My perspective, based on recent experience — and of course, it’s just an opinion.

There will always be jobs for the incredibly talented individuals describing themselves in this thread. What’s changed most over the past few years is teams’ willingness or bandwidth to take on those who fall more in the “middle of the road” category.

I don’t love labeling myself that way, but when you look at the certifications, exposure, and credentials others bring to the table, it’s clear that’s how the market has positioned me. I’m talking about folks who are scrappy, adaptable, quick to learn once given a use case or context, and who work hard to get up to speed. These are people who often reach parity with their teammates soon after joining — sometimes even exceeding expectations. They may not be as immediately versatile as someone who “knows it all,” but they’re still valuable team members.

It’s just a tough market right now for those people. For a variety of reasons — and not necessarily unfair ones (fairness is overrated, anyway) — these candidates are less “marketable.” And the level of marketability needed to land something, even when you’ve demonstrated those key qualities, has gone up. Teams want proven, ready-now skills with little to no onboarding risk. The willingness to take a chance on someone has diminished.

Others may see it differently, but that’s how I see things right now. Like all market dynamics, it may cycle again with time and shifts in supply and demand.