SV is really failing their community lately. First with SVB and now with the job market. People outside the valley are largely still hiring developers. East coast is pretty hot still.
Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley
21–30 of 182 posts
Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley
#22I am convinced that the mass layoffs are occurring because forward-thinking executives can see that AI agents are coming to replace employees faster than most people expect. By doing layoffs early they can cut staff before public opinion shifts to questioning AI as the motive, as opposed to "the economy".
AI agents might be replacing jobs in the future, so executives are cutting profit generating employees in the present?
> profit generating employees
Good professionals are being hit by these layoffs, but I suspect the vast majority create little to no value for their employers.
Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley
#23I am convinced that the mass layoffs are occurring because forward-thinking executives can see that AI agents are coming to replace employees faster than most people expect. By doing layoffs early they can cut staff before public opinion shifts to questioning AI as the motive, as opposed to "the economy".
No, mass layoffs are happening because companies overhired like crazy. (https://www.statista.com/statistics/273563/number-of-faceboo...)
Meta / Google employees 2019: 44k / 118k
Meta / Google employees 2022: 86k / 190k
Even after these layoffs virtually all companies retain way more employees than they had three years ago.
Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley
#24Tech is a rare industry where you can easily pivot into it later in your career, start at an entry level position, work your way very high up the ladder and get paid very well along the way. I know folks without a college degree that started as tech support reps who worked their way up to senior roles in big tech that make multiples more than most physicians I know or others that had to go down a rigid path to get to…
> I know folks without a college degree that started as tech support reps
I know a few as well ... but that was decade(s) ago. I'm not sure the industry is still as hurdle-able as it once was.
Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you were an average engineer destined to work in cookie-cutter roles in tech consultancies, would you still pursue a tech career, knowing that your job will sooner or later be taken over by AI? Remember that careers last 30 years, and if you're the average engineer, you're more likely to fall into the 80% of the pareto half than the 20%. Can you be confident that AI won't displace you in 10, 15, or even 20 years?…
> Can you be confident that AI won't displace you in 10, 15, or even 20 years? 1) No, but I am nonetheless skeptical of AI-takeover in general — I'm in the wait-and-see camp and so wouldn't be put off by the might-happens. 2) If one were AI-alarmist, is there any profession you can be confident will not be displaced by AI in 10, 15, or even 20 years? 3) Confession: I'm retired and no longer have any skin in the game.
> 2) If one were AI-alarmist, is there any profession you can be confident will not be displaced by AI in 10, 15, or even 20 years?
Many; Dentists, people that fix your AC, electricians, etc, etc.
Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley
#26Big news headlines seem to be positioned in a way to scare people away from tech jobs right now, but the hard reality is that every organization relies tech people, not just those few big tech companies in Silicon Valley that over-hired during the pandemic.
If you were an average engineer destined to work in cookie-cutter roles in tech consultancies, would you still pursue a tech career, knowing that your job will sooner or later be taken over by AI? Remember that careers last 30 years, and if you're the average engineer, you're more likely to fall into the 80% of the pareto half than the 20%. Can you be confident that AI won't displace you in 10, 15, or even 20 years?…
Oh please stop with this meaningless fear mongering. AI is a (not so good) tool.
Yes it can write very short snippets that often make sense, but in no way can understand requirements, do debugging or maintain existing code.
Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you were an average engineer destined to work in cookie-cutter roles in tech consultancies, would you still pursue a tech career, knowing that your job will sooner or later be taken over by AI? Remember that careers last 30 years, and if you're the average engineer, you're more likely to fall into the 80% of the pareto half than the 20%. Can you be confident that AI won't displace you in 10, 15, or even 20 years?…
> Can you be confident that AI won't displace you in 10, 15, or even 20 years? 1) No, but I am nonetheless skeptical of AI-takeover in general — I'm in the wait-and-see camp and so wouldn't be put off by the might-happens. 2) If one were AI-alarmist, is there any profession you can be confident will not be displaced by AI in 10, 15, or even 20 years? 3) Confession: I'm retired and no longer have any skin in the game.
> 2) .. is there any profession you can be confident will not be displaced by AI in 10, 15, or even 20 years?
Indigenous Ranger [1]
[1] https://www.niaa.gov.au/indigenous-affairs/environment/indig...
Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley
#28Big news headlines seem to be positioned in a way to scare people away from tech jobs right now, but the hard reality is that every organization relies tech people, not just those few big tech companies in Silicon Valley that over-hired during the pandemic.
Plus, I would argue that any argument trying to scare people away from tech jobs based on the current economic circumstances is worthless if it does not suggest a more promising alternative. Will an individual who has the appropriate qualifications and experience find that tech jobs are harder to find, less stable, and less well compensated than they were 5 years ago ? Yes, absolutely! But will that same individual f…
Absolutely, it feels like every industry is having a hard time, so focusing on tech seems to be nothing more than clickbait.
Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley
#29I am convinced that the mass layoffs are occurring because forward-thinking executives can see that AI agents are coming to replace employees faster than most people expect. By doing layoffs early they can cut staff before public opinion shifts to questioning AI as the motive, as opposed to "the economy".
Why are you convinced of this? From what I can see, GPT-4 is incredibly useful but you have to be very careful to lead it in the correct direction otherwise it produces bad outputs. I say this as somebody that probably uses it every 10 minutes. Do you think that it will stop making errors of judgment and be able to behave as an agent soon? I've not encountered anything yet that gives me faith in that, other than hype…
> I say this as somebody that probably uses it every 10 minutes
Do you feel like your ability to produce correct output with GPT improved with practice? If so, then eventually you might reach a point where you get 99.99% accuracy with it, and this can easily 10x your productivity.
Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Plus, I would argue that any argument trying to scare people away from tech jobs based on the current economic circumstances is worthless if it does not suggest a more promising alternative. Will an individual who has the appropriate qualifications and experience find that tech jobs are harder to find, less stable, and less well compensated than they were 5 years ago ? Yes, absolutely! But will that same individual f…
Absolutely, it feels like every industry is having a hard time, so focusing on tech seems to be nothing more than clickbait.
People focus on tech because it was previously seen as immune to such drama, a sure thing, the safe bet.
When even "the rich people" with "all the right stuff" can get laid off, people have Big Feels.