The rise and fall of software developer jobs

Demand for software developers has plunged from the boom times of 2021 and 2022, but tech workers in Boston are still some of the best paid in the country.

Why it matters: Even though the labor market remains strong, the supply of higher-paying white-collar jobs (tech, marketing and finance) is pretty meh.

• These positions, "what we once would've called office jobs," are the weakest spot in the labor market, says Nick Bunker, an economist at Indeed.

Catch up fast: There was a pandemic hiring frenzy for these roles. Workers were fielding multiple calls a day from recruiters and naming their price when it came to salary.

• Now, companies are slower to hire now and less willing to expand headcount, Bunker says.
• The decline in demand is likely not an AI thing — the drop-off started before the introduction of ChatGPT.

The big picture: These are still among the best jobs around.

• Software developer is ranked second on the Labor Department's list of occupations with the most projected job growth over the next decade or so, coming in after home health aides.
• And the pay is good. The lowest-paid software developers, located in the Cleveland metro area, earn a median salary of more than $100,000 per year, per a study from ADP last month. The highest paid work in Silicon Valley and earn a median of $163,000.
• In Boston, they take home a median of $144,200, up 25.4% from Jan. 2018.

The bottom line: Good jobs are harder to find.