daily.dev, a leading professional networking platform for software developers, today released the 2025 State of Trust: Engineers & Recruiters report, revealing a decisive shift in how developers engage with recruiters. The study, based on responses from 4,040 developers across 177 countries, finds that trust – not talent scarcity – is now the defining constraint in technical hiring.
The study found that developer interest in new opportunities remains high, with 80 percent of respondents saying they are open to hearing about roles. Despite this, 43 percent ignore recruiter outreach entirely, indicating that the challenge in technical hiring is no longer access to talent but access to attention.
Developers report being increasingly unwilling to engage on traditional platforms such as LinkedIn. These findings align with recruiting leaders’ long-standing concerns about declining response rates, noisy communication channels, and limited visibility into candidate intent on platforms such as LinkedIn, where recruiters frequently encounter outdated profiles, inconsistent data accuracy, and oversaturated messaging environments.
Three structural barriers emerged across the data:
- First, oversaturation makes most messages indistinguishable, with 40 percent of developers ignoring outreach because it “looks like spam”.
- Second, developers report that traditional sourcing platforms do not reflect their actual skills or current work; only 14 percent consider LinkedIn the most accurate representation of their abilities.
- Third, developers perceive a persistent gap in technical understanding, with only 15 percent believing recruiters fully grasp the roles they pitch.
Despite these challenges, developers were clear about what earns their attention. They want specific details on role scope and tech stack, transparent compensation, and clarity on the work model at the very first touchpoint. Nineteen percent ignore outreach immediately when salary is not disclosed. Many developers also expressed a preference for introductions through trusted peers, established communities, or recruiters with whom they have an existing relationship, placing cold outreach at the bottom of their trust hierarchy.
According to Nimrod Kramer, Co-Founder and CEO of daily.dev, the findings underscore a pivotal moment for the industry. “Developers are open to opportunities, but they are increasingly selective about how those opportunities reach them. The challenge is not finding the right candidates, it is getting them to reply. Recruiters are working in good faith, but the high-volume, low-context outreach channels they have been given do not match what developers respond to. Trust and transparency matter more than ever.”
The report concludes that technical hiring is shifting toward trust-centric engagement, where accuracy, transparency, and relevance determine whether conversations even begin.
Visit the complete 2025 State of Trust report.
About daily.dev
daily.dev operates one of the largest developer networks globally, with over 1 million developers using the platform daily for curated technical content, learning resources, and professional development.
Three structural barriers emerged across the data, each shaping participants’ experiences in significant and often limiting ways. The first barrier involved organizational systems that lacked the flexibility or resources needed to support individuals consistently, creating gaps in access and efficiency. The second barrier stemmed from entrenched policies and procedures that, while intended to provide structure, ultimately restricted opportunities for meaningful engagement and progress. The third barrier reflected broader institutional norms that perpetuated inequities and discouraged innovation. Together, these interconnected obstacles formed a complex environment in which navigating support, achieving goals, and advocating for change became considerably more challenging.
