“I’m not comfortable with comfort. I’m only comfortable when I’m in a place where I’m constantly learning and growing.”
– Kanye West

The current tech job market stands as a true testimony to that idea. For students, recent graduates and early-career professionals, it’s no longer about having the perfect GPA or resume, it’s now about figuring out how to keep going when the rules keep changing.
Ever had that moment when everything is the same, but something doesn’t feel quite right? That’s the 2025 tech job market. Familiar city, entirely new people.
Going a few years back, not long, just 2020 to early 2022, getting into this industry felt like winning in this system. High pay, flexible hours, remote jobs, among other benefits. A few projects, a basic degree or even certificate credential and decent Git Hub history were enough for someone to get their foot inside the door. But this pandemic-fueled digital acceleration led companies to over hire. And now, it feels like Thanos snapped, but instead of people it wiped away 50% of the jobs.

According to data compiled from industry trackers, more than 530,000 tech professionals were laid off between the end of 2022 and the first quarter of 2024. Major names in the market, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Netflix, fired teams in a rather never seen before manner. The entire narrative shifted from a growth-first mindset to efficiency-first necessity, in other words- more impact, fewer hires.
Still many experts say, what we’re seeing in 2025 isn’t a collapse rather it is a reset. Companies want specialists, generalist roles are fading, and the market is becoming more and more focused on capabilities. Between all of this are caught the international students who are facing a tougher issue than most locals in securing jobs or internships due to external factors like Visa procurement, aside from the ones the industry is facing already.
Problems faced by international students in the US
Ayush, a sophomore international student, described his experience as “overwhelming”. “Every semester it’s a new buzzword – AI, cloud computing, cybersecurity,” he said. The pace of change in tech is fast, but for international students, it’s doubly complicated. “We’re also figuring out visas, job portals, how to talk to recruiters, it’s a lot,” he added. Despite working hard and applying, studying, building projects, he was often met with silence. Then came the realization: coding alone isn’t enough. You can hear the eminent frustration in his voice as he says, “What they teach in class doesn’t cover real-world tech stacks”. Ayush’s story isn’t just about tech. It’s about growth. “We’re not just building apps anymore, we’re building ourselves.” It shows with more and more AI tools coming out now, core skills have been lost in the fog, recruiters care more about how you can culminate those tools and make something actually worthwhile and useful.
Artificial Intelligence is without a shred of doubt at the center of this transformation. It’s everywhere, and increasingly essential. From code generation to AI-driven recruitment systems, the machines aren’t just assisting, they’re actively influencing who gets hired. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects data-related roles will grow 36% and cybersecurity positions will grow by 32% through 2027. AI fluency is projected to become a basic requirement for knowledge workers in every industry, not just tech.
It’s no surprise, then, that resumes are now structured for algorithms more than for humans. Keywords are now far more important than before. If your application doesn’t clear the initial AI screen, your experience may never reach human eyes. It is scary to read an even scarier to live.

In online forums, from Reddit to LinkedIn, the stories go wild. “Ten years’ experience, two hundred applications, five interviews, zero offers.” “Laid off in January, now applying for internships to stay afloat.” The frustration is real, but so is the resilience. Hustle culture is now colliding with survival mode, and what’s emerging is creativity under pressure. That’s the beauty of humanity – the perpetual need to survive.
The ebb and flow of cold emails
In my Zoom interview with Kriish Tiwari, who is a computer science student, he painted a clear picture of how drastically things have changed. He said, “There used to be a gap between demand and supply, now it’s completely saturated”. He realized through conversations with seniors that old-school methods of job hunting were no longer effective. The market has become more competitive, especially after COVID-19 resulted in a surge of interest in tech. As a result, students are turning to new techniques: cold mailing, asking for referrals, and initiating LinkedIn chats. “What used to be a relatively smooth process is now a F’d up game, it used to be easier man!” he said. Kriish’s experience is not just about adapting to a saturated field it is about knowing where you want to be and what gets you there, now that it tough for someone who is just starting but as they say, it is what it is.
Meanwhile, companies are becoming stricter. Training programs are rarer than ever and there are close to zero entry level positions, forget internships. The pressure is real, but so is the effort. But there are thousands of people quietly learning how to stay afloat in the game. They’re finding out that connection matters as much as credentials, and that hard work can still pay off, even if it takes longer than it used to before.
College degrees, while still respected, are increasingly replaced by proof of work. GitHub activity, certifications, online course completions, and project demos carry more weight than alma maters. Several Fortune 500 firms like, IBM, Google, Walmart, Meta, have launched skills-based hiring AI agents, and removed degree requirements and now they are judging candidates on what they can do as of the day of assessment.
But it’s not all bad. Freelance and contract-based tech work is rising, with projections of 20% year-over-year growth, driven by platforms and the normalization of pay-for-skill formulas. Still, entry-level and mid-career professionals are having a tough time. Internships have become scarce, and interview processes are more than often exhausting. Hiring now focuses on visible impact- what you’ve built, how you’ve contributed, and whether your skills are immediately of worth to the company. In this environment, building a public digital presence, through GitHub, LinkedIn, or personal websites, is no longer optional.
From Rejection to Referral
On a special request Shivansh, a junior at the University at Buffalo, who recently bagged a summer internship agreed to share his journey to help his peers understand the importance of adaptability in this market. He began his college journey with optimism. He believed that maintaining a high GPA, joining clubs, and building a polished resume would naturally lead to internships. “I was a presidential scholar in the honors college, had research experience, and was active on campus,” he said. Despite this, his applications received no responses. “I applied to hundreds of positions and didn’t even get a single online assessment.” The disconnect between effort and result was disheartening. Eventually, he took a chance, he reached out to someone via cold email. That one referral changed everything. Within two months, he had an internship offer. The process that followed, online assessment, technical and behavioral interviews, felt expected. But the real hurdle, Shivansh stressed on, was breaking into the system in the first place. “Just getting your foot in the door is the hardest part,” he said. His story reflects a broader truth: credentials aren’t enough without connection.
The World Economic Forum reports that 44% of core worker skills will change within five years. Around 69 million new roles may emerge by 2027, while 83 million existing ones could be lost. This statistic alone paints a clear picture- adapt or risk being left behind.

There’s also the psychological toll. The sense of identity, purpose, and pride that once came with being in tech is evolving. So where does that leave us?
It leaves us adapting. There’s no single proven to work roadmap. People are experimenting, failing, and retrying.
The conundrum of required experience
In this video, Aryan Mudgal, a rising senior studying computer science, in no way sugarcoats the situation. “The market’s tough, especially in tech,” he said. “Every job asks for five years of experience and pays you in exposure.” Aryan has found himself relying more on his network than his resume. “Eighty percent of jobs are filled through referrals,” he claimed. His advice? Start early. Build connections. Attend tech conferences. And above all, leverage alumni. Aryan has leaned heavily on his family’s contacts to secure internship opportunities and is already planning to do the same after graduation. It’s a pragmatic approach to this unforgiving landscape. “It’s not just about what you know anymore, it’s about who knows you,” he said. While Aryan hasn’t given up, he’s learned that navigating the job market is less about applying, and more about actively growing.
The 2025 tech market isn’t a dystopia. I mean it’s not a utopia either. It’s a transition zone, but the question remains “Will things go back to normal?”, but a better question to ask would be “How should we grow into what’s coming next?”
Adaptability, not certainty, is the new normal. And in this reality, everyone still has a shot. Ayush, Kriish, Shivansh and Aryan are just four names in a much bigger story, who like thousands of other students and professionals, had to adjust their expectations and figure out new ways to traverse through this puzzle. Their journeys haven’t been easy, but they’re still learning, building, and trying again.
That’s what the tech job market looks like in 2025. It’s not broken, but it’s harder to read. Job openings still exist, but they don’t come with clear directions. Instead of growing teams, many companies are trying to do more with fewer people. Roles are more specialized, and entry-level positions are harder to find. Applicants are often expected to already know the tools and tech stacks companies use.

For many, the goal has shifted. Getting into big tech used to be the dream. Now, students are looking at smaller companies, contract work, freelance jobs or even startups. There’s a growing focus on public portfolios-GitHub, LinkedIn, personal websites, because they help show what one can do, not just what they’ve studied.
With how everything is going, the job market isn’t stable yet, and it probably won’t be for a while. But people are figuring out how to work with what they have. They’re learning that progress doesn’t always mean landing the biggest offer. Sometimes it just means staying in motion. This isn’t a collapse, it’s a reset, and like any reset, it is messy. But it’s also teaching a generation of tech professionals how to keep going when things don’t go as planned. Not with big promises or overnight success, but with small victories and the hope that things will open up again, one step at a time.

Career Design Center coach Ed Brodka in his detailed email to me, talked about the importance of gaining real-world experience, regardless of the state of the job market. “No matter what the job market looks like or no matter what your major is, it’s super important to secure an internship, research project with a faculty member or other extra activity to gain experience and connections in the field,” Brodka said in an email. He also asked students to watch a recent UBNow interview with Steve Simpson, UB’s director of career design, calling it a strong resource for understanding the current market. Brodka encouraged students to take advantage of upcoming campus programs and offered to connect individually via Zoom or in person to help students plan their internship search.
No one has all the answers right now, students, recruiters, not even companies. The terms and conditions as they say have changed, and they may keep changing. But in this transitioning moment, people are still trying, still learning, and still showing up. And maybe that’s what matters most. Not having a clear path but moving forward anyway.


































