mrborgen

According to data from FRED, US software development job listings are up 10% YoY from Feb 2025 to Feb 2026.

In the same period, overall job postings are down 5.8%.

I find this striking as these two graphs have directionally mirrored each other since 2020. It's only the last year they seem to be diverging. (Software jobs both rose and crashed harder as a consequence of the ZIRP/covid era, but if you squint the two graphs are quite similar).

This is quite the narrative violation, as software is one of the professions most often assumed to be eaten up by AI. But it looks like there's just so much software to build and maintain that the software dev job market is healing faster than the overall job market.

I'm curious to hear what you all are seeing on the ground? Have hiring at your companies started picking up since last year?

Sources: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/IHLIDXUSTPSOFTDEVE https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/IHLIDXUS See both graphs side-by-side for Feb 2025-Feb 2026: https://x.com/twitter/status/2025890393166917857

Hey HN,

I'm Per from Scrimba (YC S20), the code-learning platform.

There's been a lot of talk lately about whether AI tools are causing skill atrophy amongst developers. We get a front-row seat to this, and we see more and more students struggle with basic concepts, and building apps on their own. This is almost always a consequence of relying too much on ChatGPT and vibe coding tools.

So we built a small side project: https://devatrophy.com

It's a test of your core web dev knowledge — no handholding, no back rubs, no AI autocomplete. Just you, your brain, and 10 questions. There are three levels (Noobie, Le Chad, Hardcore), and the questions cover HTML, CSS, JavaScript, databases, and Node.

You’ll get a score at the end, plus a downloadable certificate for bragging rights (or public shaming).

Would love for you to try it and tell us what you think. And would be curious to hear if you're feeling any signs of "dev atrophy" yourself, or in your team?

PS: Ironically we decided to produce it by vibe coding on V0. Oh the irony.