Nobody Told You the Entry-Level Tech Job Market Is Basically Gone
The "just apply more" advice isn't working because the math doesn't work.
I've been scraping and normalizing tech job postings daily — engineering, data, AI, DevOps, product and security. I wanted to put a real number on something everyone feels but nobody seems to have clean data for.
Here's what 12,779 active listings look like right now.
The seniority breakdown
| Level | Listings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Entry-level | 314 | 2.5% |
| Mid-level | 6,559 | 51.3% |
| Senior | 5,906 | 46.2% |
For every 1 entry-level opening there are 21 mid-level and 19 senior roles.
This isn't a perception problem. The market has structurally deprioritized entry hiring — and the data shows exactly how far that's gone.
It doesn't get better by field
| Field | Total listings | Entry-level | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering | 4,855 | 75 | 1.5% |
| Product | 944 | 14 | 1.5% |
| AI | 1,299 | 31 | 2.4% |
| Security | 733 | 23 | 3.1% |
| DevOps | 1,673 | 31 | 1.9% |
| Data | 3,275 | 140 | 4.3% |
Engineering is both the biggest field and the hardest to break into. Data is the best of a bad set — mostly analyst roles keeping that number up.
Some roles have zero entry-level openings. Not low. Zero.
Security Architect, AppSec Engineer, Cloud Security Engineer, Penetration Tester, UX Researcher and Data Governance each have zero entry-level listings across hundreds of active postings.
These fields have decided junior doesn't exist. You're expected to arrive with experience before your first job.
Where the door is actually open
If you're trying to break in right now, these are the roles with the highest share of entry-level openings:
SOC Analyst — 11.2% entry (10 of 89 listings)
Data Scientist — 8.6% (60 of 695)
Data Analyst — 4.1% (48 of 1,184)
SOC Analyst is genuinely the most accessible technical role in the market right now. It's not glamorous but it's a real door — and security skills compound fast.
Data Analyst is worth a serious look too. Volume is high, the entry bar is lower than Data Scientist and the career path into analytics engineering or data science is well-worn.
The remote irony
Senior roles are 58% more likely to be fully remote than mid-level roles (19.8% vs 12.5%).
So the deal is: prove yourself in person first, earn the flexibility later. Except there are almost no places to prove yourself because there are almost no entry jobs.
The salary gap isn't the problem
You might think companies avoid juniors because of cost. The data doesn't support that.
| Role | Entry avg | Senior avg | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Stack Developer | $121,058 | $154,685 | 1.3x |
| Data Engineer | $105,284 | $125,306 | 1.2x |
| ML Engineer | $115,167 | $137,110 | 1.2x |
| Data Scientist | $119,991 | $135,295 | 1.1x |
| Data Analyst | $72,425 | $93,593 | 1.3x |
A 1.1x–1.3x salary difference doesn't explain refusing to hire juniors — especially when senior talent is genuinely hard to find. The real barrier is risk tolerance and the cost of onboarding, not pay.
What this means if you're trying to break in
Stop applying into the void of roles that have 1–2% entry share. Go where the door is open — SOC Analyst, Data Analyst and Data Scientist have the most accessible entry paths in the current market.
Build the skills those roles actually ask for (not what looks impressive on paper) and apply with volume into the roles that are actually hiring juniors.
I track salary ranges, top skills and career paths for every major tech role daily here: https://www.datamatastudios.com/careers