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Is it kind of strange that given the developer "shortage" that we keep hearing about, all of the posts here have been seeking work? Maybe someone can explain th

Is it kind of strange that given the developer "shortage" that we keep hearing about, all of the posts here have been seeking work? Maybe someone can explain that to me as I don't have ears on the ground in this industry so to speak.

mchannon 14y ago
Notice the preponderance of "seeking remote" posts, coupled with (mostly) far-flung locations, and I think that's the biggest clue. The type of developers in shortage are the ones that are onsite.
- yen223 14y ago
  As a dev in Malaysia, that is depressing.
- Udo 14y ago
  I'm based in Europe and that's not really a far flung, rural region overall, but I have yet to receive a single inquiry through HN. On the other hand, just because I'm posting here as a "seeker" doesn't mean I'm actually out of a job - it just means I'd love to do some work within the HN community. It might be interesting to know how many people actually got projects or jobs through this page. That would make it easier to benchmark my own listing. For what it's worth, I don't believe there is any developer shortage at all, except maybe occasionally in unstable and hip niches.
aptwebapps 14y ago
I guess it probably has to do with the ratio of freelancers to potential clients reading HN. Of course, some readers might be both, but I bet it's a pretty steep ratio.
- mattmanser 14y ago
  Probably more because this post has been made on a Saturday, bit silly really.
  - artursapek 14y ago
    Yep. Happened to be the first of the month.
holgersindbaek 14y ago
WOW... there's a LOT of people looking for work. Are we having a breakdown in the digital world?
driverdan 14y ago
It's important to promote yourself whenever possible, even if you have enough work right now. You never know when that may change. You want to line up work before you need it, otherwise you may find yourself without any.
sprobertson 14y ago
As a work-seeking freelancer, I think there are a few causes for this paradoxical perception. One, "seeking work" as a freelancer doesn't necessarily mean the same thing as "unemployed". Many freelancers are juggling several projects, but still looking for few more to keep busy during the week. Some are looking for a future gig so that they have something to move on to next. Two, the "developer shortage" you speak of tends to refer to full-time on-site developers. The people that fit these roles are not always the same as the people who are freelancers, often for lifestyle reasons. For example, not everyone wants to move to Palo Alto and work 60 hour weeks. Instead some choose the freelancing path because they have discovered that they can live more fulfilling lives by entirely avoiding the bureaucratic fascism of modern employment. And finally, it's possible that the aforementioned "shortage" is the cause of a surplus in the other direction. It's easy to have ideas, and hard to implement them, so there are a lot of empty-shell startups springing up. These will have a hard time hiring good developers just because the developers have to be convinced of the value of this new hyper-social-geo-localized-dog-food-eating web service.

mchannon 14y ago

Notice the preponderance of "seeking remote" posts, coupled with (mostly) far-flung locations, and I think that's the biggest clue. The type of developers in shortage are the ones that are onsite.

yen223 14y ago
As a dev in Malaysia, that is depressing.
Udo 14y ago
I'm based in Europe and that's not really a far flung, rural region overall, but I have yet to receive a single inquiry through HN. On the other hand, just because I'm posting here as a "seeker" doesn't mean I'm actually out of a job - it just means I'd love to do some work within the HN community. It might be interesting to know how many people actually got projects or jobs through this page. That would make it easier to benchmark my own listing. For what it's worth, I don't believe there is any developer shortage at all, except maybe occasionally in unstable and hip niches.

aptwebapps 14y ago

I guess it probably has to do with the ratio of freelancers to potential clients reading HN. Of course, some readers might be both, but I bet it's a pretty steep ratio.

mattmanser 14y ago
Probably more because this post has been made on a Saturday, bit silly really.
- artursapek 14y ago
  Yep. Happened to be the first of the month.

holgersindbaek 14y ago

WOW... there's a LOT of people looking for work. Are we having a breakdown in the digital world?

driverdan 14y ago

It's important to promote yourself whenever possible, even if you have enough work right now. You never know when that may change. You want to line up work before you need it, otherwise you may find yourself without any.

sprobertson 14y ago

As a work-seeking freelancer, I think there are a few causes for this paradoxical perception. One, "seeking work" as a freelancer doesn't necessarily mean the same thing as "unemployed". Many freelancers are juggling several projects, but still looking for few more to keep busy during the week. Some are looking for a future gig so that they have something to move on to next. Two, the "developer shortage" you speak of tends to refer to full-time on-site developers. The people that fit these roles are not always the same as the people who are freelancers, often for lifestyle reasons. For example, not everyone wants to move to Palo Alto and work 60 hour weeks. Instead some choose the freelancing path because they have discovered that they can live more fulfilling lives by entirely avoiding the bureaucratic fascism of modern employment. And finally, it's possible that the aforementioned "shortage" is the cause of a surplus in the other direction. It's easy to have ideas, and hard to implement them, so there are a lot of empty-shell startups springing up. These will have a hard time hiring good developers just because the developers have to be convinced of the value of this new hyper-social-geo-localized-dog-food-eating web service.