Context: Searching for a new senior level software development job over a 9 week period in summer 2025.
- Focused mostly on data engineering and backend roles that are in-person or hybrid in the SF Bay Area.
- Leads from recruiters on LinkedIn were much more likely to lead to interviews+offers.
- The winning offer came through my personal network.
- I mostly used Hiring.cafe for prospecting. They're a scraper with an interface I didn't hate.
Really depends.
I am in belgium and for Electronics engineering, there are very few jobs and a lot of candidates (and notoriously difficult to get around via car in belgium). I have 5 year of experience, recommendation letters, and good references.
20 applications. 9 ghosted, 4 auto rejections, 2 declined by me as not a good job, 1 rejection after hiring manager interview (too far, 1.5+ hour one way in traffic and they had closer candidates just as good), 2 rejections after final interview (one ghosted, the other wanted to take both me and the other candidate on, but couldn't), 2 offers.
It is definitely rough in the engineering industry outside of defense.
On the flip side, I see hundreds of software jobs here and hundreds of electrical/building automation jobs.