Reply to: State of the Market

[rocktronAMP]

BTW - Some of these reasonably well paid train AI to code jobs on LI are a scam. Apparently the way it works is they invite you to an interview, for which you must accept Ts&Cs, waiving the right to pursue them as part of any class action lawsuit being one of them - a waiver you can opt out of by physical letter. The interview is conducted purely by AI. No work ever offered. Seems like they are just capturing video/audio of technical interviews for whatever purpose they think training AI on such things might be useful.

Wow! Thanks willendure for your thoughts. I speculate mass Agentic Interviewing claiming to cut out the recruitment consultants and scale on today's macroeconomic realities, "Today, we built a new fangled AI platform called WILL-U-ROCK (see what I did there?) that interviews 1,000 senior devs in 24 hours for 3 positions and save you whatever from wherever. Deal?"

I just clicked again on one these LinkedIn again Hire Feed / Backend Software Engineer (Remote) - Payout USD 60-110 / hour - 23 hours ago, Remote (work from anywhere) then no longer accepting applications. Fast moves / Fast Life. Yeah, right. How can we filter out companies on LinkedIn AI Job Search?

Like I said, claiming leading AI companies with celebrity VCs like Peter Thiel drew my suspicions. The "gentleman's but", however, there is no right of reply on this forum. Go carefully in to the night / day.

[willendure]

I am still looking... I thought two weeks ago would have the berries, because I had few decent interviews and then nothing else. One rejection, but remaining two still are positive but there is no news and the poor recruiter are chasing whoever. That's my state of the market. Up and then down. Meanwhile I am working another project that will hopefully brings in income.

Anyhow, I am concerned about platform-appearing-on-platform effects. I am on LinkedIn a lot and using the AI job search. Maybe this should be separate forum thread btw. Recently, I see three new companies: Hire Feed, Crossing Hurdles and Mercor offering contracts with an hourly rate at USD 25.0 USD 120.0 for a remote Java Developer (work from anywhere / usually to 20 hours a week)



There is only a couple of global leaders in the AI industry: OpenAI and Anthropic. As a technical lead software engineer guy, is this not feeding the machine that will put us out of business? Is this a sort of scam? I don't know these companies and my hackles are up, regarding security, risking personal identifiable information (PII) by submitting your or mine CV. I am genuinely interested on other contract developer opinions.

Here is the more blurb about Mercor:



Adage: if the sale/offer sounds too good to be true, then it probably is

BTW - Some of these reasonably well paid train AI to code jobs on LI are a scam. Apparently the way it works is they invite you to an interview, for which you must accept Ts&Cs, waiving the right to pursue them as part of any class action lawsuit being one of them - a waiver you can opt out of by physical letter. The interview is conducted purely by AI. No work ever offered. Seems like they are just capturing video/audio of technical interviews for whatever purpose they think training AI on such things might be useful.

[SchumiStars]

I am still looking... I thought two weeks ago would have the berries, because I had few decent interviews and then nothing else. One rejection, but remaining two still are positive but there is no news and the poor recruiter are chasing whoever. That's my state of the market. Up and then down. Meanwhile I am working another project that will hopefully brings in income.

Anyhow, I am concerned about platform-appearing-on-platform effects. I am on LinkedIn a lot and using the AI job search. Maybe this should be separate forum thread btw. Recently, I see three new companies: Hire Feed, Crossing Hurdles and Mercor offering contracts with an hourly rate at USD 25.0 USD 120.0 for a remote Java Developer (work from anywhere / usually to 20 hours a week)



There is only a couple of global leaders in the AI industry: OpenAI and Anthropic. As a technical lead software engineer guy, is this not feeding the machine that will put us out of business? Is this a sort of scam? I don't know these companies and my hackles are up, regarding security, risking personal identifiable information (PII) by submitting your or mine CV. I am genuinely interested on other contract developer opinions.

Here is the more blurb about Mercor:



Adage: if the sale/offer sounds too good to be true, then it probably is

Could be good or not. Not sure why a US company needs to look outside it's borders, if I have read that corrext irs based in USA.

[rocktronAMP]

I am still looking... I thought two weeks ago would have the berries, because I had few decent interviews and then nothing else. One rejection, but remaining two still are positive but there is no news and the poor recruiter are chasing whoever. That's my state of the market. Up and then down. Meanwhile I am working another project that will hopefully brings in income.

Anyhow, I am concerned about platform-appearing-on-platform effects. I am on LinkedIn a lot and using the AI job search. Maybe this should be separate forum thread btw. Recently, I see three new companies: Hire Feed, Crossing Hurdles and Mercor offering contracts with an hourly rate at USD 25.0 USD 120.0 for a remote Java Developer (work from anywhere / usually to 20 hours a week)

We are hiring for one of our clients, seeking a Java Developer to work on a contractor basis. This individual will apply their expertise to help train next-generation AI systems, shaping how models learn, reason, and perform through high-quality, real-world input. With no prior experience in AI required, what matters is domain knowledge, and the ability to contribute directly to AI system development. This role is a unique opportunity to work with a global leader in the AI industry, leveraging expertise in Java to drive innovation.

There is only a couple of global leaders in the AI industry: OpenAI and Anthropic. As a technical lead software engineer guy, is this not feeding the machine that will put us out of business? Is this a sort of scam? I don't know these companies and my hackles are up, regarding security, risking personal identifiable information (PII) by submitting your or mine CV. I am genuinely interested on other contract developer opinions.

Here is the more blurb about Mercor:

Mercor connects elite creative and technical talent with leading AI research labs. Headquartered in San Francisco, our investors include Benchmark, General Catalyst, Peter Thiel, Adam D'Angelo, Larry Summers, and Jack Dorsey.

Adage: if the sale/offer sounds too good to be true, then it probably is

[fatJock]

The permie world is not much stabler than contracting nowadays. There are lay offs all the time. Particularly if you are working for a consultancy.

This ... totally. Where I am at the moment perms were always telling me that they far preferred the stability and that contracting was risky.

Singing a different tune now that lots are being laid off post acquisition. The quicker people realise that they're just a number ... quick to be dropped when it doesn't serve the employer the better.

In my industry [Logistics] people are as disposable as the customer contracts they are working on with customers doing an endless 3PL merry go-round every couple of years.

[SussexSeagull]

Just popped in here to see if it was worth having a look for a contract (or even permanent role) due to the market improving.

Will leave you to it!

[avonleigh]

I would take 50k per year permi. At least that way, always have a job and just ride it out until retirement. Pickup a 3mth contract for some extra cash, over the year.

Contracting is too fickle. No office means, no lunches or runs with manager and no drinks on Fri. Not easy building relationships over teams these days.

I had managers who would fight my corner when the CIO was asking to reduce heads. Won't get that nowadays.

The permie world is not much stabler than contracting nowadays. There are lay offs all the time. Particularly if you are working for a consultancy.

[SchumiStars]

Average grad pay is something like 35K.

So low 60s is good for someone with 2 or 3 years industry experience.

Also good for someone with much more experience but with 2 or 3 years current experience of the bench

I would take 50k per year permi. At least that way, always have a job and just ride it out until retirement. Pickup a 3mth contract for some extra cash, over the year.

Contracting is too fickle. No office means, no lunches or runs with manager and no drinks on Fri. Not easy building relationships over teams these days.

I had managers who would fight my corner when the CIO was asking to reduce heads. Won't get that nowadays.

[sadkingbilly]

not seeing ANY Algorithmic requirements apart from underlying languages.

[willendure]

Nearly every role involves AI now. The difference might be how they expect you to use it. As a helper/tool in your current way of working. Or completely change your workflow by attempting to use some kind of AI native or AI first methodology.

Yes, quite a mix of requirements. Some are for coding with AI ranging from light to heavy use of it. Some are for building out new AI systems, not even LLM based, but machine learning other architectures. And some are for building out platforms with AI agents involved, through various tools and frameworks. The coding and AI agents stuff particularly seems to be on the rise.

[Fraidycat]

Feel like I am seeing a lot more AI roles, or most roles at least mentioning AI in conjunction with other things, dev + AI, architect + AI, security + AI.

Nearly every role involves AI now. The difference might be how they expect you to use it. As a helper/tool in your current way of working. Or completely change your workflow by attempting to use some kind of AI native or AI first methodology.

[willendure]

Feel like I am seeing a lot more AI roles, or most roles at least mentioning AI in conjunction with other things, dev + AI, architect + AI, security + AI.

[Fraidycat]

low 60s was the max .......even RAC are offering £66K nowadays for a L2 mobile vehicle technician with similar hours!

Average grad pay is something like 35K.

So low 60s is good for someone with 2 or 3 years industry experience.

Also good for someone with much more experience but with 2 or 3 years current experience of the bench

[Croesus]

Got an interesting possibility here - just spoke with the agent.

Based in NY but 100% remote via an Argentinian consultancy (so money will be cr@p but, hey ho).

The role is very legacy - basically working on an old C++ MFC application - was once my bread and butter and I suppose these days it would be considered somewhat niche. Conversation was very positive so keeping my fingers crossed.

[uk contractor]

State of the market is few jobs pay is getting even lower LOL

Was up for a role I decided to not bother with as salary was so low...should have been in the mid 80s they felt low 60s was the max .......even RAC are offering £66K nowadays for a L2 mobile vehicle technician with similar hours!