[February 2026] Tech Job Market Trends Monthly

Welcome to the 2nd issue of Tech Job Market Monthly! If you missed the previous months, you can check out the previous issues of Tech Job Market Learning Monthly here.

So a quick recap of how this works:

Each month we sit down and check out the US job market for each major field in tech, so that you can get a mile-high view of how each industry is looking.

Why the US?

Mainly because it's the biggest market and because a lot of the other markets trail the US by a few months. This means its fairly indicative of upcoming trends in other regions as well, although there may be specific geographic factors where you're based.

How do we come up with this information?

We do this by combining data across 3 sources:

1. Indeed

2. LinkedIn

3. Google trends

However, Indeed has decided this month to hide the ability for us to see total # of jobs, which throws a bit of a wrench into our data.

Basically, any role that has more than 1,000 open job listings on Indeed, no longer shows the accurate number and instead simply lists it as '1,000+'.

So for this month's post, we're going to focus on the LinkedIn job data, but make sure to keep in mind that this definitely doesn't represent all the jobs available in a given role. Indeed tends to have a much higher number of jobs available compared to LinkedIn. And then there are many other job platforms as well.

For example

If we look at the Machine Learning Engineer open jobs from last month, we can see that there were 3,402 ML engineering jobs on LinkedIn, which is not bad. However, that same role had 21,000 open positions on Indeed, which is a 600%+ difference in postings!

For next month's edition, I'll try to find a 3rd source with specific job number listings and keep looking to see if there's a way to get the specific job numbers from Indeed.

So with that out of the way, let's get into the data for February 2026.

Current Job Trends in the Tech Industry for February 2026

I know some of you just want the hard data, so I've made a handy dandy table here to show you the total # of job openings for each role:

The biggest month over month increase was in the openings for AI Engineers, UI/UX Designers, and Game Developers.

Blockchain developers technically had the largest percentage increase, but it was bouncing back from a similar sized drop the previous month. When the absolute numbers are small, we tend to see larger percentage swings.

If you're still with me, let's break down the data for each role.

1. Software Developer and Software Engineer

Although AI Engineers and UI/UX Designers saw the biggest percentage growth, it's the 2 main software roles that continue to dominate the number of open positions.

While the level of hiring is nowhere near the craziness our industry experienced during the COVID years, the current AI narrative that software development jobs are disappearing in droves doesn't seem to be playing out in the data, so let's break this down.

There's been a lot of talk about this recently with people weighing in, which led me to this post by David Sacks:

This is in reference to the FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) data that's being pulled from Indeed showing job posting trends for certain roles.

In this case, software development job postings in the US for the last 5 years:

Now at first glance, this looks bad because we have the downturn after that post COVID boom.

However, as Davis Sacks highlights above, if we zoom in, then we can see that there's actually more jobs over the past year, and 2026 is growing quite quickly so far:

So not what you'd expect if you only listened to the media narrative that these LLM companies (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) are replacing every job and industry overnight!

So why is this?

Well, as Aaron Levie pointed out (and which I agree with and have simplified), as the entry costs get lower, the demand for skilled people increases:

All in all, things don't seem to be as doom and gloom as you're led to believe and it's possible things are looking up and we're starting to see some growth for Software Devs and Engineers.

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - February 2026:

• 72,781 Software Engineer (+0.4%/monthly)

• 53,654 Software Developer (-2.7%/monthly)

The LinkedIn data is showing job openings relatively flat. However, if we had the Indeed numbers as well, we would have likely seen a much bigger increase, but either way, these two roles continue to dominate the number of open positions in tech.

That's why we still recommend absolute beginners start out in this role if they want to get hired ASAP:

Google Keywords Trend graphs:

Long Term Growth Outlook:

Let's be honest. It's anyone's guess these days. That said, employment for software developers is still expected to grow 16% by 2032. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below. It will help you get set up in both Software Development and Software Engineering roles:

2. AI and Machine Learning Engineer

Huge growth in job postings for both ML Engineer and AI Engineer roles on LinkedIn this past month. No doubt thanks to the continued AI boom.

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - February 2026:

• 7,268 AI Engineer (+26.6%/monthly)

• 4,042 ML Engineer (+18.8%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graphs:

Long Term Growth Outlook:

As I said last month, Statista reports that the global AI and machine learning market is projected to grow to $503.40 billion by 2030. This massive surge is driven by 88% of organizations now utilizing AI in at least one business function to achieve high-impact automation and deeper data insights.

We're clearly seeing the impact this month and realistically it's still such early days for companies incorporating and adopting these technologies so our guess is that this trend will continue.

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

3. Data Scientist

Data Scientists continue to play a critical role in turning raw data into business insight, which is why they will continue to be in high demand. Not a huge amount of growth this month, but anything in the up direction is always a good sign!

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - February 2026:

• 4,991 Data Scientist (+5.3%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

Long Term Growth Outlook:

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that employment for Data Scientists will grow 33% through 2034, making it the fourth fastest-growing occupation in the United States.

This expansion is expected to create approximately 23,400 job openings annually as organizations across all sectors seek to leverage massive volumes of data for informed, data-driven decision-making and the development of new products.

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

4. Cybersecurity Analyst and Cybersecurity Specialist

Cybersecurity remains a mission-critical function as digital infrastructure expands and attack surfaces grow across every industry. Cybersecurity is also becoming increasingly embedded into engineering and infrastructure teams rather than treated as a standalone function.

That's why we're seeing a fairly substantial increase in roles this month.

This field is a bit tricky because there is a wide variety of job titles. For the purposes of this monthly newsletter, we're going to focus on Cybersecurity Analyst and Cybersecurity Specialist.

We're going to put together a post in the near future breaking down all the different roles as well so make sure to subscribe so you don't miss that if you're interested in this field.

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - February 2026:

• 3,195 Cybersecurity Specialist (+18.9%/monthly)

• 2,292 Cybersecurity Analyst (No data for last month - started tracking this month)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

Long Term Growth Outlook:

Statista projects that the global cybersecurity market will reach approximately $211.69 billion by the end of 2026, with an expected annual growth rate of 5.79% from 2026 to 2030. We're definitely seeing signs of that right now with this months 18% growth in job openings just for the Cybersecurity Specialist role.

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

5. AI Developer and Prompt Engineer

AI Developers and Prompt Engineers are still such new roles, and companies are still not sure exactly what they need in terms of skills for these roles. All they know is they want people who can work with AI to either help build AI-powered products, or apply it to business workflows.

That's why many of these roles are evolving into broader AI Developer or product-focused positions, with prompting becoming a core skill requirement rather than a standalone career track.

For example:

Last month there were 126,000 Dev roles on Indeed requiring prompting skills. However, in the interest of tracking these separately, we're going to keep focused on specific Prompt Engineering roles for now, and not job postings asking for this as an additional skill.

That being said, it's still early days, but the AI dev role has definitely seen some growth this month.

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - February 2026:

• 299 AI Developer (+20.5%/monthly)

• 82 Prompt Engineer (-5%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graphs:

Long Term Growth Outlook:

Difficult to say as the industries start to understand how these roles fit and where they are needed. There will definitely be high demand though, but the names may change or simply be additional skillsets required for other roles in this list.

Overall, prompt engineering is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of roughly 32%, positioning it as one of the fastest-growing segments within the applied AI ecosystem.

Want to get started in these roles or pick up these skills? Check out the career path and courses below:

Beginner

Prompt Engineering Bootcamp (Working With AI & LLMs): Zero to Mastery

32 Hours •290 Lessons

Stop memorizing random prompts. Instead, learn how Large Language Models (LLMs) actually work and how to use them effectively. This course will take you from being a complete beginner to the forefront of the AI world.

Scott Kerr

6. UX and UI Designer

Solid good month of growth for UX/UI Designer roles on LinkedIn. So far it seems like even with all these new AI tools, companies are still hiring people in the product designer and UX/UI role.

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - February 2026:

• 851 UX/UI Designer (+45.9%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

Long Term Growth Outlook:

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that employment for UX/UI Designers will grow 7% through 2034, adding approximately 15,500 new jobs.

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

7. DevOps Engineer

Small amount of growth this month, and steady expansion driven by cloud complexity and automation needs.

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - February 2026:

• 2,830 DevOps Engineer (+6.7%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

Long Term Growth Outlook:

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects the DevOps industry to grow 15% through 2034, creating approximately 287,900 new jobs.

This demand is specifically driven by the need for advanced automation in software delivery, the management of complex cloud infrastructures (IaC), and the integration of AI-driven "AIOps" into standard development lifecycles.

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

8. Data Engineer

Some fairly good growth in LinkedIn postings for this role. Just to note, Indeed had over 115,000 postings in our January report, so this is definitely a booming industry. That's because Data Engineers are foundational to modern data-driven organizations, responsible for building and maintaining the systems that power analytics and AI.

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - February 2026:

• 8,119 Data Engineer (+12.6%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

Long Term Growth Outlook:

The global big data market is projected to reach approximately $90 billion to $103 billion in 2026. This growth is fueled by the fact that data engineering remains one of the fastest-growing tech occupations, with industry reports citing a 50% year-over-year increase in job postings.

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

9. Data Analyst

You would think with the growth of AI and its ability to analyze early data this might not be needed, but it's still as vital as ever.

I saw a post this week where a company had been feeding its data into an LLM and running its strategy for months, and only just realized that it was all hallucinations. They set up new locations and all kinds of things by not actually having someone in place to check that the info was correct. Be careful out there!

The bad news is that there's been a drop in open roles this month. We'll keep an eye on it in future months.

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - February 2026:

• 18,500 Data Analyst (-4.7%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

Long Term Growth Outlook:

Data analysis is projected to grow 34% through 2034, making it one of the fastest-growing occupations in the country with roughly 23,400 annual openings. Data Analysts continue to be the bridge between raw data and day-to-day business decision-making.

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

10. Blockchain Developer

Blockchain Developers operate in a highly specialized niche focused on decentralized systems, smart contracts, and Web3 infrastructure. But it's still very early days, hence job postings can vary wildly.

For example

This month, open positions are up over 70% vs. January but were down 71% in January vs. December, so there seems to be a lot of volatility in the job openings which seems very fitting if you've ever tracked the prices of cryptocurrencies 😂!

Still a very interesting industry to look into though, with excellent salaries. It's possible there could be a new boom coming, depending on how these AI Agents interact within the internet at large. Are they going to rely on stablecoins and crypto infrastructure? Time will tell.

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - February 2026:

• 417 Blockchain Developer (+70.9%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

Long Term Growth Outlook:

The global blockchain-as-a-service market size was valued at USD $3.25 billion in 2024 and is projected to go from $5.13 billion in 2025 to $199.15 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 58% during the forecast period (2025-2033).

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

11. Business Intelligence Analyst

Business Intelligence Analysts focus on transforming organizational data into structured reporting and executive insight.

Demand is strongest for analysts who can combine technical reporting skills with strong business communication and stakeholder alignment which is why we're seeing a significant increase again this month.

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - February 2026:

• 1,290 Business Intelligence Analyst (+23.9%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

Long Term Growth Outlook:

Statista estimates that the global Business Intelligence and analytics software market will reach approximately $35.2 billion to $55.48 billion by the end of 2026.

This market surge is fueled by the rapid adoption of AI-powered BI tools and cloud-based platforms, as companies across the United States prioritize digital transformation to remain competitive in a data-driven economy

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

12. Game Developer

Game Developers remain central to one of the largest entertainment industries in the world, spanning console, mobile, and online platforms.

Studios are hiring cautiously but a significant bump in open positions this month. Also, if you're a fellow DND nerd, WOTC are hiring right now.

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - January 2026:

• 465 Game Developer (+39%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

Growth Outlook:

Statista reports that global revenue in the video game market is projected to reach approximately $564.27 billion in 2026. While the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects 16% growth in new Game Dev jobs by 2034.

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

What's next?

So that's all the data for February.

Make sure to subscribe below to get the latest data and updates each month.