Job-market data for software engineers
We read every tech job ad in the US, UK and Australia, 11,745 last quarter, and note which skills each role asks for. Pick a role, tick the skills you have, and you get a short list of what's missing, most asked-for first.
Pick the skills you have and the role you want. You get a list of what's missing, most wanted first.
Takes a minute · sign up free to keep your list
Pick the skills you'd put on a CV today. Choose a country. We'll show you the roles where you already cover most of what's asked, what each one pays, and the first skill you'd have to pick up.
Your roles print here. Every figure comes from job ads we read ourselves this quarter. Nothing here is a forecast.
Each week Tarmac reads the new tech postings in the US, UK and Australia and records what every role asks for: which skills, how often, and what the ads say they pay. The board below is one market this quarter, one row per skill. You can read all of it without an account.
What the United States market asks for
Each control below is one skill, with the share of postings asking for it and the employers who name it.
Sign inFree, no cardSigned in, each control also prints your own record against it.
Select any control to call it out, with its status spelled out in full.
Annotation · 01 of 10
66.9% of postings7,853 postings this quarter
Annotation · 02 of 10
60.5% of postings7,107 postings this quarter
Annotation · 03 of 10
60.3% of postings7,079 postings this quarter
Annotation · 04 of 10
37.8% of postings4,435 postings this quarter
Annotation · 05 of 10
32.2% of postings3,779 postings this quarter
Annotation · 06 of 10
30.3% of postings3,556 postings this quarter
Annotation · 07 of 10
25.5% of postings2,994 postings this quarter
Annotation · 08 of 10
25.4% of postings2,978 postings this quarter
Annotation · 09 of 10
22.4% of postings2,628 postings this quarter
Annotation · 10 of 10
22.0% of postings2,583 postings this quarter
Every entry below is a reading we do not have, with the reason we do not have it.
The data behind the board is public: dossiers and salary tables and a monthly bulletin.
Tell Tarmac the role and country you're heading for and the skills you have. It lists the role's skills, most asked-for first, crosses out the ones you have, and the first one left is what to learn tonight.
When a skill starts showing up in a lot more ads for your role, the board tells you, with the date, so you hear about it before an interviewer asks.
Commit to a skill and Tarmac keeps the date. Months later you can see what demand did after you made the call.
Backend Engineer · Australia · mid · example
| Skill | Asked for | You |
|---|---|---|
| Python | 64% | Held |
| Databases & SQL | 61% | Held |
| AWS | 60% | Held |
| Kubernetes | 54% | Learn first |
| Docker | 50% | — |
| System design | 37% | Held |
| CI/CD pipelines | 24% | — |
You clear 4 of 7 of what these ads ask for. Tonight: Kubernetes.
Gate change · Kubernetes became required for this destination in June. Not on your record yet.
An example for a mid-level backend engineer in Australia, with example figures. Your own board prints yours.
“Two of the three teams I want ask for it.”
An example pass with example figures. A real one prints demand measured from live postings, month by month, from the day you took the position.
Each missing skill has a short guide and a timed check drawn from 8,535 questions that engineers wrote and fact-checked, in 12 formats from multiple choice to code run against hidden tests. Pass the check and the skill goes on your record.
Your practice sessions lean toward whatever you keep getting wrong, and a study plan paces you to an interview date if you set one. Nothing is generated on the fly, so the same job ad always builds the same quiz.
Guide , then check , then on your record
Example role: Frontend Engineer
Frontend Engineer You'll build our React + TypeScript app, own API performance, and shape our Postgres data model. Strong fundamentals in HTTP caching and system design.
Which hook memoises a computed value between renders?
Anyone can read the board, the salary tables and the full question bank, and practise 10 sessions a month, no card. Pro adds the part that's about you: what to learn first for your role, how close you are skill by skill, and a plan to your interview date. Most people buy the Job Hunt Pass, pay once, and let it run out once they've got the job.
Job Hunt Pass
Most popularEverything in Pro for the length of a typical search. It ends when your 3 months are up. No auto-renew, no surprise charge.
Works out to about $16/mo.
One payment of $49. It ends on its own after 3 months. Barely used it? Email within 14 days and we refund it in full.
Pro is one plan. The Pass, monthly and annual only change how you pay for it.
Questions
Live job postings. Each week we read the new ones and count, for every skill and role, how many ads ask for it. Every status on the board sits next to the numbers behind it: a full quarter of demand, the change from the quarter before, and when we first saw the skill. If we changed how we collect a market recently, we hold its rows and say so rather than show you a stale number.
No. Nothing on the board is a forecast. Every status is measured from a finished quarter of job ads, with the numbers behind it right beside it. BOARDING means demand for that skill grew and stayed up for a full quarter. It tells you what has already happened, not what will. What you do about it is up to you.
Job ads from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, with salaries in each country's own currency. The roles are Engineering Manager, Machine Learning Engineer, Data Engineer, Data Scientist, Data Analyst, Full Stack Engineer, Frontend Engineer, Backend Engineer, Mobile Engineer, DevOps Engineer, Security Engineer, QA Engineer, Embedded Engineer, and Software Engineer. If your job isn't on that list, the board has no row for it and Pro can't build a gap list for you, so don't buy it for that.
From two lists. The first is what you tell us: the skills you pick at sign-up or paste from a CV. The second is what you've proved: every check you pass adds the skill to your record. We compare both against what ads for your role ask for this quarter. A skill you've only claimed counts; one you've passed a check on counts for more.
We keep the text on your account so your gap list and job-ad quizzes can use it, and a language model reads it once to pull out the skills. That is the only place it goes. Delete your account and it goes with it. The privacy policy names every service we use.
Every Tarmac question was researched, fact-checked and reviewed by a person before you see it. It's a fixed bank of 8,535, nothing made up on the fly. Paste a job description and your quiz is picked from that bank to fit it, and the same ad builds the same quiz every time.
The board, the salary tables, the dossiers and all 8,535 questions, with instant marking and code execution, with up to ten practice sessions, a hundred graded answers and two quizzes built from a pasted job ad every 30 days. No card. Pro lifts those caps and adds what's specific to you: what to learn first for your role, how close you are skill by skill, a plan to your interview date, and written answers marked with feedback. $19 a month, $129 a year, or $49 once for three months. The caps are how we make money: people in the middle of a job hunt upgrade to Pro, and the market data stays free either way.
The Pass is one payment of $49 for 3 months of Pro. It stops on its own, so there is nothing to cancel and no renewal to forget. Buy it when a search starts and let it run out once you've signed. Monthly ($19) renews until you cancel and suits a search with no end date in sight. Annual ($129) is for people who keep practising between jobs. All prices are in US dollars.
Monthly and annual cancel from the app. The next charge stops and Pro keeps running to the end of what you've paid for, with no fee. If you've barely used Pro, any charge is refunded in full when you ask within 14 days, and that includes the Pass and an annual renewal. After 14 days the period already running isn't refunded. Email support from your account address to ask. The refund policy has the detail.
Your account goes back to Free. Everything you built stays: your skill record, every check you've passed, your practice history and your target role. The board, the salary tables and the question bank were never behind the paywall, so you keep those too. Buy Pro again later and it picks up from the same record.
Free practice sets with worked answers. No sign-up needed.
One email a month when the bulletin comes out: what moved in the markets we track, and the new question topics we published. Confirm your address to join. Unsubscribe any time.
Sign in with a code we email you. No password. The free plan includes the board and every question, with ten practice sessions a month.