Someone at a mid-sized tech company recently posted a job listing for an internship. The requirements included full-stack development experience across three frameworks, familiarity with cloud infrastructure, and a portfolio of shipped products.
It was for an internship.
This isn't an isolated incident. It's a pattern—and it's making the hiring process worse for everyone involved.
The Problem With How Tech Jobs Get Written
Most job descriptions in tech are written by HR departments or non-technical executives who don't have a clear picture of what the role actually requires. The result is a wish list that conflates different specializations, inflates requirements to filter applicants, and often describes a unicorn that doesn't exist.
Consider a real example: a single job posting requiring expertise in React, PyTorch, Node.js, Next.js, D3, WebRTC, Docker, and WebGPU. These technologies span front-end development, machine learning, backend infrastructure, data visualization, real-time communications, containerization, and GPU programming. No working professional has deep expertise across all of them. The posting isn't describing a job—it's describing a fantasy.
Internships marketed as learning opportunities that require full-stack developer competence aren't internships. They're junior roles mislabeled to justify lower pay.
Entry-level positions requiring 5 years of experience are a running joke in the industry, but they persist because no one with authority to change them is paying attention.
Technology overload in job requirements happens when the person writing the description adds every tool the team has ever touched, rather than identifying what the role actually needs.
Who Gets Hurt
Candidates get hurt because they self-select out of roles they're qualified for, or waste time applying for roles where the description had no relationship to what the team actually needed.
Hiring managers get hurt because the funnel is flooded with applicants who don't fit, or dried up because realistic candidates assumed they weren't qualified.
Teams get hurt because the hiring process optimizes for breadth-of-buzzword rather than the specific, genuine skills the role requires.
The Fix Is Straightforward
HR teams and executives need to work with technical recruiters and consultants who actually understand the field before publishing job descriptions.
That means:
Identifying the three or four skills that are genuinely necessary for the role—not every tool the team uses or might someday use.
Separating must-haves from nice-to-haves and being honest about which is which.
Writing descriptions that reflect how the role actually spends its time. If 80% of the job is building React interfaces, lead with that. Don't bury it under 12 other requirements.
Calibrating seniority to actual expectations. An internship should be designed to develop someone. A junior role should be scoped to what a junior person can do with support.
Unrealistic job descriptions don't raise the bar. They just create noise—for candidates, for recruiters, and for the teams trying to grow. Getting this right isn't complicated. It just requires the people writing the descriptions to talk to the people who actually do the work.