00:00:00I have to admit, I'm pretty proud of myself, because back in December last year when I recorded
00:00:08my predictions video for this year, my 2026 predictions, I had one prediction where I mentioned
00:00:16that I think that this year the software developer market will get better. Also for Juniors. And what
00:00:25can I say? This chart, which we probably all know the software development job postings on Indeed
00:00:33in the United States for the last couple of months doesn't look too bad. Now, of course, to be fair,
00:00:40the overall chart is still not the kind of chart that gives you the best vibes and feeling. I will
00:00:46admit that. But hey, look at this upward trend. And I'm not being sarcastic here. I really mean it.
00:00:54And it's it's kind of strange because on the one hand, right now in my bubble, it totally feels like
00:01:02this entire AI for software development thing is accelerating. I mean, we got all these tools like
00:01:09cloud code, codex, cursor, get a copilot, open code. And by the way, I got courses on codex,
00:01:16cloud code, get a copilot and cursor. And I'll put my links below. shameless plug if you want to learn
00:01:21how to use them efficiently, because I've been working with these tools for the last year,
00:01:26the last months, and I shared my views before, I think it's a must have for every developer,
00:01:31you should use these tools, you should use AI for coding. It is amazing. It's also totally different.
00:01:37And then at the same time, I'm predicting that jobs, the job market will get better. And at least
00:01:45the last couple of weeks and months it it looks like Yeah, I mean, you can't deny that there there
00:01:50is an upward trend here, right? Now, of course, you could say, yeah, that trend will stop and things
00:01:56will go down again. And yeah, obviously, my crystal ball is kind of broken. So I can't look into the
00:02:02future. But there are good reasons why this is changing. And the number one reason is also one
00:02:09you probably heard before I shared it before this part here, there was the pandemic, companies
00:02:17massively over hired back then. So this year, this decline has nothing to do with AI. Of course,
00:02:25now we live in a world where AI plays a huge role. And I definitely see companies being hesitant
00:02:33about hiring, especially about hiring junior developers. At the same time, I think companies
00:02:40are realizing for one, that AI right now is not that magical thing that really allows them to
00:02:49replace all their employees. And again, I don't know what will be the case in 10 years. And
00:02:56what we will do, I don't see a future where humans don't do any work anymore and are not
00:03:03employed anymore. I don't know. But I think we always adapted, we will adapt, our jobs will simply
00:03:08change. And for software developers, it is changing. I mean, that is my entire point with
00:03:14these tools, the way I write code drastically changed. And it's still all about having those
00:03:20skills as a developer about being able to architect software, being able to steer the AI, being able to
00:03:25review and judge the code that is more important than ever. And I believe and I shared that in that
00:03:32video here, too. I believe companies are realizing that AI is not that thing that allows them to
00:03:42replace employers. Instead, they want to combine both. And they want software engineers, including
00:03:50junior developers, to use and leverage these AI tools, which is why I also shared in that same
00:03:56video, and I'm sorry that I'm repeating myself here, that of course, as a developer, you must
00:04:02be able to efficiently use these tools if you want to get a job. No matter which one, the best tool
00:04:08changes all the time. I have heavily worked with all of them because it's part of my job. And I
00:04:13like learning new stuff. And I can tell you they're all great. I can get awesome results out of all of
00:04:19them. I do like them all. Codex is amazing, especially with their desktop app. Cloud code is amazing. Yeah,
00:04:25you get my point. But you should at least learn one of these tools. And most importantly, learn how
00:04:31to use that tool. And if you learned one, shifting to another tool is not that difficult, just as it's
00:04:38pretty easy to move from one JavaScript framework to another because the core ideas are typically
00:04:44the same. Obviously, there are differences here and there. Some features that exist in one tool,
00:04:49but not in another. But hey, you can use my course for that. Anyways, you must be able to use AI if
00:04:56you want to get a job. But then I think junior developers can have one big advantage compared
00:05:02to senior developers for a company, so from a company's perspective. In theory, a senior developer
00:05:10who uses AI is amazing or can be amazing. But at the same time, of course, junior developers
00:05:17right now in time are probably more likely to be AI native. You may have used it in college and
00:05:25university. You may have used it for learning to code or for boosting your learning process.
00:05:31So it is absolutely possible that you know way more about working with AI than some of those
00:05:38established developers do. The senior developers do. Of course, not all of them. It's never all of
00:05:44them. But some of them. And I think that can be a huge plus going forward in this year and in
00:05:51general for junior developers. Being AI native. And I know buzzword alarm. It's all buzzwords. It's all
00:05:58hype. Don't get me wrong. But the technology is here. It's useful. And it's here to stay.
00:06:04And therefore, adapting means learning how to efficiently work with it with or without a
00:06:11quiz. It doesn't matter. But learning how to efficiently work with it. And then I think
00:06:16things may continue to look good going forward in this year. And nobody knows what will be the
00:06:23case in two or three years. But let's be honest. That was true a couple of years ago, too. The best
00:06:29we can do right now or you can do is get the most out of the current situation. Because just to be
00:06:35super clear here, too, if AI will ever take all jobs by all developers, it will not stop there.
00:06:43So yeah, that is not really... Switching into another job might be that safe option
00:06:51you would hope it to be. So for now, I'm really just quite happy that
00:06:55my prediction here, right now at least, seems to be coming true.