Why NO ONE is hiring junior developers

#layoffs #softwareengineer #programming

This video is sponsored by Brilliant.

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It's a tough job market for junior software developers in 2024. After the gold rush days of 2022, we have seen so many layoffs hitting every company out there. But, in this video, I'll go over what's happening in the industry, what you can do to gain an advantage in getting hired, and why I'm very optimistic about 2024 and the software developer market recovering.

[catherinelijs]

The first 200 of you will get 20% off Brilliant’s annual premium subscription.

[funkenjoyer]

Great thing bout programming is that you can just do projects yourself and have a pretty impressive portfolio without having to work in any company and while that wont replace "commercial experience" it will give you w big edge over all of the ppl in the same situation who didn't spend all of that time coding their own shit. And dont wait with it, start while in uni or before, the sooner the better

[keifer]

I started learning to code a little over 2 years ago. Been trying to get a job for about 1 and a half. I built several projects, got my CV checked, went to networking events etc. Dunno why I haven't given up yet. Honestly about time

[HE]

I drive a bus. Thus, I don't worry about things like oversaturation, getting hired with a company, getting laid off, getting taken for granite and stuff like that! And I get to travel, meet great people and everything else!

[rc]

Capitalism has achieved its goal: making a lot of people become developers to drive down wages.

[stevenvallarsa]

That was a great succinct analysis of the current developer job market. One thing that wasn't touched on was the change in the tax code this year that no longer allowed companies to depreciate developers' salaries in one year anymore. This is also why developers make so much less in other countries as compared to the US since other countries never allowed this. And why large American companies were so eager to shed developers last year.

I've experienced a downturn in entry-level dev jobs since 2019. I graduated from a C# bootcamp in June 2019 where only one out of the eight in the class had a job lined up before the end of the course, when the previous cohort of six month prior had six of the eight graduates getting job offers before the end of their course.

I thought by now I'd be a senior dev, but instead I've been a support engineer for the past two years, and my current job supporting internal applications for a very large company is tremendous fun and pays way more than I deserve. But it's not the dev job I set my heart on when I jumped to this career path five years ago.

[ChristopherBrooks-kwkh]

I seen recently where someone got out of boot camp and landed a senior position but I’m pretty sure in order to land that position you have to know the skills required to land a senior position, reason why I’m learning both full stack developer and Senior developer that way I will know most of everything to be able to put myself ahead. What really attracts employers is if they can hire people who have a very determined mindset and who speaks differently. If you out here speaking like others they will not even bother. You have to be different mentally it’s a must. If you have a lot of confidence but don’t know everything that’s great because truth is a humble soul who don’t know as much but has that self determination will win most of the time.

[TPITEOTG]

I saw what juniors do, in a top banks, OMG, they use any chance to over engineer simple things to feel important and famous, they learn OOP and then they design Map<A, Map<B, Map <C, Bar>>> instead of using composite index <f(A, B, C), Bar> and so on… needless to mention most of them don’t know difference between TCP and IP… I was not like that when I just started 120 years ago!

[DiscomongoEGE]

I recently got hired as a junior dev. Although this is in germany. But since trends in the US tend to swap over to europe, maybe I am one of the last lucky ones

[username-sihw]

But what if you have to choose between building your portfolio and putting food on the table doing completely unrelated work? Both have opportunity costs.

[hunterbidenafterlife]

The most demoralizing aspect of my junior job hunt over the past six months is the stark reality that I haven't met a single hired junior developer. Despite attending 1-3 networking events each week and interacting with countless early-career developers, not witnessing any success stories firsthand has been incredibly disheartening. Meeting just one junior dev who was able to successfully land a job would provide legitimate proof that breaking into the tech industry during these times, is at least POSSIBLE. However, that hasn't been my experience. It sends a clear message that breaking into tech as a junior developer is highly improbable until there's a significant industry recovery.

[Jenkkimie]

When I started my software engineering studies, the markets were still relatively booming. Companies were seeking out juniors for summer jobs and longer if they could make up a deal. Back then you did not even have to be a graduate and you could get a full-time job before even getting your degree ready. Now it does not matter if you have a degree and 2-years of experience. Most companies are only looking for senios with 5 years or more experience in the industry. But it's not the tech companies per say, it's that the markets have shifted towards client based system and tech companies are unable to persuade their clients to look past job experience and instead focus on individual talents.

[stzi]

Well, you experience now what I experienced in 2005 when I started. It sucks big time, but even this will pass. You will NOT get your favorite paid job, but a job you gain experience in. Then, later, after let's say 2 3 year company hops you are finally in.

[mariaortiz]

I started a software engineering internship last September. I graduated in January. I've applied to over 400 jobs. Still unemployed and I've only done had 5 interviews. I've networked, I've talked to people. I've done everything 😞

[linusl]

I am sick of influencers and content creators completely ignoring this and acting like everything will be okay. Tell that to developers like me who have been applying for months believing these people without getting a response. Every application has at least 100 applicants. Just because layoffs are down doesn't mean hiring is better, it just means there isn't movement. All the old bs of just know one language and do coding questions and you're fine. So sick of it.

[lavendercode]

You make some really good points! Thank you for making this video. (I hit the subscribed button 😀)

[navvolcy]

That’s why I just Apply as a mid level engineer. You are never gonna now everything in software engineering but working hard and diligently helps

[olafbaeyens]

Stay away from big tech companies, waste of time and energy to work for them.
Group together create your own projects from scratch. just don't use big tech tools like github, jira, nugets, linux, ....
Create your own from scratch. it is way easier than you think.

Focus not on teamwork in project but individual projects just like GenX did back in the 1980's.
Learn coding at processor level, learn C, learn assembler.... build your own drone, build your own robot train your brain to create stuff out of nothing..

[visioninspiresgrowth]

I’m going to give my opinion on something that I think is making more since nowadays. I feel like yea learn coding and become decent at it just enough to get it but I see recently where someone graduated from boot camp and landed a senior position. But I feel like in order to land a position like that you have to learn about that position as well in order to land a senior position because it requires different skills that’s needed then a junior developer. I searched it up on what is needed to be a senior developer and it even said you don’t got to be the best coder but you have to possess leadership skills and skills that are required to be able to talk to a client and understand what they are looking for. I posses most of those skills already cause I had to learn them as an entrepreneur so learning how to problem solve just enough and code as well is all I’m focusing on. I feel like you can do as many projects as you want and still don’t land a job. So it’s good and all that most people are learning how to code really fast and everything but what else can you bring to the table that a company can look at you as a long term investment rather a short term one. See the experience is tricky because when I started out welding at 19 years old out of tech school with no experience I still ended up landing a job 100k a year with no experience at a young age even though yea someone might of put in a word I still had to pass a test that showed I had the skills to work in a dangerous environment every single day. I think what it comes down to is the mindset you have as a person. You have to step in any interview with a side about you that separates you from everyone else from the jump. Knowing how to code will not do it alone.

[ozgeavci]

because it costs money to train people, and late stage capitalism is incentivizing squeezing as much money as you can from everything and anything