1 in 10 'Entry Level' job postings that state an experience requirement asks for 3+ years. 43% ask for 2+. 'Entry level' stopped meaning an experience level. It means a salary band.

For every 'Junior Developer' posting last month there were 17 'Senior / Staff Software Engineer' postings. The ratio was 40:1 a year ago. Where do the senior engineers of 2030 come from?

Companies hire recruiters before they hire anyone else. Recruiter / Talent Acquisition postings doubled as a share of all postings between May 2025 and March 2026: 15 → 31 per 10,000. Recruiter hiring is the leading indicator nobody charts

The AI engineer pay premium is a myth. US posted salary ranges: Software Engineer: $141K – $208K AI/ML Engineer: $145K – $214K That's 3%. The premium isn't in the band. It's in the equity and the bidding war after the offer.

11,889 active job postings ask for "startup experience." 950 of them are internships. The requirement filters out people who would thrive at a startup and lets in people who happened to be at one. Screen for the behavior, not the logo.

There are now more job postings with 'AI' in the title than 'Software Engineer.' 315,861 vs 293,089 active listings. Two years ago AI titles were 0.1% of postings. Today 1.9%. Every company became an AI company. In its job titles, at least.

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