The tech job market is showing signs of resilience so far this year, suggesting that AI may not destroy all white-collar work after all.
Open tech job openings at tech companies have climbed nearly 14% so far this year, according to TrueUp data provided to Business Insider.
TrueUp tracks job postings across 9,000 public tech companies, startups, and unicorns, rather than tech roles across the entire economy. This is ground zero for AI disruption because the tech industry usually adopts new technology and feels the impact first.
And the impact so far has been mixed — certainly not the dystopian job collapse predicted by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.
Amit Taylor, founder of TrueUp, described the current tech job market as “holding steady despite everything else happening in the tech industry.”
TrueUp
The rebound is strongest in Hardware engineering. Open hardware engineering roles jumped 52% year-to-date, according to TrueUp.
That likely reflects the industry’s heavy investment in AI infrastructure, including chips, data centers, servers, devices, and other physical systems needed to support the AI boom.
TrueUp
These figures challenge the popular narrative that AI is crushing demand for engineers and other tech workers.
The recovery follows a painful tech correction in 2022 and 2023, when companies cut jobs and slowed hiring after expanding too quickly during the pandemic. Now, the data shows that tech job demand is solid across much of the sector, even as companies continue to scrutinize costs and experiment with AI tools that could reshape parts of the workforce.
Software engineering job openings have not surged like the broader market, but they have still edged higher this year. TrueUp data shows software engineering openings rose just over 2% since January this year. There’s been a slowdown in recent months, versus a real surge earlier in 2026, according to TrueUp data.
TrueUp
The stronger demand for tech talent doesn’t mean every candidate has it easy. Recent graduates face more competition, especially for software jobs, because far more people have studied computer science in recent years. Tech layoffs also funnel more supply into the market.
Taylor previously told Business Insider that the jobs themselves haven’t vanished, but the number of applicants chasing them has surged.
Big public tech companies also increased job postings, with open roles up 18% so far this year. But the numbers are down a smidge from earlier in 2026.
TrueUp
Not the crazy-strong job market of the pandemic boom, but a solidly healthy situation.
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