Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Layoffs hit entry-level workers in the tech sector

 Via the New York Times, this article on layoffs and rescinded offers from software firms: 

...Over the last decade, the prospect of six-figure starting salaries, perks like free food and the chance to work on apps used by billions led young people to stampede toward computer science — the study of computer programming and processes like algorithms — on college campuses across the United States. The number of undergraduates majoring in the subject more than tripled from 2011 to 2021, to nearly 136,000 students, according to the Computing Research Association, which tracks computing degrees at about 200 universities.

Tech giants like Facebook, Google and Microsoft encouraged the computing education boom, promoting software jobs to students as a route to lucrative careers and the power to change the world.

But now, layoffs, hiring freezes and planned recruiting slowdowns at Meta, Twitter, Alphabet, Amazon, DoorDash, Lyft, Snap and Stripe are sending shock waves through a generation of computer and data science students who spent years honing themselves for careers at the largest tech companies. Tech executives have blamed a faltering global economy for the jobs slowdown.

The cutbacks have not only sent recent graduates scrambling to find new jobs but also created uncertainty for college students seeking high-paying summer internships at large consumer tech companies...

I'm not really sure what to say, other than "best wishes to those affected." 

(There is a fair bit of chatter in the news about a recession, with some commentators saying "I don't see a recession" with reference to the GDP numbers. Outside of straight GDP measurement, it seems to me that falling employment in the tech sector (and in the tech majors in particular) would certainly drive lowered expectations of revenue elsewhere in the economy, and slowing growth...) 

1 comment:

  1. Have you come across any good coverage of how this might impact the visa situation? I've seen articles about how there is a limited time for current H1B holders to transfer to a new company. But how would having all of these domestic people on the market impact the "can't find anyone" language that companies need to file to justify a visa?

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looks like Blogger doesn't work with anonymous comments from Chrome browsers at the moment - works in Microsoft Edge, or from Chrome with a Blogger account - sorry! CJ 3/21/20