Ask HN: Programmer Job Crunch in SF?

1 point·mbenjaminsmith··4 comments

I caught a couple of mentions in recent threads about people having a hard time finding a programming job in the Bay Area. Is this a growing trend? I don't pay attention that closely but I've understood programmers to be in very high demand in the Bay Area for a number of year now.

If so, can anyone comment on the underlying factors that my be causing this? Enough supply now? Fewer jobs? Outsourcing?

View on HN

I haven't seen it amongst my friends (who, admittedly, are usually Googlers). Nor do I hear it from startup founders I've talked to, all of whom have complained that it is ridiculously difficult to hire good engineers.

It's possible that it could be that there are more marginal devs moving out to the Bay Area without many skills because they hear the pickings are good. If you can't program, you will find it hard to find a job as a programmer regardless of how good the market is. But anyone who's got a couple years of experience - or even if they don't, if they've done an iPhone app or a webpage as a hobby project - seems to have many options available.

> all of whom have complained that it is ridiculously difficult to hire good engineers.

Thanks. I guess I was mostly wondering if that trend is changing.

More context needed. An iOS engineer will spend different time on the market than a .NET developer.

Thanks. Yeah, I don't have anything really substantial to add. I was just connecting some dots and wondered if there was an underlying trend.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com