The founders of Hello Interview have highlighted the current challenging situation in the technology job market. They expressed that there is a scarcity of job positions compared to the peak hiring period in 2022, leading companies to have higher standards when selecting candidates. In their analysis for "The Pragmatic Engineer," Evan King and Stefan Mai pointed out that junior engineers are facing the brunt of these difficulties.

Previously, being a competent software engineer was sufficient to secure a job, but now perfection is expected. The founders, Evan King and Stefan Mai, who have experience at companies like Meta and Amazon, emphasized that the competition has intensified due to the abundance of qualified candidates in the job pool.

They noted that the number of available jobs has only slightly increased since hitting a low point in 2023, resulting in a more rigorous selection process by companies. The difficulty of interviews has increased as the bar for securing a job in Big Tech has been raised significantly. While engineers in specialized areas like AI infrastructure and machine learning operations have more opportunities, those in core domains such as frontend, backend services, and mobile development are experiencing fewer job openings.

The founders elucidated that junior engineers, particularly recent graduates entering the market, are facing the most intense competition. They shared the story of a graduate from the Indian Institutes of Technology, considered the top computer science university in India, who has struggled to secure a position despite applying to over 100 companies in the past six months without receiving any offers.