There’s been a lot of news about layoffs in the US. How is everyone fairing from other countries?
Ask HN: Are tech layoffs happening abroad?
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Re: Ask HN: Are tech layoffs happening abroad?
#2It's bad in Europe as well. Spotify let lots of people go last year, Pitch recently fired 2/3 of their staff. Glovo, Veriff, Xolo are just a few others I heard about, but I'm sure it's a hell of a lot more.
I'm thinking once this correction has settled we're probably left with companies that produce actual value instead of just hype, which is good, and I'd rather work for companies with real profits anyway, but it's rough to ride this wave right now for sure, especially if you get laid off and need to pay bills.
Re: Ask HN: Are tech layoffs happening abroad?
#3Freelance developer from Germany here.
There is a significant drop in projects and a slowdown in permanent offerings, but no layoff wave like in the US.
Demand is still high but due to the current recession most companies delay hiring for now.
From my point of view there is also a skill-missmatch in Germany. While firms look for the usual most modern tech stacks, workforce is often conservative, staying years or even decades at one company with outdated technology. Hiring non-EU citizens is almost impossible because of the bureaucracy.
So, in Germany the situation is complicated and different from the US.
Re: Ask HN: Are tech layoffs happening abroad?
#4I can only speak for the UK, but the tech market is very different here. We don't really have large tech companies like in the US. Most tech work in the UK is in sectors like finance, retail, or public sector. While our economy isn't great and there are lay offs it would be wrong to call it "tech layoffs".
We have some tech startups here too though, and those are obviously struggling right now, but startups don't normally lay people off, they simply fail, and that happens all the time anyway.
However, where it is like the US is in the way tech hiring has dropped off a cliff. So if you're working at a startup and the startup fails, or if you're a contractor and your contract isn't renewed then you're going to find it extremely hard to find work right now. I'm getting a lot of messages from ex-colleagues at the moment struggling to find work but thinking about it I don't know anyone who actually got laid off unless you're talking about long-term contracts not being renewed.
The only sector that seems completely fine is public sector work, but there's just not enough public sector work to go around.
Re: Ask HN: Are tech layoffs happening abroad?
#5Freelance developer from Germany here. There is a significant drop in projects and a slowdown in permanent offerings, but no layoff wave like in the US. Demand is still high but due to the current recession most companies delay hiring for now. From my point of view there is also a skill-missmatch in Germany. While firms look for the usual most modern tech stacks, workforce is often conservative, staying years or even…
Most of the remote jobs I see from Germany also hire only those who live in Germany, so it seems to me that Germans don't even want EU citizens, just Germans.
Re: Ask HN: Are tech layoffs happening abroad?
#6In France I didn't heard a lot of layoff. It's recently way more difficult to find a good job, but you can still find a shitty job overnight at consulting companies
Re: Ask HN: Are tech layoffs happening abroad?
#7Heard that S. Korea tech scene is in a similar situation. It's much harder to do mass layoff in the country, but many people are leaving their companies in a form of "voluntary resignation". Also hiring slowdown is happening as well as project cancellation.
Re: Ask HN: Are tech layoffs happening abroad?
#8Freelance developer from Germany here. There is a significant drop in projects and a slowdown in permanent offerings, but no layoff wave like in the US. Demand is still high but due to the current recession most companies delay hiring for now. From my point of view there is also a skill-missmatch in Germany. While firms look for the usual most modern tech stacks, workforce is often conservative, staying years or even…
>Hiring non-EU citizens is almost impossible because of the bureaucracy.
We want to water down the already mediocre wages even more? If you can't find workers across the whole 448 million EU block willing to work for you, you're doing something wrong.
Re: Ask HN: Are tech layoffs happening abroad?
#9Freelance developer from Germany here. There is a significant drop in projects and a slowdown in permanent offerings, but no layoff wave like in the US. Demand is still high but due to the current recession most companies delay hiring for now. From my point of view there is also a skill-missmatch in Germany. While firms look for the usual most modern tech stacks, workforce is often conservative, staying years or even…
Note that we also had COVID and shifted to remote gigs in Germany. This means that we compete with people located in smaller cities or even villages which probably have a pretty good pay rate bump.
Re: Ask HN: Are tech layoffs happening abroad?
#10Freelance developer from Germany here. There is a significant drop in projects and a slowdown in permanent offerings, but no layoff wave like in the US. Demand is still high but due to the current recession most companies delay hiring for now. From my point of view there is also a skill-missmatch in Germany. While firms look for the usual most modern tech stacks, workforce is often conservative, staying years or even…
Most of the remote jobs I see from Germany also hire only those who live in Germany, so it seems to me that Germans don't even want EU citizens, just Germans.
Many managers I got to know have a hard time expressing themselves in English properly.
They fear miscommunication and the administrative work connected to non-German employees.