Ask HN: Is the Job Market Actually Bad? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market Actually Bad?

#11

Post by alephnerd » Sat, May 02, 2026, 5:44 PM UTC

benchwright wrote: post #8

"Bad" is relative. It can be more difficult in compressed markets where talent is either in surplus (read: SV, Dub, etc) or where there's a distinct lack of enterprises/startups/whatever providing the surface layer. Given some of the retraction of "warm feelings", esp. re: US contractors in other countries circa American imperialism these days, it can also have a chilling effect on localized markets. But, this is all…

> It can be more difficult in compressed markets where talent is either in surplus (read: SV, Dub, etc)

The Bay Area hiring market is extremely hot right now. Most of my peers who have been laid off and people I have laid off landed on their feet within weeks with Base+Bonus being comparable to big tech and some startups giving all-cash TC comparable to Netflix during it's peak.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market Actually Bad?

#12

Post by tbojanin » Sat, May 02, 2026, 5:45 PM UTC

benchwright wrote: post #8

"Bad" is relative. It can be more difficult in compressed markets where talent is either in surplus (read: SV, Dub, etc) or where there's a distinct lack of enterprises/startups/whatever providing the surface layer. Given some of the retraction of "warm feelings", esp. re: US contractors in other countries circa American imperialism these days, it can also have a chilling effect on localized markets. But, this is all…

> Given some of the retraction of "warm feelings"

Why do you say this? Is this coming from personal experience, or anecdotally?

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market Actually Bad?

#13

Post by subhobroto » Sat, May 02, 2026, 5:49 PM UTC

There's no monolithic "Job Market", so specific details matter. I have not been tracking details too closely but here are two things I am tracking:

- CRUD generation by running through JIRA tickets and clearing backlogs seem to be replaced by agentic workflows. So if you were an extremely productive dev who would machete your way through CRUD and API integrations, agentic workflows do it better, faster and for cheaper. I can point CC, Codex (Cursor in progress) at design specifications and it can turn those into perfect Django apps with well written test cases like there's no tomorrow. It might not make sense for such a business to continue to hire humans to do the same work

- Tokens for frontier models over the API are really expensive. I am personally aware of some companies that have monthly high five figure token expenses and one company that has a monthly six five figure token expense.

It's still worth it because they are churning out code 24x7 vs a typical human's 8x5 if you're putting in the right workflows, guardrails in place - that's a 4x productivity gain.

You're getting done in a month, what a full quarter would require humans to do. However, the company still has to pay for that and unless they are signing up 4x more paying net new customers every month with 0 churn, engineers have to be let go to pay for those tokens.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market Actually Bad?

#14

Post by idontwantthis » Sat, May 02, 2026, 5:50 PM UTC

abirch wrote: post #6

I think geography and industry will have a large influence on the job market.

I get contacted by recruiters for remote (USA) jobs in all kinds of industries, mostly not ones that I have any experience in.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market Actually Bad?

#15

Post by tayo42 » Sat, May 02, 2026, 5:51 PM UTC

You didn't give a lot of info

How much are you getting paid?

Going into the office is important too, are you in sf?

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market Actually Bad?

#16

Post by briga » Sat, May 02, 2026, 5:51 PM UTC

Totally depends on where you are and your past experience. Being in the US puts you at a huge advantage compared to just about anywhere.

Maybe you're just lucky.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market Actually Bad?

#17

Post by idontwantthis » Sat, May 02, 2026, 5:52 PM UTC

briga wrote: post #16

Totally depends on where you are and your past experience. Being in the US puts you at a huge advantage compared to just about anywhere. Maybe you're just lucky.

I have been wondering if my LinkedIn just happens to hit all of the right content somehow. I've been afraid to post or change anything just in case I upset some secret balance!

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market Actually Bad?

#18

Post by idontwantthis » Sat, May 02, 2026, 5:53 PM UTC

tayo42 wrote: post #15

You didn't give a lot of info How much are you getting paid? Going into the office is important too, are you in sf?

I'm not in SF. I'm making mid $100k and interviewing for remote jobs in the $170k+ range.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market Actually Bad?

#19

Post by yolo3000 » Sat, May 02, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

alephnerd wrote: post #7

It isn't. As someone who has made hiring and firing decisions at the Board level, the people who are the most severely affected were either (in no order): 1. Working remotely in North America but demanding Bay Area salaries without the chops to justify it. 2. Working in Western Europe (they complain more about stuff irrelevant to the business but shy away from business critical decision making when offered the opport…

Why do you even hire in Europe when the smartest people are in the Bay Area?

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market Actually Bad?

#20

Post by sputknick » Sat, May 02, 2026, 5:56 PM UTC

I've been looking for 4 months and only had one phone screen from HR. Cybersecurity in Raleigh, my last employer was MAG 7. My particular problem is I took off 6 years to be a stay-at-home parent.