Compendium Edition
All-Time Record
Apr 2011 → Jun 2026

A decade
of hiring.

Every Who's Hiring thread on Hacker News, parsed and counted - from the launch of the index in October 2015 through the latest publication. The longest continuously-measured record of technology hiring on the open web.

Total Postings · All Time
223,712
jobs · across 183 monthly threads · 16 calendar years
Peak Month
2,528
JUN 2021
Trough
0
DEC 2011
Mean / Mo
1,222
σ ± 639
Threads Indexed
183monthly
Countries Seen
52iso
Skills Tracked
371distinct
Comp Samples
19,851parsed
Peak Year
202127,782
§ 01Decade in Motion

Three eras, one curve.

Postings12-mo trailing avgn = 183 months
Pre-PandemicBoomCorrection2,5281,8961,2646320201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026PEAK - JUN 20212,528 jobsTROUGH - DEC 2011 - 0
Era I · Pre-Pandemic2011 → 2019
126,113jobs · 105 mo

Steady seasonal cadence; January troughs and mid-year highs. Median month 1,395.

Era II · Boom2020 → 2022
66,839jobs · 36 mo

ZIRP-fueled hiring blitz. Volume cleared 2,500/mo for the first and only time. Records: many.

Era III · Correction2023 → Jun 2026
30,760jobs · 42 mo

Layoff cycle, AI consolidation, slow re-acceleration. Volume now sits ~72% below the 2021 peak.

§ 02Year by Year

2021 stands alone. Everything else lives in its shadow.

2,897
'11
5,209
'12
6,594
'13
10,022
'14
16,790
'15
18,420
'16
21,217
'17
23,387
'18
21,577
'19
18,004
'20
27,782
PEAK
'21
21,053
'22
9,301
'23
8,067
'24
9,030
'25
4,362
'26
Best Year
202127,782
Worst Full Year
20125,209
Largest YoY Drop
2023-55.8%
Largest YoY Gain
2015+67.5%
§ 03Seasonality

February is reliably the year's peak.

1,3331,2841,2231,019MEAN 1,223JANFEB ◆MARAPRMAYJUNJULAUGSEPOCTNOVDEC
One cell for every month, ever.

Each square is one Who's Hiring thread. Brighter cells held more jobs.

JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
YR Σ
'11
2,897
'12
5,209
'13
6,594
'14
10,022
'15
16,790
'16
18,420
'17
21,217
'18
23,387
'19
21,577
'20
18,004
'21
27,782
'22
21,053
'23
9,301
'24
8,067
'25
9,030
'26
4,362
Intensity · jobs per month
02,528
Hottest mo.
February
+9.0% vs. mean
Coldest mo.
January
-16.7% vs. mean
Quietest
December
-5.7% vs. mean
§ 04Skills · Lifetime Mentions

Python & React - the decade's two anchors.

Most-Mentioned SkillRANK #01

Python

9,692lifetime mentions
appears in 4.3% of all postings · first seen Apr 2011
Mentions per month · 2011 → 2026
2011peak: 121 (Oct 2017)2026
All-Time Leaderboard · Top 10
01
Python↓ fading
9,692
02
React→ flat
8,875
03
JavaScript→ flat
8,868
04
Amazon Web Services (AWS)↓ fading
6,976
05
PostgreSQL→ flat
6,011
06
Node.Js↓ fading
5,384
07
Ruby On Rails→ flat
4,659
08
Go↓ fading
4,387
09
TypeScript→ flat
4,338
10
Java↓ fading
4,022
§ 05Two AI Waves

First ML tooling. Then GenAI.

AI / ML mentions per month
Two waves in the same bucket.
AI / ML bucket
LONG ML BASELINE725436180'12'13'14'15'16'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25'26CHATGPT · NOV 2022ML TOOLING WAVEOct 2017 · 71 / moGENAI ACCELERATIONJun 2026 · 59 / moAI / ML bucket 59
ML Baseline
32 / mo
Average AI/ML bucket mentions before Nov 2022.
GenAI Liftoff
Nov 2022 → Jun 2026
26 → 56 monthly mentions
Velocity
2.8×vs. React

Post-ChatGPT growth: AI / ML bucket 2.1×, React 0.8×.

All-Time Footprint
5,828lifetime mentions
2.6% of all postings mention an AI / ML bucket term.
§ 06Compensation Atlas

The middle held. The top stretched away.

Total Compensation · USD / yr
P25 → Median → P75 ribbon
P25-P75MedianP10 / P90
$550k$413k$275k$138k$0k'11'12'13'14'15'16'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25'26$192k
Lifetime median
$150kmonthly median
Median 2011 → 2026
$322k → $192k-40.3%
P75 2011 → 2026
$401k → $223k-44.5%
Disclosure rate
8.9%of postings
By seniority · last 12 mo.
The staircase
Junior$162k
Mid$179k
Senior$192k
Staff$183k
Principal$263k
Lead$197k
Unknown$172k
By function · last 12 mo.
Where the money is
Healthcare$200k
Executive$196k
Data ml$195k
Engineering$187k
Marketing$185k
Product$184k
Legal compliance$178k
Design$168k
By location · last 12 mo.
The geography of pay
Onsite$197k
Hybrid$193k
Remote (regional)$186k
Remote (global)$138k
Remote-Unspecified$179k
Unspecified$192k
§ 07Roles · The Composition

Engineering swallowed it. Data is the only one growing.

Job Function
73.0% engineering
223,712 function tags
0%25%50%75%100%Engineering73.0% · 163,322 jobsDATA ML · 9.4%DESIGN · 4.2%'11'12'13'14'15'16'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25'26CHATGPT
All-time function totals
Engineering163,322
Data ml20,957
Design9,467
Product7,701
Other6,157
Marketing5,413
Sales3,598
Seniority · last 12 mo.
Senior · Mid · Staff · Junior · Principal · Lead
Senior65,471 · 29.3%
Mid2,279 · 1.0%
Staff8,193 · 3.7%
Junior8,274 · 3.7%
Principal6,748 · 3.0%
Lead5,627 · 2.5%
Intern4,673 · 2.1%

54.7% of postings carry no explicit seniority signal. Levels are non-exclusive.

Senior share · over time
30%0%30%59%'12'13'14'15'16'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25'26

Among postings that name a level, the senior share tracks how much of the market is explicitly asking for experienced hires.

§ 08Then & Now · A Spec Sheet

Oct '15 next to Jun '26.

Oct '15
No. 001 · 1,394 jobs
Jun '26
No. 129 · 720 jobs
Total jobs
1,394
720-48.4%
No. 1 skill
JavaScript 90 mentions
Python 48 mentions
Top 3
JavaScript · Python · Ruby On Rails
Python · TypeScript · PostgreSQL
Median TC
$250k
$189k-24.4%
Remote share
5.9%
37.8%+31.9 pts
Hybrid share
3.4%
21.8%+18.4 pts
Sponsors visa
1.6%
2.9%+1.3 pts
US share
74.0%
60.2%-13.8 pts
Largest region
US
US still
Eng. share
75.7%
66.7%-9.0 pts
Senior · named
65.8%
59.4%-6.3 pts
Did not exist
Claude Code, Next.Js, Rust, Supabase, Cursor, Dbt (Data Build Tool), GraphQL, Kotlin, GitHub Actions
9 of the latest top skills had no mentions in the first comparison month.
Quietly gone
Ruby On Rails, HTML/CSS, Git, PHP, Redis, AngularJS, JQuery, MySQL
All under 5 mentions in the latest issue.
§ 09Records of the House

The extremes.

ENTRY · 0001 / 2026
Highest month
Jun '21
2,528jobs
+107% vs. lifetime mean
Lowest month
Dec '11
0jobs
−100% vs. lifetime mean
Steepest fall · MoM
Dec '11
−100.0%
418 → 0
Steepest rise · MoM
Nov '11
+770.8%
48 → 418
Longest streak ↑ mean
50 mo.
Feb '16 → Mar '20
Continuous above 1,222
Longest streak ↓ mean
48 mo.
Apr '11 → Mar '15
Continuous below 1,222
Highest median pay
Jun '11
$401k
peak disclosed median compensation
First posting ever
Oct '15
Issue № 001
1,394 jobs · founding entry