Is Software Engineering Oversaturated in 2025?
You’re thinking about entering the field but wondering, “Is software engineering oversaturated?” You’re not alone. Common as it is now, this way of thinking is a 180-degree turnabout from just a few years ago, when software engineers were changing jobs like clothes. It seems like the winds had forever favored software engineers; since software has existed, there had never been enough folks to engineer it. Until now. The job market suddenly tightened in 2022 and has remained that way, causing observers to decree that software engineering had its golden harvest and is now settled into an interminable winter. That’s just one view of the situation, though. Read on to examine the arguments in favor and those against software engineering being oversaturated.
Is Software Engineering Oversaturated? Arguments in Favor
No one’s arguing that software engineers have more opportunities now than they did a few years ago. Two factors have made the job market more competitive: there are more qualified job candidates, and tech companies have been laying off workers. A third factor, the adoption of AI to write code, adds to the pessimism about work opportunities expanding for software engineers. Let’s see if these points have any merit.
More Candidates for Jobs
The supply side of the market for software engineering and development jobs has been growing for years. These days, qualified candidates come from three main educational resources: university degree programs, coding bootcamps, and self-instruction via online resources. What’s more, each of these resources produces more skilled job seekers each year.
Graduates of University Degree Programs
Take university degree programs. According to the United States’s National Center for Education Statistics, bachelor’s degrees conferred in the “computer and information sciences and support services” field of study increased 113% between 2012-13 and 2021-22 (the most recent year for which data is available). During that time, the number of degrees conferred increased every year.
Graduates of Coding Bootcamps
The overwhelming majority of software engineers once came from university degree programs, but that’s changed in recent years. Increasingly, newly minted software engineers are acquiring their skills at coding bootcamps. According to Career Karma, US tech bootcamps produced nearly 60,000 graduates in 2022, and 2022 and 2021 accounted for 40% of the total tech bootcamp graduates from 2012-2022. The year-over-year growth of tech bootcamps has slowed, but the number of graduates is still increasing.
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Self-Taught Candidates
With employers caring less and less about how job candidates learned their skills, the job market is more open to self-taught software engineers than ever before. StackOverflow’s 2024 Developer Survey revealed online resources as the top choice of developers for learning to code, with 82% of respondents saying they learned to code using such resources.
The continued growth of qualified job applicants coming from university software engineering programs, coding bootcamps, and self-teaching makes it seem harder for newcomers to secure their first job.
Many Recent Layoffs
The tech layoffs that started in 2022 and continued through 2024 changed the perception of the job market. The scale tilted heavily toward employees and job candidates in 2020 and 2021, with software engineers able to freely switch jobs and negotiate higher salaries. New entrants to the industry also found an abundance of job openings. Today, the market looks a great deal tighter. In 2024, there were over 150,000 layoffs across about 540 tech companies. The new year doesn’t seem to have brought many new opportunities either. According to hiring website Indeed, as of February 7, 2025, software development job listings in the US were still down nearly 9% year over year. The situation in Germany was even grimmer, with listed roles down over 32%. So, while the supply side of the software engineering job market has continued growing, the demand side for employees has continued shrinking.
AI Can Code It
If competing against more candidates for fewer jobs doesn’t paint a grim enough picture, all the accompanying noise about AI displacing software engineers might be enough to deter people from entering the field. While there’s no evidence yet that AI has impacted the job market, it could obviate the need for certain types of coding skills. The following types of AI agents are already automating software engineering tasks:
Planning agents design apps and features and divide them into smaller tasks Coding agents write code Testing agents test code Documenting agents update specs Security agents constantly check for vulnerabilities These are all tasks humans perform, so it’s natural to assume that fewer tasks will result in fewer jobs. However, it’s also possible that the number of roles will grow with the expectation that software engineers will produce more. As Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said at Nvidia GTC 2024, “AI agents are creating a new software development workflow where developers become conductors of an AI orchestra rather than having to play every instrument themselves.”
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Is Software Engineering Oversaturated? Arguments Against
The arguments in favor of software engineering being oversaturated are legitimate, but how do they compare with the arguments against this notion? Although the current job market is tight, long-term demand for software engineers remains high. Furthermore, employers in the field always need specialized skills, and the constant evolution of software engineering always brings new opportunities. Let’s look at these points’ longer-term implications for the field.
High Long-Term Demand
New technologies have been unlocking new efficiencies and raising living standards since time immemorial. This is not likely to change anytime soon. As long as computer-powered tech continues to help people do things better, there will be demand for software engineers. Zoom out from the recent years of layoffs and the view of the job market becomes rosier. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 17% growth in software developer jobs from 2023 to 2033, much faster than the average for all occupations. Furthermore, the last couple of years in the market might not have been as tough as they seem. Yes, many software engineers lost their jobs, but software engineering roles worldwide actually grew from 27.7 million to 28.8 million from 2023 to 2024. While economic conditions are still less favorable to employees and job seekers than in 2021, the number of software engineering jobs is growing.
Employers Always Need Specialized Skills
Competition for simple frontend coding might be fierce, but software engineers skilled in cybersecurity, cloud engineering, and generative AI have plenty of opportunities available to them. Research firm Forrester projects that these areas of software engineering will drive a 5.6% increase in global tech spending in 2025. According to the London School of Economics, artificial intelligence and machine learning engineers will be the most in-demand tech role in 2025. Other engineering jobs that made their top 10 list include cloud engineers, DevOps engineers, and blockchain engineers. LSE’s projection that AI and ML engineering will be the most sought-after roles is likely based on data from the recent past. A 2024 report by LinkedIn showed a 119% increase in AI roles over the preceding two years.
An Evolving Field Brings New Opportunities
Software engineering is a constantly evolving field, with new technologies and challenges emerging regularly. This creates opportunities for those who are willing to learn and adapt, and ensures that there will always be a need for skilled professionals. AI is the biggest recent advancement in software engineering. Companies are quickly discovering how it can boost productivity, and consumers are finding ways it can improve their lives. The potential demand for engineers who can build AI-powered applications is tremendous, which could be tremendously rewarding for those engineers.
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Is Software Engineering Oversaturated? Conclusion
On one hand, the number of people entering software engineering, along with recent layoffs and AI’s coding competence, makes it look like the wrong time to become a software engineer. On the other hand, the number of roles has continued to expand despite recent market headwinds, certain skill sets remain in demand, and the field’s tendency toward change presents new opportunities. As to whether software engineering is or isn’t oversaturated, it depends. For someone on the more basic end of the skills spectrum without the desire to develop their skills or learn new technologies, software engineering will appear oversaturated; however, it’s more that the evolving field no longer needs their skill set. For someone willing to continuously learn, specialize in in-demand areas, and demonstrate value to potential employers, software engineering is far from oversaturated.