I’m curious how others are experiencing the entry-level dev market right now.
I’ve put real effort into learning & building a couple production-ready projects — not just tutorials, but things I've shipped. I thought that would move me closer to being “job ready,” yet applications still seem to go nowhere.
So I want to compare notes:
If you’re a newer developer with solid projects, are you also struggling to get hired? What feedback (if any) are you getting? Do you feel the bar has moved, or are we missing something important?
Would genuinely like to hear what others are seeing.
Top comments (10)
The struggle is not limited to juniors. In 2026, many developers report that they still get less job offers of project inquiries, no matter if junior, senior, proven skills or demos. Many customers are holding back their money and many investors seem to focus on hypes like AI instead of long-term sustainability. Networking is important and so is patience and perseverance.
Marketing and getting hired is not always a matter of diligence and merit. Sometimes people have just more luck, connections or a privilege or advantage you can't earn with any tutorial.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't build projects to prove your skills! If you have no customer projects to showcase, show a demo! If you have no full-time job or big assignments, do small ones, whatever you can get as a junior, but preferably something that matches your talents and prior knowledge and where you can possibly reuse your demo projects.
Thanks @ingosteinke. i am acknowledge with you. with 8+ years on freelance marketplaces, I’ve seen demand shift now i focus on bug fixes, optimization, and technical work steady jobs that match my skills. Demo projects are great for juniors, but yes start form small project is a best decision always.
I've never been successful through freelance marketplaces. The competition is brutal
Yes, after 2020, marketplaces grew significantly more competitive.
Thank you @ingosteinke for sharing
I think it depends entirely on your fame. If you're not popular, no one knows about you, so the demand for your work will be lower, lol, as strange as that may seem. IMHO.
Well, you're right but popularity on it's own won't really help.
For instance, I wrote a couple of posts last year on linkedin and posted them on my timeline and in groups and a number of them kinda went viral.
My first experience was in early last year where I got like 600+ impressions and a few comments (I usually don't get up to hundred)
The climax was when I posted about a video of an animation powered landing page I was working while learning GSAP. That one got about 6000+ impressions over like 3-4 weeks and over 70 likes and several comments.
But, apparently I didn't know how to leverage it and still don't cause I've not gotten a single offer.
So, popularity matters, but you need to know what to do with it
Honest take from someone who's been on both sides of the hiring table: the bar hasn't moved, but the noise floor has. There are way more applicants per role now, and a lot of portfolios look identical (todo apps, weather apps, e-commerce clones). Having "real projects" is necessary but no longer sufficient on its own.
What actually got me my first role years ago wasn't the projects themselves - it was contributing to an open source project that a company I applied to actually used. The hiring manager recognized my GitHub handle from a PR. That's networking without feeling like networking.
A few things that helped people I've hired recently:
The market is tough right now for everyone. Don't let it make you doubt your skills. Keep shipping.
@trinhcuong-ast Thank you for sharing.
I'd like to ask:
@trinhcuong-ast I believe the bar has moved.
Entry level frontend developer job postings used to demand
But when I finally learned those things, they're now demanding in addition to the above
Full Stack is no longer Frontend + Backend
It's now Frontend + Backend + Cloud/DevOps + AI
I managed to learn frontend and backend but you find every job posting say experience working with AWS like C'mon!