What’s the current mindset split in the tech job market, and how does it impact hiring?

With 5 open roles in Sofia for DevriX, the job market is polarized between applicants “vibe-applying” during the slow and cozy corporate WFH market and “riding the wave” of intrapreneurial action-taking.

☯️ Taking 4 days to respond vs. “here’s my phone number” in 30min via DM

☯️ Off from Fri through Mon vs. Saturday 11:30pm follow-up questions

☯️ “No idea what you do” vs. “I found discrepancies between 2 landing pages and a typo on a 3rd level internal page”

☯️ “Let’s sign and figure it out” vs. “We need at least 2 strategy meetings to go over day-to-day scenarios and align on possible paths”

☯️ Pushing for flex hours and remote vs. insisting on 5 days developing teams and collaborating on initiatives with others

I remember the tech market going back to around 2004, and actively interviewing from 2006-2007 onward. The early epoch of IT when this was a poorly paying industry recovering from the dot-com boom.

The evolution to “this is trendy” and hundreds of bootcamps and academies spawning from nowhere.

The Great Recession and the rough market until 2010-2011.

The slow recovery after.

Rising of the powers from 2016 to 2019, with VC funding and the golden age for many businesses.

Pandemic turbulence with winners and losers 2020-2022, with businesses going under while others grew 2X.

The downfall of VC funding withdrawal, return to office, layoffs, AI augmentation in thousands of orgs.

People in their 30s or 40s have gone through most of these cycles and connected to a certain feeling – clinging on to work-life balance or pushing forward to mitigate the next big downfall. It’s more polarizing than ever, and reflects strongly on the hiring market on the other side.

Great time for highly proactive individuals eager to ride along the new wave, and a waiting game for those left in WFH corporations with limited revenue contributions back to the business.