[simplyluke]

I do too, but I think it currently has a lot more to do with the quasi-recession we've been in since the end of ZIRP and AI is a better excuse to stop training juniors than telling investors it's belt tightening, just like layoffs.

I'm already seeing tech execs/hiring managers getting very frustrated at the lack of new-senior-engineers to hire. The market will correct for this in time.

[rogerrogerr]

Curious if you can share any backing information from your last statement? As a senior engineer (well, that's my job title anyway), I find it encouraging.

[simplyluke]

This doesn't break it down by experience, and I can't find specific data on that, but the recent spike in demand for engineers + subsequent drop in unemployment this year is well documented [1].

The demand for senior+ engineers has remained steadier through this downturn from my anecdotal observations, with new grads being by far the most negatively affected, but even that seems to both be shifting from talking to people a handful of years younger than me + CS enrollment has already precipitously declined [2] as the narrative that programming is dead because of AI has spread rapidly.

All that leads me to think it's going to be a junk-show over the next decade for people trying to hire as the pipeline was destroyed.

1: https://www.citadelsecurities.com/news-and-insights/2026-glo... 2: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/04/13/compute...