Compendium EditionAll-Time RecordApr 2011 → May 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
222,992
jobs · across 182 monthly threads · 16 calendar years
Peak Month
2,528
JUN 2021
Trough
0
DEC 2011
Mean / Mo
1,225
σ ± 640
Threads Indexed
182monthly
Countries Seen
52iso
Skills Tracked
369distinct
Comp Samples
19,677parsed
Peak Year
202127,782
§ 01Decade in Motion
Three eras, one curve.
Postings12-mo trailing avgn = 182 months
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 → May 2026
30,040jobs · 41 mo
Layoff cycle, AI consolidation, slow re-acceleration. Volume now sits ~71% 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
'21
21,053
'22
9,301
'23
8,067
'24
9,030
'25
3,642
'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.
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
3,642
Intensity · jobs per month
02,528
Hottest mo.
February
+8.8% vs. mean
Coldest mo.
January
-16.8% vs. mean
Quietest
December
-5.9% vs. mean
§ 04Skills · Lifetime Mentions
Python & JavaScript - the decade's two anchors.
Most-Mentioned SkillRANK #01
Python
9,644lifetime 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→ flat
9,64402
JavaScript↓ fading
8,85903
React↓ fading
8,84004
Amazon Web Services (AWS)↓ fading
6,95605
PostgreSQL↓ fading
5,97406
Node.Js↓ fading
5,37307
Ruby On Rails↓ fading
4,65508
Go↑ rising
4,36709
TypeScript↓ fading
4,29710
Java↓ fading
4,016§ 05Two AI Waves
First ML tooling. Then GenAI.
AI / ML mentions per month
Two waves in the same bucket.
AI / ML bucket
ML Baseline
32 / mo
Average AI/ML bucket mentions before Nov 2022.
GenAI Liftoff
Nov 2022 → May 2026
26 → 63 monthly mentions
Velocity
3.3×vs. React
Post-ChatGPT growth: AI / ML bucket 2.4×, React 0.7×.
All-Time Footprint
5,772lifetime 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
Lifetime median
$150kmonthly median
Median 2011 → 2026
$322k → $195k-39.4%
P75 2011 → 2026
$401k → $230k-42.6%
Disclosure rate
8.8%of postings
By seniority · last 12 mo.
The staircase
Junior$161k
Mid$182k
Senior$193k
Staff$180k
Principal$241k
Lead$171k
Unknown$172k
By function · last 12 mo.
Where the money is
Executive$198k
Data ml$196k
Engineering$188k
Marketing$187k
Product$180k
Legal compliance$178k
Design$170k
Operations$166k
By location · last 12 mo.
The geography of pay
Onsite$193k
Hybrid$192k
Remote (regional)$186k
Remote (global)$142k
Remote-Unspecified$181k
Unspecified$184k
§ 07Roles · The Composition
Engineering swallowed it. Data is the only one growing.
Job Function
73.0% engineering
All-time function totals
Engineering162,842
Data ml20,863
Design9,447
Product7,667
Other6,135
Marketing5,382
Sales3,582
Seniority · last 12 mo.
Senior · Mid · Staff · Junior · Principal · Lead
Senior65,209 · 29.2%
Mid2,268 · 1.0%
Staff8,106 · 3.6%
Junior8,252 · 3.7%
Principal6,726 · 3.0%
Lead5,606 · 2.5%
Intern4,657 · 2.1%
54.8% of postings carry no explicit seniority signal. Levels are non-exclusive.
Senior share · over time
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 May '26.
Oct '15
No. 001 · 1,394 jobs
May '26
No. 128 · 745 jobs
Total jobs
1,394
745-46.6%
No. 1 skill
JavaScript 90 mentions
Python 54 mentions
Top 3
JavaScript · Python · Ruby On Rails
Python · TypeScript · Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Median TC
$250k
$188k-25.0%
Remote share
5.9%
29.4%+23.5 pts
Hybrid share
3.4%
29.5%+26.2 pts
Sponsors visa
1.6%
1.5%-0.2 pts
US share
74.0%
55.7%-18.3 pts
Largest region
US
US still
Eng. share
75.7%
63.5%-12.2 pts
Senior · named
65.8%
56.1%-9.6 pts
Did not exist
Claude Code, Rust, Google Cloud, Next.Js, RAG, MCP (Model Context Protocol), AWS Lambda, ECS / EKS, Cursor
9 of the latest top skills had no mentions in the first comparison month.
Quietly gone
Ruby On Rails, HTML/CSS, IOS, Git, Android, PHP, AngularJS, JQuery
All under 5 mentions in the latest issue.
§ 09Records of the House
The extremes.
ENTRY · 0001 / 2026
Highest month
Jun '21
2,528jobs
+106% 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 1,225
Longest streak ↓ mean
48 mo.
Apr '11 → Mar '15
Continuous below 1,225
Highest median pay
Jun '11
$401k
peak disclosed median compensation
First posting ever
Oct '15
Issue № 001
1,394 jobs · founding entry