Compendium Edition
All-Time Record
Apr 2011 → Sep 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
225,205
jobs · across 186 monthly threads · 16 calendar years
Peak Month
2,528
JUN 2021
Trough
0
DEC 2011
Mean / Mo
1,211
σ ± 640
Threads Indexed
186monthly
Countries Seen
52iso
Skills Tracked
372distinct
Comp Samples
20,277parsed
Peak Year
202127,782
§ 01Decade in Motion

Three eras, one curve.

Postings12-mo trailing avgn = 186 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 → Sep 2026
32,253jobs · 45 mo

Layoff cycle, AI consolidation, slow re-acceleration. Volume now sits ~79% 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
5,855
'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.

1,3331,2781,2111,019MEAN 1,211JANFEB ◆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
5,855
Intensity · jobs per month
02,528
Hottest mo.
February
+10.1% vs. mean
Coldest mo.
January
-15.9% vs. mean
Quietest
September
-7.0% vs. mean
§ 04Skills · Lifetime Mentions

Python & React - the decade's two anchors.

Most-Mentioned SkillRANK #01

Python

9,813lifetime mentions
appears in 4.4% 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
9,813
02
React→ flat
8,963
03
JavaScript↑ rising
8,885
04
Amazon Web Services (AWS)→ flat
7,051
05
PostgreSQL↓ fading
6,103
06
Node.Js↑ rising
5,433
07
Ruby On Rails↓ fading
4,683
08
TypeScript↓ fading
4,453
09
Go↑ rising
4,424
10
Java→ flat
4,032
§ 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 ACCELERATIONJul 2026 · 63 / moAI / ML bucket 56
ML Baseline
32 / mo
Average AI/ML bucket mentions before Nov 2022.
GenAI Liftoff
Nov 2022 → Sep 2026
26 → 60 monthly mentions
Velocity
4.2×vs. React

Post-ChatGPT growth: AI / ML bucket 2.3×, React 0.5×.

All-Time Footprint
5,982lifetime mentions
2.7% 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$190k
Lifetime median
$150kmonthly median
Median 2011 → 2026
$322k → $190k-40.9%
P75 2011 → 2026
$401k → $225k-43.9%
Disclosure rate
9.0%of postings
By seniority · last 12 mo.
The staircase
Junior$159k
Mid$182k
Senior$193k
Staff$202k
Principal$296k
Lead$215k
Unknown$173k
By function · last 12 mo.
Where the money is
Healthcare$200k
Data ml$197k
Product$196k
Executive$194k
Marketing$192k
Engineering$189k
Design$186k
Legal compliance$184k
By location · last 12 mo.
The geography of pay
Onsite$198k
Hybrid$196k
Remote (regional)$185k
Remote (global)$147k
Remote-Unspecified$178k
Unspecified$185k
§ 07Roles · The Composition

Engineering swallowed it. Data is the only one growing.

Job Function
72.9% engineering
225,205 function tags
0%25%50%75%100%Engineering72.9% · 164,205 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
Engineering164,205
Data ml21,187
Design9,502
Product7,806
Other6,216
Marketing5,481
Sales3,631
Seniority · last 12 mo.
Senior · Mid · Staff · Junior · Principal · Lead
Senior66,026 · 29.3%
Mid2,304 · 1.0%
Staff8,372 · 3.7%
Junior8,318 · 3.7%
Principal6,827 · 3.0%
Lead5,686 · 2.5%
Intern4,704 · 2.1%

54.6% of postings carry no explicit seniority signal. Levels are non-exclusive.

Senior share · over time
30%0%30%52%'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 Sep '26.

Oct '15
No. 001 · 1,394 jobs
Sep '26
No. 132 · 539 jobs
Total jobs
1,394
539-61.3%
No. 1 skill
JavaScript 90 mentions
Python 38 mentions
Top 3
JavaScript · Python · Ruby On Rails
Python · TypeScript · React
Median TC
$250k
$195k-22.0%
Remote share
5.9%
38.0%+32.2 pts
Hybrid share
3.4%
24.1%+20.7 pts
Sponsors visa
1.6%
2.6%+0.9 pts
US share
74.0%
60.1%-14.0 pts
Largest region
US
US still
Eng. share
75.7%
60.3%-15.4 pts
Senior · named
65.8%
52.2%-13.5 pts
Did not exist
Rust, Claude Code, GraphQL, Next.Js, MCP (Model Context Protocol), Google Cloud, FastAPI, Vue.Js, Grafana
9 of the latest top skills had no mentions in the first comparison month.
Quietly gone
HTML/CSS, Ruby, Java, Django, IOS, Git, Android, PHP
All under 5 mentions in the latest issue.
§ 09Records of the House

The extremes.

ENTRY · 0001 / 2026
Highest month
Jun '21
2,528jobs
+109% 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 1,211
Longest streak ↓ mean
48 mo.
Apr '11 → Mar '15
Continuous below 1,211
Highest median pay
Jun '11
$401k
peak disclosed median compensation
First posting ever
Oct '15
Issue № 001
1,394 jobs · founding entry