Some non doom and gloom: Experiencing the post Christmas job market warm up

Pre Christmas - 10 job messages on LinkedIn for the whole of October, 6 for November, and 6 for December. That's a total of 22 across 3 months.

January so far - 20+ job messages (25 to be precise) on LinkedIn in January so far with a week to go.

I have received more messages and interest this month than the entire tail end of last year.

Most of the messages I got were for Senior and Lead DE roles. Some mid DE. One Junior DE which I found interesting because I genuinely can't remember the last time I saw a Junior DE job posting before. A lot of contract positions too ranging between 3-12 months (sometimes I wish I was freelancing). Mostly a mix of hybrid and fully remote. Requirements are pretty standard with nothing mental on average.

In short, my personal experience is that the entire FTE market has woken back up after Christmas.

Not saying this is a huge amount (I'm sure people will have loads more) or that I'm in any way accomplished although what I am saying is as an extremely average DE based in the UK, I'd be surprised if I'm the only one who has seen a significant increase in interest. At least in the UK, although assuming this will be most places in the Western world, there appears to be a lot of DE work available.

For everybody looking for jobs: yes, it's tough. But, if there's a time to be motivated and get out there and look, it's right now. It'll probably be like this for the first quarter or even to the end of this financial year so you have some time. If you're feeling a bit disheartened or burnt out, then this is your cue to take a break, get your shit together, and buckle up for the next 2-3 months because this is your window of opportunity.

Market timin

Yes, job hunting is a grind. Yes, it's draining. Yes, it's hard work. Sometimes you'll feel like the amount of work you put in does not amount to anything. "But I applied for 100 jobs and got nothing back!" I'm sure you're going to say. Remember that one of the most important elements of job hunting is something you can't control - and that's a touch of good luck. Can't be lucky if you don't try and you only need to be lucky once.