Tech jobs are getting demolished in ways not seen since 2008

deadbabe

Crazy that the job you hold in tech right now, might be the last tech job you ever hold. Cherish it.

abuani

I'm surprised the article or the source for it didn't dive deeper into the impact the changes to H1B have had on the tech job numbers. Mind you I'm not trying to argue for or against them, but I find it hard to believe the changes aren't contributing at least a small amount to the drop. The other thing not mentioned is the impact on the end for ZIRP. Every tech company with a pulse over hired such a staggering amount during the pandemic. It's not surprising these companies are returning to reality and not hiring back to the same levels.

nemo44x

We went from “how can AI be useful to me” to “how can I be useful to AI”. Or headed that way.

sakopov

I remember going to school for computer science back in 2004 and literally everyone around me thought I was an idiot. I worked a part time shift at a grocery store and 2 of my coworkers were CS grads without any job offers. Then in 2008 I graduated and the financial market collapsed. My first real programming job paid less than my grocery store job but I was happy I had my foot in the door. I don't remember when the market picked up but I don't think the layoffs were as drawn out as they are today. At least back than you kinda new why everyone was on a hiring freeze. Today there are so many economic factors and a massively disrupting technology that it feels messier than ever before.

wepple

Extensive discussion on this recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47278426 (This looks like a BI rehash of that topic)

650

We are only slowing growth after a big jump in hiring during COVID 2020-2022... these attention grabbing slop headlines are junk news. "We’ve lost 50k jobs last two years after decades of adding 100k+ every year including the pandemic highs of 300k+ per year. Total employment remains way above 2000s, 2008 and 2020 unlike the title suggests." See the thread here for more discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47278426 "Business Insider" is a waste of time in my opinion.

gaigalas

I got my first big job in 2008. Fond memories of that time!

bryanlarsen

2008 & 2020 were bad for tech jobs, but 2002 was worse, in my experience. 2026 feels a lot more like 2002 than 2008.

jmyeet

It has been the dream of the wealthy to eliminate labor since at least the Industrial Revolution (and probably much longer). Workers are annoying. You have to pay them. They demand things like time off and safe working conditions. They hurt profits . Through the 20th century we saw increased automation that displaced so-caleld blue collar workers who were repeatedly told "get better skills" like this was somehow their fault. In 2000 we had the dot-com crash that saw massive unemployment in the tech sector. A lot of these people left the industry and never came back. The software engineer to plumber pipeline was a real thing. 2008 saw a crash that eliminated entry-level jobs in many white-collar fields that never came back. This decimated the millenials who did the right thing, went to college and accurred massive debt and then found there were no jobs for them so ended up as baristas, working at Walmart or, ultimately, doing gig work. And now in the mid-2020s, the tech people who told people to do computer science in college are now seeing automation come for their jobs. And now it's somehow an emergency worth addressing. Weird . The core problem is that if the wealthy succeed and replace all the workers, who will buy their products? How will society survive if people don't have jobs? The only growth area is healthcare because you need everyone from orderlies to surgeons, at least until automation comes for those jobs too. This is why I think we're headed for systemic collapse. The flood waters keep rising and we're running out of high ground to retreat to.

hiremelocally

New roles at my FAANG company are mostly outside HCOL areas, and often outside the US. It's not just outsourcing. These roles have real hiring standards, are getting real work for real teams, and they're remote. Outsourcing feels different this time because it's not some offshore contract team; it's full-time company stuff. Makes me wonder if it's just because WFH proved it works, so why not hire from Krakow? Edit: US policies towards H-1Bs and attitudes towards immigration add to this.

asmodeuslucifer

I'm going to repurpose a quote I saw from a 'distinguished' (old) science fiction writer, I can't remember who. I know writers who have stopped selling, but I don't know any writers who have stopped writing.

pllbnk

I have this thought experiment. If my employer suggested to pay me 5 year's worth of salary if I could successfully replace myself with an AI. I would be pretty happy to take the money and run. However, I don't see any realistic way to do it just yet.