In a year marked by around 236k employees in IT losing their jobs, 2024 seems to be following the same trend of layoffs in tech with 50k equally unfortunate employees passing through the same. IT workers are starting to feel some pressure and anxiety regarding the following months. Why is this happening? Are we finally living at the end of an era and the start of a new one? Should I recheck my decisions and run away from tech?
Throughout this article, we explore the answer to the above questions, and no, don’t let fear get the best of you. Let’s go through some explanations for why such layoffs are happening and why those have been anticipated by some. Additionally, we highlight some of the common feelings felt during such moments as well as some tips on how you can make the most of your skills and workaround any possible unfortunate scenario, such as these layoffs in tech.
Why are layoffs in tech happening?
Some have already anticipated such waves in the past, why is that?
One explanation is related to what we experienced a few years ago during the pandemic. Several big companies registered growth way beyond what was ever expected, mostly explained by the quick shift in user needs due to all the life constraints that took place during that time.
Such user needs pushed these companies's growth to another level, reaching record levels of profitability, offers, and hiring. Those needs have, in the meantime, stabilized as people tend to get back to their normal lives, especially those who must be in a specific place to perform their roles. During this special period, the IT boom reflected in crazy numbers of hiring, bonuses, and salary increases, which now place these companies in a delicate situation where cuts are required to keep up with the good results. However, these cuts are massively affecting thousands of lives across the world, mostly because management didn’t foresee this scenario.
Another explanation that has been laying around is the shift between priorities, 2022 and 2023 marked new beginnings in the AI field. Several company acquisitions have been made to keep up the market pace, especially moving budgets between departments, which resulted in unfortunate side effects, such as layoffs.
In the next section, we’ll dive into how this usually affects people as well as how we can protect ourselves against such market waves.
Should I be afraid?
Let’s get straight to the point: no!
Rule number one, don’t sell your soul out of fear and take your time to grab the right opportunity. Indeed, 2022 woke up the sector, but it’s mostly due to unprecedented decisions made over a historical period, as it was the pandemic.
Although a lot of companies started to moderate their talent hunting, many others are doing the opposite. To sum up, being actively evolving, and keeping our skills fresh and flexible, should be enough for a smooth transition from a sudden layoff to a great new company, probably better than the previous one.
Don’t worry, this article is all about helping out, not losing the pace, and making sure you've got the required tools for a smooth translation through this uncertain period!
How to better workaround layoffs in tech
Once we realize that there’s no job scarcity, we understand that we need to step up our game so we can smoothly find a nice replacement that, fortunately, might be equally or even better than the previous one.
Stepping up our game usually implies being actively evolving, refreshing and revisiting our skills, keeping training throughout mock interviews, and keeping up to date on market trends such as interviews, salaries, as well as technologies.
Below are some of the most relevant factors.
Don’t place your eggs all in the same basket
We all want to shine in front of our peers, be able to solve all the tasks, and express how good we are and how well we do our work compared to others, so in the end, we get high on the ladder and are fairly compensated.
There’s no issue with moving towards such goals, but don’t forget that a line must be drawn, otherwise, your family, friends, or especially you, will feel the consequences of such unbalance. In these critical moments, as layoffs have shown, we are a mere pawn in a chess game.
Give all your best to the work you do, as a good professional should. But never forget that companies are playing a long-term game, and that you must especially invest in yourself - and that includes your wellbeing and mental health.
Stay tuned about the market
Better than waiting for an email or a lack of access to find out we were laid off, there’s several companies and individuals that joined forces and created platforms or extended others for the sake of keeping you informed. Such as:
Teamlyzer (Layoffs) → Specific to Portugal Market. Here you can find official news or rumours about what’s about to happen in terms of layoffs.
Layoffs.fyi → A more international approach, but similar to Teamlyzer.
Also important is to keep track of market trends and news. Usually, those can also be found in:
Levels.fyi → Helps you get constant updates on market changes, such as salaries, company investments, or news and trends.
Glassdoor → Similar to the above one.
Keep pushing your personal growth
The best short and long-term investment that one can make is in themselves. We should also understand that if we want to stand out (and maybe avoid a layoff) we also should add more value to the company.
We all know what happens to soccer players, or even coaches, who get lazy, right? It’s a matter of time until someone realizes that the investment isn’t paying off, and consequences will arrive sooner or later. As employees in the IT sector, we need to keep reinventing ourselves for the sake of our career stability or growth, which eventually will have side effects on our personal lives.
Reinventing might mean:
Knowledge → It has been known for ages that knowledge is power, right? Keep investing in courses, books, and events that will improve your skills. Remember, it’s a long-term investment, it takes time until you can see any significant return. So here’s an article with 30 (thirty!) platforms to learn and improve your tech skills.
Network → Keep meeting new people, and industry experts, and share your thoughts via videos, articles, podcasts, etc. We never know when a door might open with a bright future.
Interviews → Some might think that we only have interviews whenever we feel it’s time to change. However, having interviews periodically will also help you stay up-to-date regarding interview strategies, improve your speech and technical approaches, identify areas where there’s room for improvement, etc. Overall, it will help you get prepared, so once the right time comes, you’ll have whatever it takes.
Adapt → As Netflix adapted its business strategy from a DVD rental approach to a streaming platform, we should also embrace new technologies and paradigms. Will AI make software engineers less wanted? Why not think about how we can use it to make our work even more meaningful? It’s all about the mindset. Here are 9 ways to use chatgpt in your professional life.
Layoff in Tech & How To Workaround it: Final Thoughts
What’s next? That’s the fun and interesting part, no one knows. The best we can do is work on our assumptions and keep adjusting.
Being laid off isn’t easy, and sometimes quite harsh, feeling like reality slaps us without any notice. It’s up to us to decide what’s next, how we prepare for these situations and how we react to them.
I hope this article was able to give you some security regarding a potential layoff you are already going through or one you may face in the future. In any way, keep pushing and be consistent, because that’s how good things eventually happen.
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Article written by Rafael Martins and originally published at https://kwan.com/blog/layoffs-in-tech-how-to-workaround-it/ on April 12, 2024.
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