Anthropic has dethroned Google and Meta as the most sought-after destination for engineers preparing interviews on Interviewing.io. That single data point anchors a broader shift documented in this data-heavy second installment from The Pragmatic Engineer: AI labs have become the primary gravitational pull in tech hiring. Senior AI engineers at the 80th percentile in the US are now seeing base salaries above $300K, outpacing equivalent software engineering roles. Meanwhile, frontend and mobile titles are disappearing fastest across the industry, intern intakes at large tech companies have been cut by roughly half, and the ratio of engineering managers to engineers keeps shrinking.
The sourcing here is unusually solid. Workforce.ai monitors over 1 million job changes and 300 million employment validations monthly. SignalFire, a VC firm that normally keeps its labor market data proprietary for portfolio advantage, shared exclusive figures. TrueUp scanned open roles across Big Tech and top-tier startups. Interviewing.io contributed anonymized interview prep signup data, which turns out to be a leading indicator: engineers surge onto the platform when their employer announces layoffs, and the article names the top 20 companies driving that behavior right now.
The full piece is worth reading for two specific threads. First, where engineers actually land after leaving Big Tech: Amazon alumni disperse broadly, while ex-Google, Apple, and Meta engineers funnel heavily into AI labs, and ex-Microsoft workers are the most likely to go independent. Second, the seniority and tenure data: Big Tech headcount is older and more entrenched than at any point since zero-interest-rate hiring ended in 2023, which has direct implications for anyone trying to break in or move up.
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