Navigating the Tech Job Jungle: NYC vs. San Francisco in 2025
Real stories, data, and survival strategies from both coasts, learn how job seekers are tackling the brutal 2025 tech job market in New York and San Francisco.
Navigating the Tech Job Jungle: NYC vs. San Francisco in 2025
Few corners of the U.S. economy are as mythologized as New York City and San Francisco. In one, you have Gotham, finance meets tech, espresso-fueled hustle meets legacy networks. In the other, Silicon Valley's spiritual capital, once a promised land of unicorn IPOs, now a cautionary tale of mass layoffs and AI disruption. Kara Swisher might call it what it is: a vibe shift, with resumes stuck in the crossfire.
Job-Market Reality Check
In 2022, tech candidates enjoyed a one-to-one job-to-applicant ratio. By late 2023, that dropped to one job per two seekers1. According to Pathrise, tech job postings declined 15%, and ghost jobs, roles that were never meant to be filled, flooded the boards1. ZipRecruiter's confidence index hit a two-year low1.
And then there’s the ATS. Miss a keyword and you're filtered out by a bot faster than you can say “full-stack engineer.” WUSA9’s 2024 investigation confirmed what many already felt: application portals are black holes, interviews are endlessly delayed, and hiring teams are overwhelmed2.
NYC: High Growth, Higher Expectations
Let’s start with the good news. NYC’s tech workforce surpassed Wall Street’s in 2020 and continues to expand3. Today, over 400,000 New Yorkers work in tech, comprising about 5% of the city’s employment and contributing nearly 10% of local wages4. Major employers like JPMorgan Chase, IBM, and Verizon are still hiring4.
But here’s the twist: hybrid jobs have opened NYC roles to national competition. Addison Group reports that 50% of IT jobs in 2025 are fully in-office, 30% hybrid, and only 20% fully remote5.
For entry-level candidates, the bar is sky-high. Portfolios and side projects are now baseline expectations. Bootcamps help—but don’t guarantee callbacks. According to Pathrise, 79% of hiring managers now prioritize demonstrable skills over degrees1. A GitHub repo beats a GPA.
Want to beat the system? Start attending local hackathons and meetups. WUSA9 notes referrals are still the fastest path to bypass ATS filters2.
San Francisco: Ghost Town for New Grads?
Meanwhile, in the Bay Area, the future looks like it’s still in beta. A San Francisco Standard investigation reported that graduate hiring by the top 15 tech firms has plummeted more than 50% since 20196. Startups are lean, layoffs loom, and LLMs (large language models) are replacing junior devs.
Professor James O’Brien at UC Berkeley nailed the sentiment: “Startups used to hire one senior engineer and two juniors. Now they ask, ‘Why hire a junior when GPT can do the job faster?’”6
Real job seekers are feeling the squeeze. One Berkeley grad interviewed at eight companies—no offers. Another applied to 40+ biotech jobs before pivoting to grad school6. Even those who did get jobs admitted that luck, timing, and networking played a huge role.
Not all is lost. UC Berkeley's Katsuya Masaki used AI tools to prep for interviews, master technical concepts, and land a fintech role, all powered by ChatGPT, persistence, and self-study6.
What Works on Both Coasts
Whether you’re fighting for a badge in Midtown or in SoMa, here’s what works in 2025:
- Tailor your resume. ATS bots reward keyword matches. Use the job post as your template.
- Build in-demand skills. Think AI, cloud, cybersecurity. Experience trumps pedigree.
- Lean on referrals. Insider endorsements still beat LinkedIn cold apps2.
- Develop soft skills. A 2025 ResumeTemplates survey found that 53% of hiring managers preferred candidates with no degree but strong communication over degreed peers with poor people skills7.
- Stay persistent. The process is broken, WUSA9 confirms it's a mess for hiring teams too2. Don't take rejections personally.
Final Thought
The tech job market in 2025 is not broken—it’s evolving. Faster, tougher, more automated, yes. But also full of possibility.
Think of it like a bug-ridden game level: unpredictable, but beatable. With the right inputs, skills, networking, resilience, you don't just play. You win.
As Kara Swisher might quip: “Tech always reinvents itself. You should too.”
Want to go from ghosted to shortlisted? Cirby.ai helps you create tailored, keyword-optimized applications that cut through the noise and get seen, fast.