Small Businesses Having Trouble Filling These Tech Jobs Most


Small Businesses Having Trouble Hiring for These Hard to Fill Tech Jobs

When it comes to software engineers and developers, small businesses clearly need them in droves but the searches aren’t always that fruitful. Or their choices are just wrong from the get-go.

The latest data dispatch from Indeed.com shows that small business owners are posting listings for “software engineers/developers” there at incredible rates compared to other tech jobs. For every million job postings in this category, more than 10,000 of them are for software engineers.

The story is not one-sided, however, according to Indeed.com’s senior vice president of engineering, Doug Gray. It’s not just that small businesses all desperately need more software engineers ad can’t find them. According to Gray, another huge problem is that, when people do get hired. they often end up being the wrong fit for the job.

“For non-tech companies the stakes are high to hire the best tech talent, and it’s even harder to assess who is good and who is not,” Gray says. “The hiring manager is typically not a technologist so they can be at a disadvantage for hiring the best people. As an SMB, you really need an engineer who understands your business and the specific needs of your customer base.”

The data also reveals that it’s not just software engineers that are in-demand and hard to find. Of the same batch of postings in tech jobs at Indeed, more than 4,000 of every million are for Java developers and engineers. More than 2,000 postings are looking for a mobile engineer or developer, too.

Others that Indeed has identified as hard to fill tech jobs for small businesses include fullstack engineers and developers, DevOps engineers, UI/UX developers, data scientists, backend engineers and software architects.

It seems it always bears repeating. Especially with hard to fill tech jobs where small businesses have proven to be at a disadvantage in hiring, having a detailed job description for hard-to-find talent is imperative.

Chart: Indeed


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Joshua Sophy Joshua Sophy is the Editor for Small Business Trends and the Head of Content Partnerships. A journalist with 20 years of experience in traditional and online media, he is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. He founded his own local newspaper, the Pottsville Free Press, covering his hometown.

4 Reactions
  1. 6 of the 9 listed in the image are developers. Ouch! Competition tends to favor large businesses because they can offer larger compensation packages and have more prestige, but if a developer wants control & autonomy they should look at SMBs seriously.

    • I think it’ll be a few years until this generation of developers ages a bit and their needs and career outlooks change that small businesses will be more competitive or seem like the right option or fit for candidates at that point in their lives.

      The perspective from Indeed here shows that it may also be a job description issue.

      Excellent insight, Robert!

  2. It is hard because it requires the most technical skills. The more specialized the skill, the harder it is to hire someone.

    • Small businesses need to tackle this on a gig-by-gig basis, Aira. Nail that job description and know exactly what you want. The leading category is very general in nature, indicating to me that a lot of small businesses are just looking for someone they’re likely not going to find.

      Of course, the other categories show that even finding more specialized developer experts isn’t easy, either.

      So you’re spot-on, Aira. Small businesses are going to have a hard time competing in these categories until someone comes up with an innovative way to challenge this trend. Good to know that small businesses are our biggest and best innovators.