How is the market for developers with 10+ years of experience?

by bwestergard on 2/7/2025, 5:38:53 PM with 9 comments
I've seen quite a few posts to the effect that finding a developer position has become increasingly difficult over the past two or three years, following the tight labor market conditions of 2022.

But I have a hard time reconciling those posts with my own experience. Many of my friends, who have been in the field for around the same amount of time, don't seem to have any great difficulty finding positions. Recruiters still reach out regularly.

Has the job market for developers really declined overall? Or has slackening demand hit certain types of role (e.g. frontend) or experience bands (junior/mid)?

https://www.axios.com/2024/07/18/rise-and-fall-of-software-developer-jobs

  • by mech422 on 2/7/2025, 7:10:01 PM

    I've noticed a _surprising_ number of jobs coming thru linkedIn - way beyond the typical Q1 uptick...

    Enough that I'm wondering how many are actually real, as opposed to ghost jobs, scams, etc.

  • by proc0 on 2/7/2025, 5:59:36 PM

    I'm seeing a lot of postings for 5+ years of experience, so it doesn't seem that bad. That said I'm not applying unless it's a great fit, so I'm not yet aware of how much competition there is (I've just begun looking the past month or two). It does seem like there are many more applicants than openings, but I would certainly not want to be a junior or mid level right now, especially with how AI is changing things.

  • by andrewfromx on 2/7/2025, 5:58:58 PM

    I think the answer lies in this tweet I saw here:

    There's a new kind of coding I call "vibe coding", where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists. It's possible because the LLMs (e.g. Cursor Composer w Sonnet) are getting too good. Also I just talk to Composer with SuperWhisper so I barely even touch the keyboard. I ask for the dumbest things like "decrease the padding on the sidebar by half" because I'm too lazy to find it. I "Accept All" always, I don't read the diffs anymore. When I get error messages I just copy paste them in with no comment, usually that fixes it. The code grows beyond my usual comprehension, I'd have to really read through it for a while. Sometimes the LLMs can't fix a bug so I just work around it or ask for random changes until it goes away.

    Embrace vibe coding and sell yourself as a Software Maestro of AI

  • by scarface_74 on 2/9/2025, 8:49:50 AM

    Don’t believe the job postings. Every job opening gets literally 1000 applications within the first few hours. It’s almost impossible to stand out from the noise.

  • by rhelz on 2/7/2025, 6:45:51 PM

    Better than the market for programmers with 20+ years of experience, that's for sure.

  • by almosthere on 2/7/2025, 5:43:49 PM

    Are you looking for in person or remote?