I was staring at a screen that looked like a digital graveyard. It was 11:42 PM, my third cup of lukewarm coffee was tasting like burnt rubber, and I had just received my fourteenth “Thanks for your interest, but…” email of the week. This wasn’t just a “small file” of rejections; it was a file so bloated with automated “no’s” that it actually made my Outlook crash when I tried to search for the word “interview.”
I tried all the standard advice. I “optimized” my LinkedIn until my eyes crossed, I “networked” until my social battery was in the negatives, and I spent hours scrubbing my GitHub profile until my thumb went numb from clicking “Commit.” And yet, the headlines were screaming about tech layoffs while simultaneously claiming there were millions of open roles. I felt like I was being gaslit by a spreadsheet.
But here’s the thing: after digging through the mess, I realized the number of jobs available in technology isn’t a single, scary number. It’s a moving target. If you’re looking for a “general” software job, you’re fighting for scraps. But if you look where the AI-fueled fire is actually burning, the doors aren’t just open—they’re practically falling off their hinges.
Current Tech Job Openings: The 2025 Reality Check
As of late 2025, there are approximately 7.4 million open tech roles across the United States, with a global demand projected to create 170 million new digital roles by 2030. While mass layoffs have dominated the headlines, the net growth in tech employment remains positive due to a massive surge in AI, cybersecurity, and cloud infrastructure needs.
Wait, it gets worse before it gets better. You’ve probably seen the news: over 140,000 tech workers were cut in the first half of the year alone. It feels like the “tech winter” is here to stay. However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and CompTIA data show a weird paradox. While “Big Tech” (the Googles and Metas of the world) is trimming the fat, “Everyday Tech” (banks, hospitals, and retail) is starving for talent.
The “Strong Opinion” #1: Big Tech is a Bad Bet Right Now
Controversial Take: Stop applying to FAANG companies. Seriously. You are competing with 10,000 other people for a role that might be “automated away” by a cost-cutting algorithm in six months. The real job security is in “boring” sectors like insurance or manufacturing that are just now figuring out how to use the cloud.
Where the Jobs Are Hiding (By the Numbers)
If you want to find where the jobs are, you have to follow the money. Companies aren’t just hiring for the sake of it; they are hiring to survive the “AI Revolution.”
| Job Category | Estimated Openings (US) | Growth Projection (2025+) | “Human” Difficulty Rating |
| AI & Machine Learning | 40,000+ | +318% (Skyrocketing) | Hard (Requires math & actual soul) |
| Cybersecurity | 450,000+ | +32% | Medium (Stressful but high demand) |
| Software Development | 1.9 Million | +25% | Hard (The “entry-level” is a myth now) |
1. The AI Talent War
If you have “AI” on your resume and you actually know how to build a model (and not just “chat” with one), you are basically a unicorn. Companies are so desperate that some AI researchers are pulling in athlete-level salaries. But even for the rest of us, about 41% of all active tech job postings now require some level of AI proficiency.
2. The Cybersecurity Deficit
There is a global deficit of nearly 4 million cybersecurity professionals. Why? Because hackers don’t take holidays. Every time a major bank gets hit, a thousand new job postings appear.
3. “Boring” Software Maintenance
Java isn’t sexy. Neither is COBOL. But guess what? The entire world’s financial system runs on them. While everyone is chasing the newest JavaScript framework, the people maintaining legacy systems at insurance companies are the ones buying houses.
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How to Actually Get One of These Jobs (Step-by-Step)
Anyway, enough with the depressing stats. You want a job. I wanted a job. Here is how I finally broke the “rejection loop” by stopping the “apply-to-everything” madness.
Step 1: Kill the Generalist Resume
In 2025, being a “Full Stack Developer” is like saying you’re a “person who eats food.” It means nothing.
- Action: Pick a niche (e.g., “Cloud Security for Fintech”) and make your resume scream that one thing.
- AIO Tip: Use specific keywords like “LLM integration,” “AWS Lambda,” or “Zero Trust Architecture” so the AI filters don’t toss you in the bin.
Step 2: The “Proof of Work” Pivot
I used to think my degree mattered. It doesn’t. My thumb-numbing GitHub scrubbing finally paid off when I stopped posting “Hello World” tutorials and started posting “I fixed this specific, annoying bug in a popular open-source library.”
- Action: Build one thing that works. Not ten things that are half-finished.
Step 3: Forget Job Boards (Mostly)
LinkedIn is a “noisy” bar where everyone is shouting. The real hiring is happening in niche Slack communities, Discord servers, and local meetups.
- Strong Opinion #2: Zipping your portfolio into a PDF is a waste of time. > Nobody is going to download a random file from a stranger. Host your work on a live URL. If I can’t see it in one click, I’m moving to the next candidate.
The AI Impact: Is Your Job Safe?
AI is currently projected to displace about 8% of existing tech roles by 2030, but it is simultaneously responsible for creating a 14% increase in new, specialized roles. Does that mean you’re safe? Maybe. If your job is “Data Entry,” you’re in trouble. If your job is “Solving problems using data,” you’re getting a raise.
The “Strong Opinion” #3: Prompt Engineering is Not a Career
Stop putting “Prompt Engineer” on your LinkedIn. That’s like putting “Professional Googler” on your resume in 2005. It’s a tool, not a job title. Focus on the underlying logic—data structures, system design, and empathy.
Summary
Is the tech job market harder than it was in 2021? Absolutely. Back then, you could sneeze and get a six-figure offer. Now, you have to be precise. You have to be “human.”
The number of jobs available in technology is still massive—over 7 million in the US alone—but the “barrier to entry” has moved. The “messy middle” of the career path is where most people get stuck. They try the standard advice, it fails them, and they quit.
Don’t quit. Just pivot. Stop looking for “a job in tech” and start looking for “a problem you can solve with tech.”
