Anecdotal, but I just went to PyCon and about 1/3 of the dozens of folks I talked to are looking for work. The "job fair" was everyone playing charades, there are still a hundred people for every position. One said they were hiring 2-6% of applicants. At least the lunch was nice.
That sounds high, not to be dreary, but given how easy it is to spam and roles having thousands of applicants.
There's about 10M in US tech jobs and the forecast for net job adds is +2% in 2026 so the number on a macro level checks out.
We don't have that anymore. It won't happen. There's no one coming to save us.
Most people do not want to work for subpar pay in the one of the most expensive areas in the US. Especially when you're getting diluted off of the cap table as happens now. You're always ending up behind.
That's before considering people with actual life responsibilities.
I'm working with 3 other startups, but work is contract based, no healthcare and flaky..