Tech Jobs Are Coming Back — But Not for Everyone

After several difficult years for technology workers, there are finally signs that parts of the tech job market are growing again. But there is a catch: the recovery looks very different depending on how much experience you have.

New data from Indeed Hiring Lab shows that U.S. software development job postings have risen by almost 15% since late February 2025, even as overall job postings declined during the same period.

That sounds like the beginning of a tech hiring comeback.

Look beneath the headline, however, and the picture becomes much more complicated.

Yes, Software Jobs Are Recovering

For much of the period following the pandemic technology boom, software developers faced a dramatically weaker hiring market.

Companies that had expanded aggressively during the pandemic cut hiring, reorganized teams and, in many cases, announced large layoffs.

Software development job postings fell much more sharply than the wider U.S. labor market.

The more recent data finally provides some evidence of a reversal.

Indeed Hiring Lab found that software development postings increased by almost 15% from the launch of Claude Code in late February 2025 through its 2026 analysis period. Across the wider U.S. labor market, overall job postings fell by around 7% over the same period.

Importantly, this does not prove that AI coding tools caused the rebound. Indeed explicitly cautions against interpreting the timing as causation.

But it does challenge one of the simplest versions of the AI jobs story: that better coding AI would automatically mean fewer software development jobs.

The Biggest Problem: Most of the Growth Is Senior

This is where the recovery becomes much less encouraging for people trying to enter the industry.

According to Indeed, 71% of the increase in software development job postings between May 2025 and May 2026 came from senior roles.

In other words, companies are posting more software jobs again — but much of that new demand is for people who already have significant professional experience.

That distinction matters.

A recovering market for senior software engineers does not automatically create an easier job market for graduates, bootcamp participants or developers looking for their first professional role.

The Entry-Level Path Is Getting Narrower

LinkedIn's research on the U.S. software engineering market reaches a similar conclusion from a different dataset.

The company reports that entry pathways into software engineering are tightening. A smaller share of recent computer science graduates are beginning their careers directly in software engineering, while more are moving into adjacent occupations.

LinkedIn also found that entry-level software engineering hiring did not participate in the rebound seen in the broader market at the end of 2025.

At the same time, LinkedIn cautions against blaming the entire slowdown on artificial intelligence.

Software engineering hiring has broadly moved with the wider technology labor market, suggesting that interest rates, economic uncertainty and the correction following pandemic-era overhiring remain important explanations.

AI Is Showing Up Inside the Recovery

While AI may not explain the entire hiring slowdown, it is clearly shaping the jobs that companies are now adding.

Indeed found that 37% of the increase in software development postings between May 2025 and May 2026 came from positions mentioning AI in the job title.

The senior and AI figures overlap — they should not be added together — but together they reveal the direction of the recovery.

Companies appear particularly interested in experienced developers who can work in AI-heavy environments.

Fresh Hiring Data Suggests Tech Is Gaining Momentum

More recent LinkedIn data provides another encouraging signal.

In August 2026, hiring in the U.S. Technology, Information and Media sector rose 8.1% from July, according to LinkedIn's September Workforce Report.

Compared with August 2025, hiring in the sector was also slightly higher, at +0.5%.

That is notable because U.S. hiring across all industries remained 6.5% below its level one year earlier.

Technology is therefore beginning to show signs of relative strength even while the broader labor market remains subdued.

But This Is Not Yet a Global Tech Boom

The recovery is also uneven across countries.

Indeed found that software development's share of job postings has been rising across several large developed economies since 2025.

But there are notable exceptions.

Germany and France had not shown the same software-development rebound in Indeed's cross-country analysis through June 2026.

That means candidates should be careful about treating a U.S. technology recovery as evidence that every tech market is improving at the same speed.

What This Means for Entry-Level Candidates

None of this means that new graduates should abandon software development.

But the route into the industry is changing.

When fewer employers are looking for candidates whose main value is executing relatively routine development tasks, new developers need other ways to demonstrate that they can contribute.

So, Are Tech Jobs Really Coming Back?

In some parts of the market, yes.

Software development job postings are rising again. Technology hiring showed renewed momentum in August. AI-related technical roles continue to expand.

But calling this a broad return to the hiring conditions of the previous tech boom would go too far.

Software postings remain well below their pre-pandemic level. The recovery is disproportionately concentrated among senior workers. And the traditional path from computer science degree to junior software engineering job has become less straightforward.

The result is a tech labor market with two seemingly contradictory realities:

Companies need technology talent again — but they are becoming more selective about what that talent looks like.

For experienced developers with current AI and cloud skills, that may create new opportunities.

For people trying to get their first job, the recovery may take longer to feel.