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this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2024
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Technology
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I should clarify that I was referring to the US. And I have to also disagree it's voracious for all tech workers, that's why I said depending on your specialty within the IT field. Hell, there was just a post on the r/cybersecurity subreddit the other day with hundreds of comments agreeing that it's not a great time right now in the US. It hasn't just been FAANG companies laying off tech workers, it's been all over:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilsayegh/2024/08/19/the-great-tech-reset-unpacking-the-layoff-surge-of-2024/
That's over 500,000 tech workers in just under 3 years. A huge chunk of job postings for IT jobs are just ghost jobs, meaning they're perpetually posted without actually ever intending to fill that slot. There are lots of reasons why companies do this, but that's off topic and lots of articles already cover the topic, e.g. https://stackoverflow.blog/2024/07/15/the-ghost-jobs-haunting-your-career-search/
Anyway, hopefully this slump recovers soon.
Currently, tech unemployment is under 3%. Salaries are 2x-5x the national average depending on specialty. If this is a slump, I'm hard pressed to imagine a boom.
You have to keep in mind we're coming off a decade of industry growth, particularly in the wake of COVID. These 500,000 jobs are a fraction of the IT jobs created annually.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1417885/increase-reduction-of-technology-technical-jobs-globally/
Demand for IT even in 2023 is up yoy.
I guess the anecdotal evidence I've seen among all my peers and social networks contradicts those numbers, so we can agree to disagree. It's easy to massage those stats, especially with the advent of bullshit jobs like "AI prompt engineer," as an example.
Anyway, good luck to anyone that gets laid off. Shit sucks regardless, and that was really my main original point.
Definitely possible that Silicon Valley is in some kind of IT recession. They've been swinging for the fences at crypto, VR, and AI going on six years and wiffing like crazy.
But if you're just a glorified digital accountant (like me), I'm here to report that IT is doing perfectly fine. You can earn a high-five / low-six figure salary at any number of mid-cap businesses. Even basic SQL experience is in high demand. Tons of legacy infrastructure to support. Tons of interfaces to build and data to massage between systems. Tons of new applications to deploy and customize. The real work is endless. The phony baloney bullshit work is what ran out.