AI reduced coding effort. Engineering talent is still scarce.

AI now writes nearly half of all new code and engineering hiring got harder, not easier. The market split into two markets moving in opposite directions, and the 2022 playbook for breaking in (or hiring well) no longer works on either side.

AI writes nearly half of all new code and 87.5 percent of tech leaders still call engineering hiring "difficult" or worse. The reason is that AI did not collapse hiring into one easier market. It split it into a junior side that has collapsed and a senior side that is overflowing with applicants no one can verify. The playbook for both juniors trying to break in and companies trying to hire is no longer what it used to be.