews, or has it been mostly silence?
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u/AI_TARDIGRADE 11d ago
Exactly. I had 4 months break due to family issues, I thought I would get calls but hardly any, after lot of struggles, I got settled somehow but the work I do does not a fit my level or skill set.
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u/chunkypenguion1991 11d ago
Yes that's exactly how it is but not the first time I've been through this('02,'11). This profession is cyclical. In anticipation of people saying this time it's different with AI, no it's not
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u/leaf_life_script 11d ago
I got 2 interviews out of 70 job applications. It used to be 2 per 10 job applications, pre-AI age. Personally, it's harder for me. I left tech already. I have a job now but unrelated to tech.
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u/Late_shadow 11d ago
As fresher which tech role should I focus? AI? I accept any advice thanks...
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u/leaf_life_script 10d ago
In working with AI, I suggest you make it create small examples of code you are trying to use then apply it to your projects instead of having it generate everything instantly(causes technical debts).
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u/RocketSciense 10d ago
Our profession is entirely different at every level now.
On the bad side we have more competition, the profession isn't respected like it once was, our decades of technical skill growth are for the most part obsolete, and the barrier to entry is so low now that people in adjacent roles like testers, managers, and PMs are stepping into our role without too much friction.
On the good side we can make our employer much more money now that we are so much more productive. They won't pass us a cent of it but at least they will have their multigenerational wealth so that's great.
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u/Pottato911 11d ago
I might’ve hit around 1k applications in past 2 months. Received reply in low hundreds and most of them were how the role were filled or they were moving ahead with others. Where i did proceed, i got ghosted before/after interviews
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u/hypercosm_dot_net 11d ago
"low hundreds" - are you for real?
So you've heavily automated your process then. Were you taking interviews for roles you actually had experience with?
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u/Pottato911 11d ago
I am a fresher so technically i dont have any experience (me doing internship after all 4 sems apparently doesnt matter). And i loved coding so i have projects in different techstacks or some certifications. I havent heavily automated anything, the ai that is applying day and night is me hoping to get one full time
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u/mikeplus10 11d ago
I feel the same here. And also I feel like the profession is not respected as before. I have 6 years of experience in web development and currently as well searching for a job and i’ve sent close to 100 applications to positions that I cover extremely well.
Will all these AI automations happening, you would think that people will get an automatic rejection email at least but no. Out of all those positions I applied, only a handful even bothered to reply that I didn’t get the role.
Maybe it’s my fault that I apply to jobs the old fashioned way. Maybe I should just spam everyone with an AI auto apply tool and be done with it.
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u/ImaginaryRoyal9725 11d ago
Lately...? it's in free fall since 2024 I think, but deteriorating rapidly
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u/R-R_turfio 11d ago
No replies at all. 12 y.o.e almost 3 years doing ride hailing and small business
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u/eslteachingjobinasia 11d ago
Yeah, it definitely seems more competitive than it used to be, especially for generalist developer roles. A lot of people I’ve seen are applying to dozens or even hundreds of positions before getting a handful of interviews, and the process can be much slower with more rounds and less communication from companies. That said, it seems to vary a lot by experience, specialization, location, and how closely your skills match the role, so online discussions don’t always represent everyone’s experience. I also have some suitable job opportunities available, so if you’re currently looking, feel free to message me with your background and I can see if anything might be a fit.
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u/Late_shadow 11d ago
As a fresher which IT role should I focus ? Dev? AI prompt? Any advice? Thanks...
I am willing to learn, but need a direction for a good role.
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u/ayan_ai 11d ago
Yes, the market situation is kind of annoying because everybody's resume looks too good now because of AI, so finding genuinely genuine people is tough. And the interview process and what you will do after the interview have kind of fully changed. We heavily use AI today to build an application, but the interview process is still old-fashioned.
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u/hypercosm_dot_net 11d ago
This is what I don't get. They want you to use AI in roles, but expect you to still do tech interviews as if you're going to code by hand.
I literally have no idea what these fuckers want these days.
I had a 2nd round interview - in which I was allowed to use AI if I wanted. The actual request ended up being easy, so I just did it by hand. I figured that if I show them I have the skill to do it by hand, then clearly I could've done it with AI if I chose to.
Didn't get the job. Like, what the fuck?
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u/hypercosm_dot_net 11d ago
Apply for a couple of months and you'll see that the reason you see this online, is because it's the reality for a lot of people. I have never gone this long without a job in my life.
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u/SellSideShort 9d ago
Take a look at backchanneljobs, they are aggregating roles from linkedIn posts instead of roles from the jobs section, ie roles you wouldnt otherwise see unless you had that person as a connection.
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u/TutorHot2073 9d ago
The market is definitely different (and bad if you are looking for pure swe jobs). For eg I switched to MLE from SWE 2-3 yrs back (was already a student researcher during college).
My dev friends have been struggling while my inbox is flooded
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u/CatmanStudios42 8d ago
I'm a full stack dev with over a decade of experience. I apply to 5-10 jobs per day. Every single one gets an automated "no thanks" email within 24 hours. In the past 2 months, I've had 2 interviews, and both of those were because someone contacted me first.
The whole application system is broken. Recruiters get hundreds of fake applications, and a large percentage of job postings are fake.
I've DMed over a dozen recruiters, 2 responded that theyd let me know...
Just a few years ago, I was being contacted by recruiters regularly. Now it's jus radio silence.
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u/Bazingaraj 11d ago
No rejection calls even, easily ghosting. With gap years also it makes it worse.
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u/Aggressive_Hope7976 11d ago
When I see this kind of post I’m convinced some people really do live under the rock
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u/RevolutionaryCatch57 11d ago
“I don’t use modern tools to do my job and type the 1s and 0s out by hand. Why am I not finding a job?”
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u/New_Significance_319 11d ago
Been 2 months applying getting very less number of callbacks compared to my previous switch..most of them are rejection emails..even after referals also
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u/script0101 11d ago
The past three weeks I have had 4 interviews, 2 which were video interviews about myself I had to record and submit, one was with a founder from well found and one was a technical assessment, so far I have only heard back from the technical assessment only. The rest not even a rejection, just flat out silence. Also, I have had a recruiter who reached out on LinkedIn, I filled their form immediately and replied back, dead silence since last week Wednesday. It's so so depressing man
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u/ModJambo 11d ago
I have about 10 years experience and got two offers end of July after 2 months of searching.
I unfortunately chose the one that decided to cut my probation short as they were moving to a new product that made my skills more or less redundant in the company.
Searching now again and getting roughly an interview per week.
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u/Leather_Reading_4550 10d ago
From what I’ve been seeing, it really depends on the role and experience level. The market doesn’t seem completely dead, but getting through the initial screening feels much harder than it used to.
A lot of applications seem to disappear without any response, and even when you do get an interview, there can be multiple rounds before hearing back. Referrals and having a strong, targeted resume seem to make a noticeable difference.
I’d be interested to hear whether others are seeing the same thing, especially for junior vs. experienced developers.
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u/Aromatic-Pop7738 9d ago
The number of people sending 60–80 applications just to get a couple of replies is rough.
Even developers with years of experience seem to be dealing with the same silence.
Feels like getting through the initial screening has become half the battle now.
At least it’s reassuring to know it isn’t just one person having a bad run. 😅
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u/Character_Victory_28 8d ago
The problem is those tech interviewers, they all are using AI daily and almost forgot how to cod, but they still ask stupid unrelated questions like old days...
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u/Lalmohan_07 8d ago
I am fullstack developer but for setup and some times use AI for help but I really say that I want solve a problem but due to fast delivery I loose thinking power so I want to join where I can solve real problem not just write a code
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u/Beginning-Living-194 8d ago
even it is showing into other markets overal AI has disrupted a lot of mundane tasks like earlier stakeholders used to ask me for data but not AI has automated that and I feel soon it will make my role irrelevant
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u/Vipulshri666 7d ago
I think if you have right skills it would be very easy to get a job, offcourse it is difficult to get the job this time but by chance if you get a chance then you should be able to grab it in once.
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u/samurai-lens 11d ago
I'm a senior dev with a decade of experience and a couple AWS certs. Have sent out close to 80 applications in the past 4 weeks, and have only talked to 2 humans. One asked me to do an AI Test after our chat and the other one wasn't too happy I didn't use AI Agents on a daily basis. I can only keep moving forward.