This is mostly anecdotal.
Setting the context of my experience here, I’m a middle-aged LAMP* stack Web Developer living in the LA/OC (Southern California) area. I’d like to think I’ve been in the business for long enough to express a somewhat informed opinion. So, a lot seems to have changed, and a lot seems to have stayed the same. Here are a few things I’ve noticed…
Things That Haven’t Changed
Recruiters haven’t changed. They’re still not that helpful and will ghost you in a heartbeat, 99% of them at least. I can count on one hand the number of helpful ones. The job hunt for a programmer position takes months. Of course, if you have a good recruiter it could just take a few weeks, but a lot of stars would have to align properly for that to happen. In my area, Southern California, .Net is king. You want job security in this area? Learn C#.
Things That Do Seem to Have Changed
Remote postings up the wazoo, tons, tons more. Most of the applications I’ve been sending out are for remote. Ghost postings, I believe these were around back in 2019 too, but they seem to be a bigger deal these days. Fewer job board options. Used to be there was StackOverflow, SimplyHired, Indeed, Linkedin, and ZipRecruiter. Now it seems like most of the activity is on Indeed and LinkedIn. ZipRecruiter is still around, but doesn’t seem to get as many listings as the other two. StackOverflow scrapped their job board and just regurgitate Indeed’s listings, Glassdoor seems to just show Indeed listings too.
On Indeed and LinkedIn there are a lot of annoying filtering issues. For example, apparently the term PHP exists in healthcare as Public Health Professional, fancy that. Don’t they know it means…. either Personal Home Pages or…. Hypertext Preprocessor? Anyways.
Things That Might Be Different Due to Age
I’m passing way fewer ATS (Applicant Tracking System) filters. Some on listings that I feel I’m a near-perfect match for. I don’t know if they’re able to determine my age (not hard with everything being in my LinkedIn profile anyway) or what. I’ve only had a couple interviews since I’ve been back on the hunt.
Some Wisdom to Share
Sad to say, but recruiters are not your friends, don’t gush about whatever with these guys, you’re just another warm body for their commission. If you don’t have FAANG* experience on your belt then On-site/Hybrid is to your advantage. I’m starting to get the feeling these guys take priority in job placements over non-FAANG developers. Stay an employee long enough for you to get the hang of work environments and processes, but be your own boss. Employment is basically you being a work horse, always performing as best you can, and eventually being shot the minute your metrics go down.
In conclusion, it’s rough out there. Good luck to all!
*LAMP stack refers to the acronym (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP or Python) more here.
*FAANG refers to the acronym (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google). Microsoft should probably be in there as well. More here.