Following a series of high-profile, brutal layoffs in 2022 and 2023, job cuts are making an unwelcome return to the tech sector. Although the rounds of redundancies haven’t come as thick and fast in Q1 of 2024 as they did last year, the effect is still destabilizing and has led some commentators to expect more of the same for the rest of this year.
All of this comes on the heels of a period of optimism, when it looked like a global recession had been side-stepped and there was reason to believe the tech layoffs of previous years had done their job and shored up the sector.
Instead, the U.S. has been the worst hit––more than 179,000 workers lost their jobs in tech in 2023 and so far this year, that figure is already over 40,000, according to layoffs.fyi.
So why does it feel like groundhog day now?
Stubborn market conditions is one oft-cited reason, which is another way of saying that companies simply aren’t meeting their bottom line. A pivot from a post-Covid growth mindset to an efficiency position––code for cutbacks––is, the companies say, at the heart of most of these moves.
When sales cycles slow down, as they have, budgets tighten and a company’s tolerance for risk hits the floor. At this point, firms begin to offload workers they were sure they needed back when talent was thinner on the ground and everyone was battling for the best people to grow their businesses.
Or at least, that’s the official position. On the other hand, there’s also some speculation that tech companies are not merely correcting for pandemic-era over-employment in a market ruled by high fuel costs, the impact of war, inflation and high interest rates.
Rather, some tech firms are suspected of subtly shedding humans in a move towards AI-powered models, as potentially demonstrated by the fact that Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees around the same time it announced plans to invest $10 billion in OpenAI.
When tech’s biggest players lost people earlier this year, the cuts were smaller and more targeted, rather than aimed at bloat-reduction. Making room for AI appears to be the logic behind it.
For this reason, AI-related roles promise to be more robust, at least in the short to medium-term. And conversely, roles that an algorithm can do easily are on the chopping block. Data analysts, non-specialist software developers and generic IT support: take note.
Other arguments state that layoffs are a malign strategy designed to weaken a tech labor force that is beginning to unionize more than ever before. Big tech workers––the legions at Google, Meta, TikTok, Twitter/X and Microsoft––have been as vulnerable as those in less mature firms.
If you work in tech, whether you can ever get comfortable these days remains open to debate. Tech firms tend to hire en masse and in waves – chances are if you get thrown overboard, you’ll catch the next wave not too far down the road. But there are tangible things to consider.
Up your ROI (return on investment)
Knowing you’re an asset is step one. Increasing your value as an asset is the rest. Bear in mind that 70% of employers think creative thinking is the number one skill they want in an employee, so work on polishing that part of your persona. Find out what your employer values most on paper, then show them that side of you.
Befriend AI
AI, as one of the reasons behind tech layoffs, is an area to brush up on; pivot your skillset towards using tools companies will rely on to automate their processes, and you’ll buy yourself more time on the payroll.
Show up
Finally, bear in mind that remote working is now seen as a worker perk, and not a plus among employers, so turning up at the office more gives you the superpower of visibility at a time when all of your colleagues are at home, remote-working behind Zoom screens.
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Don’t wait for your ideal job to find you – take back control by exploring the nextpit Job Board today. This article was written by Dara Flynn.
