State of the software engineering job market in 2025
👋 Hi, this is Gergely with a subscriber-only issue of the Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter. In every issue, I cover challenges at Big Tech and startups through the lens of engineering managers and senior engineers. If you’ve been forwarded this email, you can subscribe here. State of the software engineering job market in 2025A deepdive into today’s tech jobs market, with exclusive data on tech jobs, AI engineering, Big Tech recruitment, the growing importance of location, and more
The job market feels pretty weird right now; software engineers applying for roles are finding it harder to get responses – while hiring managers tell me it now takes longer to fill positions even though overall recruitment is, confusingly, slightly up. So, what’s going on with tech vacancies? To learn more, I’ve spent the past month gathering new, never-before-shared data on tech jobs, and talking with nearly 100 leaders and experienced engineers who are actively hiring or job hunting today. I want to begin with a big thank you to the partner teams that contributed exclusive data points to this article:
Today, we cover:
Related job market deepdives:
In Part 1 of this mini-series we’re going to look into data points from the market. A follow-up article will analyze what hiring managers, recruiters, and engineers in the job market are seeing and saying – with extra details. Now, let’s jump in. The bottom of this article could be cut off in some email clients. Read the full article uninterrupted, online. 1. Tech jobs statsSlow, steady rise in vacanciesThe good news: the number of software engineering jobs posted by leading tech companies and startups seems to be slowly but surely increasing. Data from TrueUp:
Companies hiring mostPlaces with the highest number of open positions are mostly Big Tech companies, along with some other publicly traded businesses:
It’s unsurprising that Apple, Amazon, Oracle, TikTok, NVIDIA, Google, and Microsoft are hiring a lot, but a few names on this list catch the eye:
Senior-heavy recruitmentSomewhat unexpectedly, there are almost as many open senior positions as there are mid-level and entry-level ones. Usually, far fewer senior roles are advertised.
It’s also notable how much of a fall there is in vacancies above the senior engineer level. Perhaps this could lead to senior+ engineers applying for slightly more junior roles in the hope of getting uplevelled during the interview process. Public tech companies have most vacanciesIt’s not even a contest; most jobs listed on TrueUp are at publicly traded tech companies. Trueup scans leading tech companies: Big Tech, publicly traded businesses, and high-profile scaleups and startups. These are places that can pay at the top two tiers of the trimodal compensation model.
2. AI Engineering trendsAs we’ve covered before, AI Engineering is the hottest segment in tech, and the number of related listings keeps going up:
It’s easy enough for software engineers to become AI engineers: just build applications on top of LLMs! Recently, we shared seven cases of software developers who have become AI engineers by teaching themselves the skills, and this publication advises readers to consider doing the same. From my notes in AI Engineering in the real world:
San Francisco still “HQ” of AI EngineeringMost AI engineering jobs are listed for the Bay Area, in the US, and it’s not even close:
The Bay Area dominates AI Engineering listings. Around 1 in 3 related jobs on TrueUp are based there:
Companies hiring the most AI EngineersIf you’re looking for AI Engineering positions, these are the places that pay well and are hiring heavily:
Most common technologies for AI Engineering rolesMost open AI Engineering positions want applicants to be familiar with the AI Engineering stack, and to be hands-on with building LLM applications. An interesting metric here is the most-mentioned technologies in job adverts:
For more tips on how to get hired as an AI Engineer, check out the Pragmatic Engineer Podcast episode I did with Janvi Kalra, an AI Engineer at OpenAI. She had interviews with 46 AI companies, and shares how she moved from software engineer to AI Engineer at Coda, how she prepared for interviews, and researched workplaces. No single type of AI Engineering listingFrom analyzing 200 AI engineering jobs across TrueUp, here’s what I found:
Where are AI companies hiring from?The best way to get into top AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic is to work in Big Tech or at a high-profile AI company:
This data is pretty sobering; it’s a reminder that it’s easier to get into leading companies if you already work at one. To be fair, this makes sense, as when a company can hire away from Big Tech it usually means they pay the same or better than Big Tech does, and will likely prioritize hiring from such places. Pedigree remains important, and hiring statistics like the chart above speak to the fact that working for a high-profile employer makes it easier to switch to similar companies. 3. Big Tech hiring statsBig Tech hires engineers againLet’s start with the good news: Big Tech recruitment has been on the rise in the last 12 months:
Notable Big Tech trends:
Fast-growing companiesSeveral tech companies have been expanding their software engineering teams the past three years, much faster than others:... Subscribe to The Pragmatic Engineer to unlock the rest.Become a paying subscriber of The Pragmatic Engineer to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content. A subscription gets you:
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