There is no Developer Shortage

The mis-alignment of developers and hiring managers

Photo by Cookie the Pom on Unsplash

In the United States alone there are over one million “unfilled roles” in software engineering as of 2024 and the number is rising every year.

But are these positions really valid roles that are genuinely unfilled due to an actual shortage of talent? Or perhaps could there be another explanation for these numbers which may be artificially inflated due to varying misconceptions within business and computer science?

After spending most of the last 20 years in IT and software, I decided to explore other career options and industries in which to work. I’ve had much better luck when I was working in composites fabrication and construction or doing simple jobs like music equipment sales and electronics repair.

What drove me to walk away from this industry is the severe disparity between what hiring managers and clients are looking for versus what they actually need and what is available to them were they a little more humble and down-to-earth.

The Real Issue

Here is my take after spending a couple of decades working my way up various corporate ladders and being on different sides from intern to consultant and everything in between:

1. Unrealistic Expectations: most roles in software that are posted on job boards have seriously unrealistic expectations and requirements. It does not take two years of experience for a good dev to learn React / Angular / some other bullshit. I’ve seen things like requiring five years of XP in a technology that can be learned in a weekend by anyone with a few years of genuine production experience. Hiring managers often don’t understand or recognize how talent in others can go a long way towards learning that one framework or tool that your company insists on using.
2. Manipulative Practices: the next on the list is the well-known toxic nature of the software industry itself which is championed by execs and other leaders who rant about various project management styles (and requiring N years in those also). Anyone with a backbone who has ever worked in this industry will agree that many stakeholders, managers, and clients are extremely out of touch with reality.
3. Nobody cares anyway: much of the tech that exists today does NOT make the world a better place. Not everything needs to be an app, not everything should be done online, and the internet was 1000x better (and cooler) way back before we were all forced to use it daily for basic tasks. The world does not need more AI or more web-enabled services to replace what worked perfectly fine with pen and paper. Most tech startups fail because most of this stuff is actually useless to society. Ask any Gen X or older individual about the analog days and how much fun life was before all these broken privacy-invading energy-wasting systems were forced upon us.
4. Burnout: years of being under-appreciated and overworked have left entire generations of software professionals sick of working in tech and participating in things like the Great Resignation (or hopping companies every couple of years looking for something that is actually stable). Why wouldn’t they? With so many companies building useless software and wanting people with massive experience to handle rudimentary dev tasks, no wonder attrition is so high and so many “roles” are unfilled. Maybe we are sick of roleplaying in a losing game?

Conclusion

There is no surprise whatsoever when it comes to the perceived shortage of software developers in the world. Most of the stuff that we use could be built much better and in much less time than what people spend on it, however that will never happen since hiring managers will continue to make demands and requirements like X years in Y technology stack that many developers would rather not use anyway due to performance and security issues among other reasons.

If you’re thinking about getting into software, remember that when you find yourself burned out after a few years, there are hundreds of other industries in which you can find meaningful work that allows you to build real products or fulfill legitimate service needs for others, in which you can actually see your work being completed and appreciated by employers and customers alike.

If and when the toxic tech industry comes around and begins to value and appreciate genuine talent and accept that not everyone needs decades of experience and/or some SDK or other tool to do what was once a very simple job known as “programmer” then perhaps things will turn around. Until then, if your company has a difficult time hiring qualified talent and is losing productivity by the day as a result, perhaps you should change your hiring strategy and start opening your minds.