In 2020 you posted on a major job board and waited for applications. The same posting today gets ten per week, three of which are worth reviewing. The market moved; most companies still operate on the old playbook.
In 2020 you could post a vacancy on a major job board and reasonably wait for applications. Many would arrive, some would be good. The same posting today gets ten applications a week, three or four of which are worth reviewing. The market changed; most companies still operate on the old playbook.
The map shifted
Strong developers stopped lurking job boards. They're embedded in communities, GitHub conversations, Telegram channels, regional meetup networks. Sourcing them looks more like "presence in their space" than "posting and waiting."
Where they actually are
Specialised Telegram channels by stack — Python, Go, frontend, mobile — are now where senior+ candidates announce themselves "open to opportunities." Each major language has 2-3 active channels with 10-50K subscribers and reasonable signal-to-noise.
GitHub matters more than CV. Looking at recent contributions, what code style someone has, what problems they engage with — gives more signal than two pages of role descriptions.
Stack Overflow and Hacker News presence — niche, but reliable for senior+ on specific stacks (Rust, Elixir, Clojure, low-level systems).
Conference and meetup speaker lists — small group, but very strong signal.
Donor companies — the map matters more than the search
For a specific role you don't search "Python developers." You search "Python developers at companies similar to ours, where similar problems are solved, ideally at similar product stages."
That requires a donor map. Build it: 50-200 companies where the right stack + context combination is likely. Then targeted outreach to specific people.
What stopped working
Mass cold outreach on LinkedIn ("Hi, are you open?") response rates dropped from 25% in 2020 to under 5% now. The market is over-prospected. Personalisation matters more than ever.
Recruiter spray on job boards — covered earlier. Still happens. Still mostly produces noise.
What works in 2026
- Targeted outreach with a real reason for the specific person.
- Referral programs that pay real money (€2K+) for a hired senior.
- Sponsorship of niche meetups and conferences in your stack.
- Technical content from your team — open-sourced libraries, deep blog posts.
- Direct partnerships with educational platforms for graduates.
The trade-off
All of these are higher-effort than "post and wait." All of them produce candidates the spray approach can't reach. The shift from job-board-first to community-first sourcing is one of the biggest changes in tech hiring since 2020 — and most internal recruiters haven't made it yet.
Email [email protected] with a few lines about your context — we will respond with a candid view, whether we can help or not.
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