#hiring-trends

#hiring-trends

Demand for software development skills in AI-related roles is set to fall next year as agentic AI accelerates across business markets, according to an IEEE industry survey. Or so says research by the global technical professional organization, which polled 400 CIOs, CTOs and IT directors in Brazil, China, Japan, India, the UK, and the US. IEEE states that nearly all professionals expect agentic AI innovation to continue at "lightning speed" in 2026, as both established enterprises and startups deepen investments and commitments to the technology.

Here at Tech.co, we've kept an eye on the number of fully remote positions open at Microsoft over the past few years, and a trend has become clear. In August 2024, 883 fully remote jobs were available. By November, this had fallen to 400-something postions, a trend that continued in December, when we spotted 417 remote positions open. In February 2025, just 313 work-from-home jobs were open.

Anton Osika, the 35-year-old CEO of the vibe coding platform Lovable AI, told Business Insider last week that a standard computer science degree "isn't useless" or "worthless" but its value has changed, and "the leverage has moved." Osika said that AI removes the need for "technical know-how" and "years of training" because people now have the tools to turn ideas into working products, "without ever touching a formal CS [computer science] education," by vibe coding - using AI tech that does the work for you.

In the first half of 2025, there were only nine partner moves for New York private equity partners—less than 50% of the 2024 total, indicating cautious hiring.

"Hire a bunch of these people," he said in a Monday interview on the a16z podcast, "because they're going to flip your company on its head in terms of how much faster the organization can run."

By the time Gen Alpha enters the job market, traditional methods of applying will likely be replaced with personality tests as a more effective hiring tool.

"In an era where the outlook on the jobs market is fuzzy or uncertain, it makes sense for both employers and employees to stick with what they know," Nela Richardson, ADP's chief economist, said.

Salesforce's Chief Financial and Operations Officer, Robin Washington, noted that internal AI implementation has reduced hiring needs, allowing the company to save $50 million by redeploying staff.

Employers are planning to increase hiring by 7.3% for the class of 2025, signaling an optimistic job market compared to previous years.