Growing tribe of jobless techies is stuck in Silicon Valley's new reality

5/19/2026 at 6:11:27 PM

This piece is more optimistic than reality, imho. As an older worker, without BigTech on my resume or a four year degree, I'll probably never work again in the industry, barring some lightning strike.

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.

by mixmastamyk

5/19/2026 at 6:35:28 PM

Hiring 2-6% of applicants?

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.

by caminante

5/19/2026 at 9:22:25 PM

Could have been a number to make us feel better, or perhaps post-spam filter.

by mixmastamyk

5/19/2026 at 9:40:29 PM

The upside: the SV area will have a very tech-savvy homeless population! (if not already... dunno I don't live there)

by RetroTechie

5/20/2026 at 4:03:25 AM

Young American, whether job seekers on in employment, don't understand that their greatest power is their power to vote, and organizing themselves to use that power properly ability and using it properly is the way of improving the condition of their country and themselves.

by vfclists

5/19/2026 at 7:14:58 PM

If we go by history, ambitious elites without a good direction is grounds for a revolution.

by simianwords

5/19/2026 at 11:23:44 PM

Prior revolutions (American, Cultural, French) were all put into action by young, strong, people.

We don't have that anymore. It won't happen. There's no one coming to save us.

by John23832

5/20/2026 at 6:17:57 AM

Every generation thinks the next is lazy or whatever. It’s universally wrong

by danny_codes

5/20/2026 at 3:59:32 AM

[flagged]

by big_youth

5/20/2026 at 12:55:24 AM

So what are tech people supposed to do? LOL

by the_real_cher

5/19/2026 at 6:39:41 PM

Every startup under the sun is hiring decent software engineers. If you cannot find a job right now as a software engineer with experience, that's on you

by cglan

5/19/2026 at 7:31:48 PM

I (50 Something AI Specialist) interviewed with 2 startups recently.. both passed -one said I was too qualified.. the other that I was too CTO type.. basically 20 somethings wanted other fellow 20 somethings -despite my AI experience.

I'm working with 3 other startups, but work is contract based, no healthcare and flaky..

by AIorNot

5/20/2026 at 8:03:03 AM

Maybe you came off as too far above the grind? People that have recently been in more VPE/director type roles often don’t succeed at returning to IC work (or at least, hiring managers believe this).

by grdjjhgggg

5/19/2026 at 6:45:54 PM

Probably if you have their exact experience requirements and willing to go to an office in San Francisco. Then you need to do the leet code thing and if your lucky get picked from the final candidates and get a low ball offer.

by tayo42

5/19/2026 at 6:42:09 PM

Yes, with wages from 6 years ago.

by bellowsgulch

5/20/2026 at 12:43:32 AM

It beats homelessness, right?

by jerlam

5/19/2026 at 8:53:53 PM

Startups are low pay with lottery tickets. 90% or more will fail. Technically jobs but not the right ones.

by quantified

5/19/2026 at 11:09:37 PM

They've been all the best ones, in my career; and I have no idea what you mean by "low pay", unless it's merely "not the very tippy-top highest pay". Which is fine: there's more to life than just money.

by marssaxman

5/19/2026 at 11:27:43 PM

Startup's have famously traded pay for the "carrot" of outsized returns on equity. The pay always sucks.

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.

by John23832

5/20/2026 at 2:45:43 AM

This comment seems like 15 years outdated to me. I'm curious what you think "normal" pay and "startup" pay are. Or maybe how early you're drawing the line for defining "startup".

Being in the first handful of non-founder startup employees at some seed stage company is probably not the most lucrative thing, but once companies are post Series A, as far as I can tell they tend to be comp competitive with bigger companies.

Obviously not many companies can compete with Meta or Jane Street for salaries, but that's true whether you're talking about a startup or the majority of the S&P 500 companies.

by Newlaptop

5/19/2026 at 11:42:49 PM

This is really SDE pay coming back down to earth. You're still making way more than even most white collar jobs at a startup.

by yunwal

5/19/2026 at 7:15:19 PM

First the thing I liked had changed, then they took it away and it wasn't even mine anymore... or however the meme went. Enjoy maybe three remaining years of your career :)

by lifestyleguru

5/19/2026 at 8:56:09 PM

[dead]

by q931