[HN Gopher] Tech layoffs highest since dot-com crash
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Tech layoffs highest since dot-com crash
Author : Bluecobra
Score : 51 points
Date : 2024-03-15 21:46 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.cnbc.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.cnbc.com)
| sheepscreek wrote:
| I don't understand the comparison. Fewer people were employed in
| Tech 25 yrs ago.
| bbarnett wrote:
| If it's raw numbers, that's incredibly dumb. There must be 20x
| to 50x the tech employee count these days.
| nextworddev wrote:
| But the second derivative has stabilized?
| mytailorisrich wrote:
| People should look on the bright side.
|
| The dot-com crash was brutal. Brighter days followed.
| bmitc wrote:
| Does that pay mortgages and daycare?
| abduhl wrote:
| No, but the large salaries and stock compensation that tech
| workers have been paid over the past decade certainly should,
| along with the generous severance packages that are pervasive
| in the tech industry. You have been living within your means
| and saving, haven't you?
| nateglims wrote:
| When a significant portion of your compensation is an
| asset, it kind of disincentivizes this.
| abduhl wrote:
| The stock market is at or near all time highs.
| thfuran wrote:
| It usually is.
| mytailorisrich wrote:
| A good time to sell and make actual money.
| silverquiet wrote:
| Never saw anything like the numbers that people post here
| and also never got any stock myself.
| icedchai wrote:
| Most of my startup options turned out to be worthless.
| The little that wasn't? It wasn't even worth the pay cut
| I took for it. You really have to be in the right place
| at the right time.
|
| I do, however, always live below my means, save, and
| invest. I have never saved less than 30% of my salary.
| You have to do this long term, meaning 15 to 20 years+.
| Many people don't have the temperament to do this.
| djbusby wrote:
| Most (in USA) don't have the income to have 30% to save
| after rent and food and necessities consume 90%
| icedchai wrote:
| I'm talking about people in tech, which generally have
| higher incomes.
| Mountain_Skies wrote:
| A few years ago one of those "the most common job in each
| state" maps was posted. Truck driver and school teacher
| were all over on the map but a few states had software
| developer was the most common job and I suspect it was in
| the top five in most other states. The vast majority of
| software developers work for non-tech companies at middle
| income wages. FAANG and SV salaries are the exception, most
| software developers aren't getting rich. It's a nice middle
| income job for most and that doesn't create an abundance of
| excess to sock away, even if it pays above the median wage
| for fulltime workers.
| gnicholas wrote:
| Daycare costs tend to drop when you don't have a job.
| doubled112 wrote:
| You would think so, but I've also known people that have
| kept their spots for when they find new work.
| plandis wrote:
| Good luck finding daycare quickly if you find a job.
| gnicholas wrote:
| The market for child care seems to have tilted in favor
| of families ever since CA started mandating pre-k in the
| public schools. This has had the effect of gutting local
| preschools at the higher grades.
|
| I also wonder if the recent layoffs have affected the
| market for childcare. I definitely know some tech folks
| who are at home with their kids now.
| ThrowawayR2 wrote:
| "Past performance is no guarantee of future results." Unlike
| the dot com bust, there's not much, if any, low hanging fruit
| left that could drive growth in employment of developers.
| suzzer99 wrote:
| That's what a lot of people thought before mobile and social
| media. I'm not saying it _will_ happen. But something new
| could come along.
| mytailorisrich wrote:
| Past performance has been fantastic and there is no
| indication that it will change.
|
| BUT, performance goes through boom and bust cycles. It is not
| unique to the tech industry. Hence the ant saves during times
| of plenty.
|
| New things will pop up and current things will pick up as
| well. It is cyclic.
|
| The dotcom crash, 9/11, 2008, covid, and that's just since
| 2000. So when I read that _now_ it is _really_ over I can 't
| help but chuckle a little bit.
| danielmarkbruce wrote:
| Try building a few applications which use LLMs. The
| complexity is high. There is going to be a lot of jobs.
| jasoneckert wrote:
| I'd like to see more comparative data within articles like this
| in general. For example, what number of people worked in tech
| during the dot-com bubble era versus today, and in which areas
| were layoffs more frequent during each time? And what were the
| percentage of layoffs in each area then compared to now?
| andy99 wrote:
| Yeah but then nobody will click on your article headlines.
| AznHisoka wrote:
| Honestly if this wasn't CNBC, this article would have been
| immediately flagged
| magicalhippo wrote:
| We're noticing a slowdown here in Norway as well.
|
| We're a small B2B company and have been struggling hard to hire
| new developers for years, running a deficit of 2-3 devs for last
| 5+ years. Within last few months we've suddenly gotten multiple
| candidates and now find we have to pick and choose.
|
| Really didn't expect it to affect us that much and so suddenly
| here in Norway.
| downWidOutaFite wrote:
| I'm considering doing a career switch from one tech area to
| another but I hate how hard it is to see job trends. Supposedly
| there are job openings in "AI" whatever that is. Does anyone know
| somewhere to find real job trends over time broken down by
| skills?
| jhanoncomm wrote:
| The anecdote doesn't sound too bad:
|
| > During five weeks of job hunting, Croisant said she applied to
| 48 openings and landed two interviews. She finally opted to
| accept a lower-level data analyst role and a roughly $3,000
| reduction in her base pay to take a contract role starting next
| month at a financial technology company.
|
| > "This was an absolutely terrifying experience for me, and I'm
| not sure if I'll ever truly feel secure in a job again," Croisant
| said. "But I'm still one of the lucky ones in the end. I have
| friends who've been looking for months and still haven't found
| anything."
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