Before you hand in your notice because you’re “bored” let’s talk about what’s really going on out there.
Introduction: you’re not stuck you’re just not in a dumpster fire
You ever scroll through LinkedIn, see someone posting “just accepted a new role at some stealth-mode AI unicorn,” and feel like you’re wasting away in your stable, semi-boring software job? Yeah same.
But here’s the thing: that quiet job you’re lowkey resenting might be the best thing you’ve got in 2025.
Welcome to the post-hype collapse of the tech job market. Layoffs are still happening. Job applications are ghost towns. And even if you do make it past the resume filter, chances are your recruiter got laid off last week.This isn’t fearmongering. It’s just the reality seasoned devs are seeing (and what some brave souls are yelling into Reddit voids).
Before you rage-quit because you’re “not feeling challenged,” or because a recruiter messaged you with a salary that sounds suspiciously made up let’s talk. About boredom. Burnout. Black holes. And why the market might not be your friend right now.
This article is your dev-to-dev PSA: Don’t jump just because you can. Let’s break down what’s really going on and why staying in your stable gig might be the smartest power move no one’s bragging about on LinkedIn.
The grass isn’t greener it’s just a well-filtered LinkedIn post
So you’re scrolling through your feed and BAM someone announces, “Thrilled to share I’m starting a new role at [insert AI/crypto/LLM-adjacent startup]!” Cue the FOMO. You start questioning your own life choices while sipping cold coffee from a mug that says “Deploy or Die.”
But let’s keep it real: most of what you’re seeing is highlight reel BS.
Behind every polished job update post, there are probably 50+ people who got ghosted, ignored, or trapped in endless interview loops that led to… nothing. Some poor soul spent weeks prepping Leetcode hell rounds, only to be told they weren’t a “culture fit” because they didn’t smile enough during the behavioral interview.
Here’s what “the greener grass” often hides:
- Job listings with zero intention to hire some companies are just farming resumes or signaling “growth” to VCs.
- Interview processes longer than RPG main quests five rounds, four take-homes, one system design panel, and a “vibe check” with the CFO’s cat.
- Compensation that looks better but isn’t higher salary, but no benefits, no PTO, and a boss who thinks weekends are for side features.
- Toxic new teams because you didn’t get to ask the real questions behind “We’re like a family.”
The internet is full of posts glamorizing job switching as if it’s always a level-up. What they don’t post is the weeks of self-doubt, anxiety, rejection, and recruiter ghosting it took to get there if they even got there at all.
You might think you’re being “left behind.” You’re not.
You’re just not voluntarily jumping into a job-hunting thunderdome when you already have food, shelter, and a manager who actually approves PTO.
Mass layoffs have changed the hiring meta and not in your favor
If job hunting in 2020 was like playing on “normal” mode, 2025 is “Elden Ring with permadeath.”
Tech layoffs hit like a global DDoS attack Meta, Google, Amazon, even cozy SaaS startups that swore they were “family” all did the same thing: cut deep, cut fast, and posted a LinkedIn note that started with “This was a hard decision.”
The aftermath? Absolute chaos.
Here’s the updated meta you didn’t ask for:
- Hundreds of devs flood every single job posting. Not an exaggeration some companies are getting 1000+ applications in a day, especially for remote roles.
- ATS filters are savage now. If your resume doesn’t have exact matching keywords (like some unholy SEO game), it’s deleted before a human sees it.
- Hiring pipelines are frozen. Teams get approval to post a role, then suddenly budgets vanish, or the recruiter disappears like a ninja.
- Startups are scared. Even well-funded ones are operating on lean mode. They’re not taking risks. Hiring juniors? Lol. Relocating talent? Good luck.
And let’s not forget: the layoffs didn’t just remove ICs entire recruiting departments got vaporized. Which means…
- There’s no one to reply to you
- No updates after interviews
- No feedback loop
You’re not being ghosted because you suck. You’re being ghosted because there’s literally no one left to answer emails.
In short, the hiring game has changed. It’s not just about how good you are anymore it’s about timing, luck, and navigating a system running on fumes.
Boredom is a bad reason to jump ship seriously, stop it
We get it. You’re staring at Jira tickets that feel like NPC fetch quests. You’ve refactored the same component four times. Your brain itches for something new like writing Rust at a Series A startup with a kombucha bar and cool swag.
But here’s the thing: boredom is not a valid reason to throw yourself into the job market fire right now. Especially when “new” might just be a shinier flavor of broken.
The truth? Every job gets boring eventually.
Even the dream ones. Even the “we use Golang and do pair programming” ones. Because software development isn’t 100% dopamine hits and greenfield projects it’s mostly maintenance, weird legacy bugs, and people who still think tab vs space debates are productive.
What boredom really means is:
You’ve mastered your current loop. Now you’re craving a side quest.
So what do you do instead of rage-quitting?
- Lateral moves inside your company. Want to try platform engineering? SRE? AI tooling? Ask. You might be surprised.
- Spin up a side project. Build something dumb and fun. A meme generator. A bot that talks like your manager. Anything to feel alive again.
- Mentor or pair with juniors. Share that graybeard knowledge. Teaching is one of the best ways to reignite your passion (and realize you actually know a lot)
- Read deep tech. Learn weird stuff you don’t need like compiler design or writing a game engine. You don’t have to change jobs to grow.
Switching jobs because you’re bored is like breaking up with someone just because they didn’t want to try a new restaurant this week.
Sometimes the answer isn’t “leave” it’s “get curious again.”
Burnout ≠ bounce quitting isn’t always the cure
You wake up tired. You open your laptop and instantly want to close it. Meetings drain you. Slack pings feel like mini panic attacks. You’re cooked.
So naturally, the solution must be: quit the job, right?
New job, fresh start, clean slate?
Not so fast, coder.
Burnout and boredom might feel the same but they’re not.
Boredom says: “I’m unstimulated.”
Burnout screams: “I’m on fire and nobody notices.”
And here’s the kicker: changing jobs during burnout won’t fix you it’ll break you harder.
Imagine switching to a new company and having to:
- Prove yourself from zero.
- Navigate a new codebase that was duct-taped together in 2019.
- Learn team dynamics.
- Fake energy during 5+ Zoom calls a day.
Now do all that while already mentally fried.
Yeah. That’s not recovery that’s self-destruction with prettier office swag.
Here’s what might help instead:
- Take a proper break. Use your PTO. Actually unplug. Don’t use vacation to “interview in peace.”
- Talk to your manager. A real one will listen and help adjust workload or rotate you to something less draining.
- Set boundaries like a firewall. Turn off notifications after 6 PM. Mute Slack on weekends. Your brain isn’t AWS it doesn’t need to be 99.9999% available.
- Talk to a therapist. Burnout isn’t just work-related it’s often tied to deeper stuff. Processing it helps.
Burnout recovery isn’t about running away. It’s about slowing down before you collapse. Fix yourself before trying to fix your job.
Otherwise, you’re just dragging your burnout baggage into a new office where you’ll unpack it all over again.
The “stable job” is underrated it’s not boring, it’s a flex
There was a time when staying at the same company for more than 18 months made you look like a dinosaur in tech.
“Bro, you haven’t job-hopped since 2022?”
But in this market? That “boring” job you’ve kept with reliable pay, benefits, and PTO that actually gets approved is low-key god-tier.
Let’s reframe the definition of “stable”:
- You get paid on time.
- You’re not constantly waiting for Series B funding.
- You’re not gaslit into believing 80-hour weeks = passion.
- Your weekends actually feel like weekends.
You’re not “wasting potential.”
You’re surviving late-stage capitalism with health insurance.
Real talk: stability is the new glow-up.
- Your rent is covered.
- You sleep without checking Hacker News layoffs before bed.
- You don’t flinch when Slack pings after 5PM.
And while everyone else is flailing in the job-hunt black hole, you’re sipping your coffee, pushing clean commits, and planning your weekend without recruiter spam.
In this economy, “stable” isn’t lameit’s the cheat code.
The flex isn’t “I just landed a new gig.”
The flex is “My job still exists, pays well, and I don’t wake up in fight-or-flight mode.”
What to do if you must switch without getting nuked
Alright. Let’s say you’ve read everything up till now and still feel like it’s time to move on. Maybe your company’s circling the drain. Maybe your manager thinks “agile” means micromanaging you hourly. Or maybe you’ve just outgrown the place.
Cool. But let’s be smart about this.
This isn’t 2019 when you could casually float your resume and have recruiters tripping over each other to offer you 2x your current salary and free AirPods.
This is 2025. The rules have changed.
So here’s your survival guide if you must jump:
Get your skills sharp first.
Don’t just rage-apply. Update your GitHub. Brush up on the interview loops (DSA, systems design, behavioral).
Use sites like:
You’re not preparing to apply you’re preparing to win.
2. Resume = SEO document.
It’s not about being clever. It’s about keywords.
Use the job post’s language directly.
If it says “Node.js, TypeScript, Kubernetes,” then those exact words better be in your resume or the ATS bots yeet your file into digital purgatory.
3. Apply surgically, not emotionally.
Don’t spam-apply to 100 places in one night. Focus on:
- Roles where your experience clearly matches
- Companies that are actually hiring (check Layoffs.fyi before applying)
- Startups that haven’t gone full ghost mode
4. Keep your current job while searching.
Seriously. Quitting before having another offer in hand right now is like logging out before saving your Elden Ring run.
You think you’re free then you get one-shotted by a silent rejection streak.
5. Create a support system.
Job hunting today is emotionally brutal. Join dev Discords, talk to ex-colleagues, check r/cscareerquestions, and don’t isolate.
You’ll need people to vent to when that “perfect fit” company ghosts you after round four.
Pro Tip: If you’re underpaid, start with a counter-offer at your current company.
Some are surprisingly open to keeping you because hiring your replacement is more expensive than you think.
Conclusion: don’t jump level up where you are
Let’s land this ship.
Yes, it’s tempting to dip the moment things get repetitive or your buddy posts another “I’m excited to announce…” flex. But right now? Jumping ship without a plan is like updating prod on a Friday it might work, but probably won’t.
Here’s the TL;DR your future self will thank you for:
- Boredom is not burnout. Diagnose the difference before you torch your stability.
- Burnout doesn’t mean “get a new job” sometimes it means “take a nap, close Slack, and breathe.”
- The market’s rough. Even great engineers are getting ghosted and chewed up by broken hiring funnels.
- Having a stable job in 2025 is a superpower. It means you have room to think, learn, and plot your next big move on your terms
- If you really have to move, do it surgically with prep, support, and patience.
You’re not “falling behind” by staying put. You’re playing the long game. And that, my friend, is how you win in a market built on chaos.
Helpful dev resources & job sanity tools
- Layoffs.fyi Track who’s cutting and freezing
- Levels.fyi Know your worth before you negotiate
- Blind The honest tea from fellow devs
- Hacker News: Who’s Hiring Legit open positions from real teams
- Tech Interview Handbook Interview prep done right
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