Review of the 2026 Startup Job Fair

By chance, I came across information about the 2026 Startup Job Fair being held at COEX.

The participating companies included Toss Bank, Michael, and other names I’d at least heard of once.

I was interested, so I decided to visit.

1. Location and transportation

The event was held at COEX Hall B1.

From Nowon-gu, you can take Line 4 to Dongjak Station, then transfer to the Line 9 express and get off at Bongeunsa Station.

2. On-site registration and entry

Those who had pre-registered lined up on the right, and those doing on-site registration lined up on the left.

Before entering, you have to scan a QR code and create your profile.

You could easily pull in a basic profile through KakaoTalk login.

Once you briefly enter your stack, interests, and preferred work location, your profile is complete.

Then you go to the on-site registration desk and tell them the last digits of your phone number.

That’s how you get a name tag lanyard like the one below.

Then you just wear it around your neck and walk around to get consultations.

Once you go in, you’re kind of overwhelmed by the size of the venue and all the people in line, so it’s hard to know where to start.

For people like that, there’s a friendly “stamp tour” mission.

Among the pamphlets at the entrance, there’s one for the stamp tour mission.

The mission list is to get a stamp from a total of six booths.

Each booth also gives out small prizes, so wandering around is actually quite fun.

The first place I went, Unit Black, was handing out fortune cookies.

They even gave fortune cookies for my two kids who came along, and we enjoyed them.

After visiting the rest of the booths once, you hand in the pamphlet at the operations booth and scan the QR code on your name tag, and that’s it.

After doing one round of stamping like this, I felt more confident and it was easier to check out the other booths.

One whole wall was covered with job postings.

I realized that even companies related to development need people in a variety of roles like designers, marketers, and operations.

People say this job market is frozen, but it seems like those who will make it still do.

On one side, companies specializing in interview consulting were gathered.

What stuck with me there was a portfolio that listed experience on about ten projects, each lasting more than three months.

On another side, events were being held according to a timetable.

On the first day, they covered topics like how to get a job and self-development, and on the second day they ran something like company presentations.

3. Impressions

Going around the booths, I saw groups talking together around a mentor, and others listening to explanations about UX design.

Most people seemed to be very open about their experience and were proactively looking for opportunities.

Seeing their passion, I felt both envy and a sense of relief.

Reading through portfolios where project experience just kept scrolling and scrolling, I realized I shouldn’t be satisfied with just a single blog.

Starting tomorrow, I think I need to run npx create-next-app@latest again, create new projects, and also improve the existing ones.

For those who want a job it was a chance for opportunities, and for people like me it was a valuable place to gain insight.