35-Year-Old Ex-Programmer: 'No Way' to Find a Job in Spain

35-Year-Old Ex-Programmer: Two Years Without Work and Burning Savings

A 35-year-old senior programmer, self-employed for five years with his own online businesses, closed his doors almost a year ago. AI ate up the traffic to his websites, savings are dwindling, and returning to the labor market has become a wall. Neither as a programmer nor as a warehouse assistant. "There is no way," he summarizes. His case, told in the first person on an economics forum, has drawn hundreds of responses and revealed a sustancia ilegal that, according to several testimonies, affects a significant part of the profession: the Spanish tech market no longer hires as it used to.

What is happening with programmer employment in Spain

The most repeated diagnosis is not that the sector is dead, but that the rules have changed. Remaining job postings demand great responsibility, mastery of a thousand things, and fluent English. Within minutes of being posted, the vacancy accumulates over a hundred interested applicants. Since March, this professional has had nothing but phone calls and processes that never contact him again. Not a single formal interview in months.

The explanation circulating among those who work inside: AI allows one person to do the work of three. Several messages describe teams where no one opens the IDE; they send the specifications to the model and the code comes out almost by itself. "Anyone can do this job," summarizes one of the testimonies. The result, according to these accounts, is a funnel: fewer vacancies, more candidates per vacancy, and downward pressure on conditions.

The wall of overqualification: rejected for knowing too much

The second front is more humiliating. For non-tech positions —warehouse assistant, cashier, anything— he is rejected upfront for being overqualified. The recruiter's logic, as repeated in the thread, is simple: they think he will leave as soon as he finds something better. The repeated recommendation is to create a parallel resume, erase all mention of senior programming, and apply as someone with experience in online management and customer service. Two resumes, two professional identities.

Some go further and suggest faking technical experience depending on the position applied for —support, CAU, cybersecurity, systems operator— because, they claim, no one really checks what one did in each company. The employment record proves passage through companies, not the functions. It is a practice that some say is widespread, and not without risk.

The majority response: take civil service exams

If there is a current that dominates the thread, it is the civil service one. "Take the exams," is repeated insistently. The public administration appears, for its defenders, as the only possible golden cage: stability, fixed salary, and shielding against automation. Several relate that a few years ago they were called fools for joining the administration earning less. Now those same people are seeing the problem.

The thesis is supported by a perfect storm: AI, offshoring via remote work, an excess of programmers trained in recent years, and ageism. One message calls it directly "checkmate IT." In response, taking the exams offers tests, not interviews with filtering psychologists who, according to several accounts, do not understand half of what is explained to them.

Is it worth emigrating or changing sectors?

Fleeing abroad is considered and rejected almost simultaneously. Without fluent English, the landing is harsh; winters are worse than in Spain in many destinations, as commented; and the global market is not booming either. The alternative gaining ground is recycling within the sector itself: cabling, racks, routers, physical infrastructure maintenance. There, AI affects less because the work involves hands, not just a screen.

The economic background emerges in every section: returning to parents' home at 35, after ten years independent, is lived as a last resort. Two years of constant tension, drawing on savings, with the ship sinking. Anxiety and depression that led him to start his business in the past return through the back door.

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The Spanish tech labor market has not collapsed. It has narrowed, become more expensive for entrants, and has become selective in a way that excludes profiles that were gold five years ago. If the trend is confirmed, the question is no longer whether it is advisable to take the exams. It is how many of those who program today will be able to continue doing so in three years.