Data collected from Oct 6th, 2023, until today. All data collected by me.
Applied to 61 job offers on different sites (LinkedIn mostly, but also some minor Spanish job sites). All of them were for Django or Python backend developer (asking for Django, FastAPI or Flask), mostly mid/senior level, but some of them even were for junior level, just in case.
Yeah. Today I read an article saying last year there was a huge increment of layoffs on IT, and “75% of companies can’t find what they are looking for”, so I guess they’re looking for slaves. Or someone who can read the job application emails.
They only want senior developers (and probably for the price of junior developers).
Yes. Today I had the last interview (before accepting the current one), and they offered me less money, for a job position where they require +4 years of experience. Well, I’m almost there, but the top salary they want to pay is just high for a junior…
Especially larger companies are sometimes structurally unable to effectively hire people.
I’ve been involved in the hiring process of a large company (>100k people at the time). The process goes something like this. The team lead needs a Java dev, announces that to the department head. DH whips out the standard dev requirements, these include some technologies that the department doesn’t use anymore, and some the department may would like to use in the future.
That shebang goes to HR. They fluff everything up, add some aspirational stuff, like AI, so they sound more interesting.
Obviously, nobody fits the bill, HR will throw out anyone who doesn’t confuse them enough with lies or jargon.
And even if you do get through, internal politics might get you. We had a pretty good candidate once, who was highly competent and had experience in teaching and training junior devs. He interviewed with two teams. My team gave him good grades, but we suggested that the other teams, full of fresh graduates, might profit more from his teaching experience. That was turned into “they don’t want him”, even though we explicitly said, he’s a good hire. He didn’t get the job. Absolute shame.
Most companies structure layoffs so that they retain as many high skilled workers as possible. That means that in times like these the market is awash in underperforming candidates. Finding good hires can be even harder than normal.
Makes sense.