We sorted this week’s 4,536 software jobs into a ladder, and looked at the bottom step.
By the Glassbox team · the week of 19 October 2026
This story keeps to one week, 19 October 2026. The entry level software page starts a new count every Monday.
Job ad · this week
Junior Software Engineer
Prima
experience...., skills.....
This week, Prima advertised a job called Junior Software Engineer. It got us curious about the state of software jobs.
If you’re looking for your first software job, you’ve probably heard that jobs like this are disappearing.
AI writes more of the code now, the story goes, and the bottom steps of the ladder are going.
It isn’t only a mood. Stanford researchers found that employment of 22 to 25 year olds in the jobs most exposed to AI is 19% below where it would be had it kept pace with their peers.
We decided to investigate. Glassbox counts public job ads every week, so we looked at that data. Here's what we found.
Out of every 100 software jobs advertised this week, how many do you think were entry level?
Tap or drag one person across the people to set your guess. Or keep scrolling, and we’ll show our count anyway.
Your guess none yet
14.14 of every 100 software jobs advertised this week were entry level: 629 of the 4,536.
Each drawn person is 1 of every 100 software jobs advertised this week. Your picks get a pen ring. Our count, 14 of the 100, raises a hand and turns lime. Software jobs are the five software families on the entry level page: software engineering, backend, frontend, full stack and mobile.
Source: Glassbox count, week of 19 October 2026 · how we count
Now, as a crowd of 4,536 software jobs advertised this week, from about 255 company job boards and a few job sites. Each drawn person is 1025 of them, rounded.
Graphic: a loose crowd of tiny drawn people, one for every 10 jobs (25 on a phone), rounded.
Source: Glassbox count, week of 19 October 2026 · how we count
Sort them by the level each ad asks for, and you get a ladder.
The top step is crowded: 2,816 senior jobs. 1,091 sit in the middle, mid level or not saying.
The bottom step holds 629.
Indeed sees the same lean across US software job ads: 71% of their rise between May 2025 and May 2026 came from senior roles.
Indeed Hiring Lab, 8 July 2026.
Graphic: the people sort onto three steps of a wooden ladder. Top step, 2,816 senior jobs. Middle step, 1,091 mid level or not saying. Bottom step, 629 entry level jobs, about 1 in 7. A man with a big photo head stands at the foot of the ladder, pointing up.
Source: Glassbox count, week of 19 October 2026 · how we count
So no, not dead. In one week, 250 different employers advertised an entry level software job.
One honest note: we went looking. 80 of the 255 company boards we read were chosen because they post graduate and intern jobs, so if anything, our count finds more of them than a random sample would.
Graphic: close up on the bottom step. Its people are lit; the steps above fade. Under the step, 250 tally marks, one per employer.
Source: Glassbox count, week of 19 October 2026 · how we count
Look closer, though. 274 of the 629 are internships, for people who are still studying.
Take those away, and 355 jobs are left for everyone who has already finished.
Graphic: the people for the 274 internships turn lime, put on backpacks and step to the right; the people for the 355 other jobs stay on the left. A graduate with a mortarboard and an intern with a backpack stand at the ends of the step. Four internship titles hang above on lime paper slips, in handwriting: Software Engineer Intern - Ads at Mirakl Labs; Werkstudent (w/m/d) Software Development at Holzland Becker; Ground Software Engineering Intern (Summer 2027) at Muon Space; Backend Engineer - Internship (6 months) at Qonto.
Source: Glassbox count, week of 19 October 2026 · how we count
Most of these ads won’t tell you how many years they want.
Of the 368 jobs with an early career title, 339 state no number of years.
One of them is called “Senior Back-End Engineer Intern”. It asks for two.
Graphic: the people for the 368 jobs with an early career title, wearing name tags. The tags for the 339 that state no number of years are blank; the tags for the 29 that do say “yrs”. One is pulled out: Senior Back-End Engineer Intern, Flowai, asks for 2 years.
Source: Glassbox count, week of 19 October 2026 · how we count
When they do list skills, entry level ads ask for less: a median of 4 required skills, against 6 for senior jobs.
Which skills, though, is a different story.
Graphic: two piles of skill cards on the step. Entry level, 4 cards. Senior, 6 cards. A card links to chapter two, Pick a side.
Source: Glassbox count, week of 19 October 2026 · how we count
Is the bottom step getting thinner? We can’t tell you yet.
We’ve counted for three weeks, and our collection is still growing: 3,274 software jobs on 5 October, 4,536 this week. As new boards come in, the mix shifts. Three points are not a trend.
We count again every Monday, and this line will grow.
Graphic: three weekly points, 16 percent on 5 October (532 of 3,274 jobs), 16 percent on 12 October (561 of 3,595), 14 percent on 19 October (629 of 4,536), labelled too early to tell. Empty slots follow for 26 October and 2 November.
Source: Glassbox count, weeks of 5, 12 and 19 October 2026 · how we count
Source: Glassbox count, week of 19 October 2026 · how we count
Short answer: No, at least not in what we counted.
To be honest, the bottom step is thin: about 1 in 7 software jobs. And our count is young, three weeks so far. It's a starting point though.
That’s the bottom step, as advertised this week. How does it compare with what you’re seeing?
Thanks for reading. Curious where your own CV stands against this week’s jobs?
Your CV is probably on your laptop. Comparing it there takes a minute.
One week, 19 October 2026. The entry level software page counts again on Monday.
Entry level means one of three things. The job's level reads as intern, entry level or junior. Or its title says intern, graduate, new grad, entry level, early career or junior. Or it requires 2 years of experience or less and its level isn't senior.
Software means five job types: software engineering, backend, frontend, full stack and mobile.
We look for about 250 named skills, by fixed rules, in the 627 ads long enough to read. The other 2 were too short.
The jobs come from public job boards, read every six hours: employers' own boards on Greenhouse, Ashby, Lever and Workable, and job sites such as Remote OK, Remotive, Arbeitnow, Jobicy, Himalayas and We Work Remotely. Each job counts once, however many boards or cities list it.
What we can't see: jobs on boards we don't read, and jobs never posted in public; skills a job names in words that aren't on our list; whether a job is filled, how many people apply, or who gets hired.
Photos: Pexels, by Jason Carlos Avh, Ifeyinka Adeyemo, Monstera Production and Uiliam Nörnberg. Drawings: Glassbox.