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We Read 1,046 Tech Job Postings: What Each Role Asks For

DataUpdated 4 min read

On 6 November 2026 we read 1,046 job postings for 12 tech roles from 95 companies' public job boards and counted what each one names. Three things stand out: monitoring and observability is named almost everywhere, a degree is mentioned less often than people assume, and AI appears mostly in software, data and product roles.

Below are the findings, then the five asks named most often for each role, then exactly how we counted. The counts are free to download and reuse.

Monitoring is the quiet requirement

Monitoring and observability (being able to see what a system is doing in production) is named in 62 of 87 DevOps postings, 40 of 88 backend postings, 84 of 214 software engineer postings and 29 of 82 full-stack postings.

It rarely gets a line on a CV. If you have set up alerts, dashboards or tracing, or fixed something you found that way, it belongs in a bullet.

AI shows up, but mostly in software, data and product roles

Large language models or generative AI are named in 46 of 217 software engineer postings, 21 of 86 data scientist postings and 27 of 191 product manager postings. Separately, 15 of 82 full-stack postings name AI coding tools.

In backend, DevOps, data engineer and project manager postings, AI did not make the list of commonly named asks. Name the AI tools and models you have actually used where they fit; a generic 'AI' line adds little.

A degree is mentioned less often than you might think

Only 9 of 95 UX/UI designer postings and 12 of 87 DevOps postings mention a degree at all. Software engineer postings mention one in 77 of 217, and 35 of those also accept equivalent experience. Data scientist is the exception: 40 of 86 postings mention a degree.

If you have no degree, put your experience and projects first and education last. If you have one, it rarely needs more than a line.

Years of experience: often unstated, usually around five

Fewer than half of the software engineer postings (102 of 217) state a number of years. Where they do, the middle value is five years for most roles; it is lower for data analysts (3), data engineers (3.5) and QA engineers (4).

A stated number is a guide, not a filter you can see. Make your years easy to count: clear dates on every role, newest first.

Product and project roles are about plans and people

Product manager postings name a roadmap in 151 of 191, working across teams in 114 and stakeholder management in 105. Project manager postings lead with stakeholder management (27 of 37), timelines (21) and budgets (20).

For these roles, the evidence is a decision and its result: what you chose to build or cut, who you brought along, and what changed.

What this means for your CV

Treat these lists as what many employers mention, not a checklist every employer applies. The posting you are applying to is the one that counts.

  • Show the top asks for your role in your experience bullets, not only in a skills list.
  • Add the production work people forget: monitoring, on-call, incidents you resolved.
  • Name specific tools and models instead of 'AI'.
  • Put dates on every role so your years can be counted.
  • Then compare your CV with the actual posting: Resymetry's free check reads both and quotes the lines that match or are missing.

What each role asks for

The five things named most often in each role's postings. Each role links to its full list.

Software Engineer

217 postings from 78 companies · median 5 years where stated (102 did) · a degree mentioned in 77 (35%)

  • Python93 of 217
  • Monitoring / observability84 of 214
  • Cross-functional work77 of 217
  • Go67 of 217
  • AWS63 of 217

All 18 asks for a software engineer CV

Product Manager

191 postings from 76 companies · median 5 years where stated (106 did) · a degree mentioned in 40 (21%)

  • Roadmap151 of 191
  • Cross-functional work114 of 191
  • Stakeholder management105 of 191
  • Prioritisation95 of 191
  • Metrics / KPIs92 of 191

All 18 asks for a product manager CV

UX/UI Designer

95 postings from 48 companies · median 5 years where stated (46 did) · a degree mentioned in 9 (9%)

  • Prototyping71 of 95
  • Cross-functional work54 of 95
  • Design systems45 of 95
  • Figma41 of 92
  • Interaction design37 of 95

All 18 asks for a ux/ui designer CV

Backend Developer

88 postings from 39 companies · median 5 years where stated (56 did) · a degree mentioned in 26 (30%)

  • Distributed systems44 of 88
  • Monitoring / observability40 of 88
  • Java37 of 88
  • Python37 of 88
  • Cross-functional work36 of 88

All 18 asks for a backend developer CV

DevOps Engineer

87 postings from 46 companies · median 5 years where stated (37 did) · a degree mentioned in 12 (14%)

  • Monitoring / observability62 of 87
  • Terraform / IaC58 of 87
  • Python56 of 87
  • Kubernetes51 of 87
  • CI/CD46 of 87

All 18 asks for a devops engineer CV

Data Scientist

86 postings from 42 companies · median 5 years where stated (55 did) · a degree mentioned in 40 (47%)

  • SQL77 of 86
  • Python76 of 86
  • Statistics64 of 86
  • A/B testing / experimentation49 of 86
  • Machine learning47 of 86

All 18 asks for a data scientist CV

Full-Stack Developer

82 postings from 35 companies · median 5 years where stated (41 did) · a degree mentioned in 22 (27%)

  • React42 of 82
  • TypeScript40 of 82
  • Python34 of 82
  • Monitoring / observability29 of 82
  • Java25 of 82

All 18 asks for a full-stack developer CV

Data Engineer

55 postings from 37 companies · median 3.5 years where stated (36 did) · a degree mentioned in 21 (38%)

  • Python41 of 55
  • SQL40 of 55
  • Data pipelines38 of 55
  • Data modelling34 of 55
  • Data quality / governance33 of 55

All 18 asks for a data engineer CV

Frontend Developer

41 postings from 20 companies · median 5 years where stated (24 did) · a degree mentioned in 16 (39%)

  • React31 of 41
  • TypeScript27 of 41
  • JavaScript23 of 41
  • Cross-functional work11 of 41
  • Design systems11 of 41

All 18 asks for a frontend developer CV

Project Manager

37 postings from 19 companies · median 5 years where stated (29 did) · a degree mentioned in 15 (41%)

  • Stakeholder management27 of 37
  • Cross-functional work22 of 37
  • Timelines / scheduling21 of 37
  • Vendors / third parties21 of 37
  • Budget20 of 37

All 18 asks for a project manager CV

Data Analyst

34 postings from 20 companies · median 3 years where stated (21 did) · a degree mentioned in 15 (44%)

  • SQL27 of 34
  • Stakeholder management25 of 34
  • Metrics / KPIs22 of 34
  • Python20 of 34
  • Cross-functional work17 of 34

All 18 asks for a data analyst CV

QA Engineer

33 postings from 18 companies · median 4 years where stated (17 did) · a degree mentioned in 13 (39%)

  • Automated testing26 of 33
  • Python21 of 33
  • Test plans and cases20 of 33
  • CI/CD16 of 33
  • Cross-functional work10 of 33

All 18 asks for a qa engineer CV

How we counted

We make Resymetry, a CV checker. We collected this data to build its role pages, and we publish the counts so anyone can check them.

We read the public job-board APIs of Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby, which companies use to list their openings, for 101 company boards. 95 of them had at least one posting for the roles below. A posting belongs to a role by its job title.

To stop one large employer from dominating a role, we counted at most three postings per company per role, and a job listed for several cities counted once. A company's own product is not counted in its own postings (Figma's postings do not count towards 'Figma'), so a few skills are out of slightly fewer postings than the role's total.

A skill counts once per posting when the posting names it outside the benefits and 'about us' text. 'Nice to have only' means it appeared only under a heading such as 'Nice to have', 'Bonus' or 'Preferred'; not every posting has one, so that number is a minimum.

These are counts of what postings name, not of what is strictly required. The sample leans towards larger tech companies and the US. Some roles are small: data analyst, QA engineer and project manager each have fewer than 40 postings, so read those with care.

We stored only the counts and company names, never the text of a posting. The script that does the counting is part of Resymetry's code (scripts/role-postings.mjs).

Download the counts: CSV · JSON. Counts only, no posting text. Free to reuse with credit to Resymetry (CC BY 4.0).

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Questions people ask

What skills do employers ask for in a full stack developer?

In the 82 full-stack postings we read, the most named were React (42), TypeScript (40) and Python (34), followed by monitoring and observability (29). Node.js was named in 23.

Source: Resymetry job-postings counts (CSV), read 6 November 2026

Do tech jobs still require a degree?

Less often than many people think. A degree was mentioned in 9 of 95 UX/UI designer postings and 12 of 87 DevOps postings, but in 40 of 86 data scientist postings.

Source: Resymetry job-postings counts (CSV), read 6 November 2026

How many years of experience do tech job postings ask for?

Where a number is stated, the middle value is five years for most roles we counted, and three to four for data analyst, data engineer and QA roles. Many state none: fewer than half of software engineer, DevOps and UX/UI designer postings give a number.

Source: Resymetry job-postings counts (CSV), read 6 November 2026

Do job postings ask for AI skills?

Some do. Large language models or generative AI were named in 46 of 217 software engineer postings and 21 of 86 data scientist postings, and AI coding tools in 15 of 82 full-stack postings.

Source: Resymetry job-postings counts (CSV), read 6 November 2026

Is SQL required for data scientist jobs?

It was the most named ask in our data scientist sample: 77 of 86 postings, slightly ahead of Python (76). Machine learning was named in 47.

Source: Resymetry job-postings counts (CSV), read 6 November 2026

Where does this data come from, and can I reuse it?

From the public job boards of 95 companies on Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby, read on 6 November 2026. The counts are free to download and reuse with credit (CC BY 4.0).

Source: Resymetry job-postings counts (CSV), read 6 November 2026; Greenhouse Job Board API, read 8 November 2026; Lever Postings API, read 8 November 2026; Ashby public job posting API, read 8 November 2026

Sources

Every page used above, with the date it was read.

Resymetry is not affiliated with the other products named here. Product names belong to their owners. Prices and free plans change without notice, so check each product’s own page before deciding. All articles

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