Remote Developer Jobs in 2026: What Actually Changed

Remote Developer Jobs in 2026: What Actually Changed Remember 2021? Every company was "remote-first." Job boards were flooded with remote positions. You could get a decent dev job from your bedroom and nobody cared where you lived. Then came the return-to-office mandates. Amazon, Google, Meta, Apple. One by one, the big names dragged people back. By 2024, it felt like remote work was dying. It's 2026 now. And the reality is more interesting than either extreme predicted. I'm 19, based in Russia, and I work remotely as an iOS developer. Here's what the remote dev job market actually looks like right now. The Split: Two Markets The remote job market in 2026 isn't one market. It's two. Market 1: Big Tech and Enterprise. These companies mostly went hybrid. 2-3 days in office, 2-3 days remote. "Flexible" is the word they use, but the flexibility has limits. If you want to work at Google, you're going to an office. Market 2: Startups, mid-size companies, and agencies. This is where remote th