Just to add some hope and a different perspective, we received 23 applicants for an entry-level or early-career software developer position when it was open for a couple of months in early 2025. This is about the same number of applicants we usually get for an opening.

Applicant count for similar positions by year:

  23 - 2025 (the position I mentioned)
  31 - 2025
  10 - 2019

The above are three jobs where I was on the hiring committee and are relatively recent. My organization is relatively well-known but also pays a little bit below market in general.

I do think the market is very rough right now for software developers. I also know for a fact that "attractive" hiring companies can get a crazy number of applicants for each opening. SAS was famous for getting 1,000+ applicants per job just after the dotcom bust in the early 2000's.

▲ ewoodrich 6 days ago | parent [-]

If you're willing to share, was this a remote or in-person/hybrid position? Which job sites do you list on (if any)?

	▲	clusterhacks 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		We have always been in-person or hybrid with staff mostly very local. Openings tend to pop-up on indeed, linkedin, and probably other job aggregator boards.