Compendium EditionAll-Time RecordApr 2011 → Aug 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
224,666
jobs · across 185 monthly threads · 16 calendar years
Peak Month
2,528
JUN 2021
Trough
0
DEC 2011
Mean / Mo
1,214
σ ± 640
Threads Indexed
185monthly
Countries Seen
52iso
Skills Tracked
372distinct
Comp Samples
20,130parsed
Peak Year
202127,782
§ 01Decade in Motion
Three eras, one curve.
Postings12-mo trailing avgn = 185 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 → Aug 2026
31,714jobs · 44 mo
Layoff cycle, AI consolidation, slow re-acceleration. Volume now sits ~83% 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
5,316
'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
5,316
Intensity · jobs per month
02,528
Hottest mo.
February
+9.7% vs. mean
Coldest mo.
January
-16.1% vs. mean
Quietest
December
-5.1% vs. mean
§ 04Skills · Lifetime Mentions
Python & React - the decade's two anchors.
Most-Mentioned SkillRANK #01
Python
9,775lifetime 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→ flat
9,77502
React↓ fading
8,93803
JavaScript↓ fading
8,87804
Amazon Web Services (AWS)→ flat
7,02705
PostgreSQL→ flat
6,07906
Node.Js→ flat
5,41407
Ruby On Rails↓ fading
4,67708
TypeScript↓ fading
4,42309
Go↓ fading
4,41010
Java↓ fading
4,029§ 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 → Aug 2026
26 → 42 monthly mentions
Velocity
2.8×vs. React
Post-ChatGPT growth: AI / ML bucket 1.6×, React 0.6×.
All-Time Footprint
5,922lifetime 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 → $190k-41.1%
P75 2011 → 2026
$401k → $226k-43.7%
Disclosure rate
9.0%of postings
By seniority · last 12 mo.
The staircase
Junior$159k
Mid$179k
Senior$192k
Staff$198k
Principal$295k
Lead$219k
Unknown$172k
By function · last 12 mo.
Where the money is
Healthcare$200k
Executive$197k
Data ml$195k
Product$192k
Engineering$188k
Marketing$188k
Legal compliance$184k
Operations$178k
By location · last 12 mo.
The geography of pay
Onsite$196k
Hybrid$193k
Remote (regional)$187k
Remote (global)$146k
Remote-Unspecified$178k
Unspecified$187k
§ 07Roles · The Composition
Engineering swallowed it. Data is the only one growing.
Job Function
72.9% engineering
All-time function totals
Engineering163,880
Data ml21,109
Design9,491
Product7,768
Other6,193
Marketing5,454
Sales3,620
Seniority · last 12 mo.
Senior · Mid · Staff · Junior · Principal · Lead
Senior65,850 · 29.3%
Mid2,294 · 1.0%
Staff8,315 · 3.7%
Junior8,295 · 3.7%
Principal6,796 · 3.0%
Lead5,665 · 2.5%
Intern4,685 · 2.1%
54.6% 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 Aug '26.
Oct '15
No. 001 · 1,394 jobs
Aug '26
No. 131 · 430 jobs
Total jobs
1,394
430-69.2%
No. 1 skill
JavaScript 90 mentions
Python 43 mentions
Top 3
JavaScript · Python · Ruby On Rails
Python · TypeScript · PostgreSQL
Median TC
$250k
$190k-24.0%
Remote share
5.9%
38.8%+33.0 pts
Hybrid share
3.4%
24.0%+20.6 pts
Sponsors visa
1.6%
2.8%+1.1 pts
US share
74.0%
62.1%-12.0 pts
Largest region
US
US still
Eng. share
75.7%
56.0%-19.6 pts
Senior · named
65.8%
54.1%-11.6 pts
Did not exist
Claude Code, Next.Js, Rust, GraphQL, Google Cloud, Datadog, Playwright, FastAPI, PyTorch
9 of the latest top skills had no mentions in the first comparison month.
Quietly gone
JavaScript, HTML/CSS, Ruby, Java, Django, IOS, Git, Android
All under 5 mentions in the latest issue.
§ 09Records of the House
The extremes.
ENTRY · 0001 / 2026
Highest month
Jun '21
2,528jobs
+108% 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 1,214
Longest streak ↓ mean
48 mo.
Apr '11 → Mar '15
Continuous below 1,214
Highest median pay
Jun '11
$401k
peak disclosed median compensation
First posting ever
Oct '15
Issue № 001
1,394 jobs · founding entry