My Honest Thoughts On The Software Engineering Market In 2024

These are my honest thoughts on the tech market in 2024, negative and positive.

[PowderedToastMaaaan]

6 years of experience here as a front end developer. Got laid off in Feb of this year (~6 months ago). Since then I've applied to 961 jobs as of writing this. I've gotten around 20 interviews. about 20% of those I've gotten to final rounds, and haven't landed anything. It's ROUGH out there right now to say the least. I'll be perfectly, or just over qualified for the job and someone is out there that's just better than me. Good luck to anyone out there going through the same thing.

[mrmack]

Companies are also cutting cost by outsourcing to India, Pakistan, SEA. That's far more dangerous than AI.

[BigStupidTech]

No software channel wants to talk about this because it discourages people from even watching. Thank you for following the data where ever it leads ❤

[halbaloney]

In Canada, I got a Comp Sci MSc. I did ML algorithms for a living. Now, over a year later, I drive a van in the hopes that it delays/prevents me from needing to live in one. "Companies are still hiring" means nothing in an oversaturated market. Congrats on not needing to worry about it though 🥳

[georgioszampoukis]

I graduated in 2020 with an MSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering and since then I have been specializing in computer vision and machine learning. During the past 10 months I have been part of more than 20 interviews and the experience, simply put, is BRUTAL. For entry level positions, companies ask you to be an expert on your field and be ready to deliver at 100% from day 1. There is no onboarding period anymore, no room to adjust and grow. Also, they have raised job requirements to ridiculous levels. On top of asking you to be an expert (for an entry level ML position), they ask you to also know cloud engineering, MLOps, DevOps practices etc. One day, I politely asked one team lead if he knew all these technologies when they were applying for their first industry position, his reply was: "Absolutely not. It is brutal right now.". Take that as you may. From what I understand so far, there is no such thing as an entry level position anymore. All positions are senior level, they just put the "entry level" tag on some of them to justify a lower salary. Sad times.

[igerstel]

I've been a software engineer for 11 years now and this is the most depressing I've seen the market. Like, I've applied to 80 jobs and only getting a handful of even initial phone screenings over the past 2 months. It's wild.

[ElliottTheUnicorn]

instructions unclear, watched the first half only and gave up on life

[ericlee]

I’ve survived 4 phases layoffs that my company had in the past 3 years. Most who were let go were high paid seniors. Maybe being an underpaid junior isn’t a bad thing at times like this haha

[mermaidcodes]

I have 5 years experience in python and I remember few years ago when I was less skilled it was super easy to get jobs . I got phone calls as soon as I applied! Now I'm just trying to survive like a squid game . I'm so happy I started working when I was in college . It's almost impossible to get a job now

[jabroni-]

I've been unemployed for 10 months. Laid off twice in 2023. I have almost 8 years of experience. It's rough out there.

[milandean]

🎉

Got an offer from Apple just two weeks ago as an ML Engineer! Less than 5 years experience in the industry too, though I have a Master's degree. Be positive guys, there is a path forward!

[davi_singh]

🎉🥳 I am actually getting interviews now, got laid off last year and 1 year was brutal with hardly any interviews coming my way but this year and specifically from the last 2 months I have been getting way more interviews

[liviutimar]

I would also add that AI is flattening out. It’s been 2-3 years and it hasn’t replaced anyone. And not just software engineers, but also designers, videographers, doctors, radiologists etc.

[deckardpegasus]

I've been a software engineer for over 25 years. I started in the 1990's in a video streaming start up. After that I worked some years for another start up in the early 2000's that did mobile development for PDAs, Windows CE, etc. Then later on worked at another start up that made software products for television stations, then eventually ended up in government software job, etc.

Looking back, I can see the writing was clearly on the wall. In all the start up companies I worked in, there were very few developers, like 3 developers, and we were able to compete with extremely big companies. When the start up companies I worked for, started becoming successful, they began hiring more and more developers. Almost none of these new developers contributed anything in terms of new products, or even programming. They basically were just taking up space, doing.. I don't know what.

A few years later, I met one of my old team mates from one of the start up companies. He said shortly after I left, the company no longer did it's own software development, they gave up on it. And that they dedicated to buying up smaller companies and their software.
In summary, I don't want to sound "elitist", but for example, with a team of 25 developers, I saw that many 3 to 4 developers were doing 90% of the work, and the other 10% of the work was extremely easy maintenance, not even development.

Honestly, looking back now( hindsight is 20/20), I am not surprised at the state of the software industry, but rather I am more surprised that the party lasted so long.

[guitarmetalcovers]

Have 7 years of experience in web development and e-commerce fields and now I'm unemployed for 6 months already. Only couple of companies reply back to my application. The worst thing is not the competition and small amount of open positions, but the absolute unprofessional behaviour from some hiring managers and HRs. This includes not showing up on an interview on time, violating agreements and verbal promises, ghosting and most of the time no feedback whats so ever. And I am not talking about some startups or small organisations, I mean big brands and companies too. So frustrating and brutal, but the hope still exists and I wish those who seek a job to find it soon!

[harmo]

"FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN CONTROLL" . I personally think if companies start relying completely on AI, that will create problems that will require more software engineers to fix.

[LonelyRiderStonerBand]

if you want to be hired nowadays, you have to be pro in 20+ techs including AI (machine learning), those times when you’re a pro in react, coloring some buttons are gone. Plus there are at least 8000 competitors are desperate for a job as well, so it’s a great luck to get a job as a software engineer. I’ve been struggling to find a job for 8 months, gave up, got a TEFL certificate and now teaching English in Vietnam 😅🤦

[dnedya]

I remember watching your videos back in 2016 when I was like 12 years old and now I'm a cs undergrad! It was a serious struggle getting my first internship but I got an offer at fidelity and they've already offered me to come back full time, so it's definitely possible! 🎉

[Nocare]

I have 10 years work experience and get rejected by jr positions with pay competitive with pizza delivery in this market. I wouldn't go back to 18yr me and tell him to work his ass off to get paid scraps while also having to be a part-time salesman/politician. I'd tell him to be a plumber or welder where experience and expertise is more directly translated to compensation.

[ScreechOwlx]

Just quit my Amazon job, so one more job out there for someone who wants it