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Layoffs hit highest level for the month since 2003

challengergray.com

31–40 of 64 posts

Re: Layoffs hit highest level for the month since 2003

#31
post #9

this post is filled with ads and is a low effort rewrite of the OP post: https://www.challengergray.com/blog/october-challenger-repor... which has more info and did the original work. suggest swapping link for this post. would also pay some money to never see this awful site again on HN. by the time you scroll to paragraph 3 the screen is 50% filled with shoe ads and other random shit

[deleted]

Re: Layoffs hit highest level for the month since 2003

#32

I’m not from the us, so can someone give me some real perspective? If you have a couple years experience and you want to make at least ~50k a year, is it actually really hard to find a job in tech right now? Or is this more about senior people not being able to find ~100k a year jobs as easily?

$50k jobs (in your field) are probably harder to find than $100k jobs. Nobody wants to hire a $50k dev in the US - they'd think there's something wrong with you. In the past you could maybe get something in web dev but that's not exactly a thriving industry these days.

In any case, my impression is that juniors are being hit the hardest. They're the easiest to offshore and the easiest to justify as being replaceable by AI (regardless of how true that actually is).

Re: Layoffs hit highest level for the month since 2003

#33

This is what one-on-one relationships with our employers gets us (where one-on-one means one worker's relationship to a chain of command, a department for compensation & benefits, ownership, board, and a network of investors & advisors coordinating on compensation, hiring practices, regulatory politics at a national level)

Exactly. These employers are not your friends and it's all a political game with your role and your manager.

Re: Layoffs hit highest level for the month since 2003

#34

MCMA: Make classwarfare MAD again

Sorry, can’t have that. But you can pick men vs women, left vs right, white vs poc, Israel vs Palestine, capitalism vs socialism, religion vs atheism, cis vs trans.

Illusion disillusionment

Re: Layoffs hit highest level for the month since 2003

#35
post #30

I’m not from the us, so can someone give me some real perspective? If you have a couple years experience and you want to make at least ~50k a year, is it actually really hard to find a job in tech right now? Or is this more about senior people not being able to find ~100k a year jobs as easily?

$100k a year in 2025 is like earning $55k a year in 2007, accounting for inflation and costs. The value of money and especially the dollar is getting printed away to worthlessness.

According to usinflationcalculator.com $100K today is more like $64K in 2007.

Re: Layoffs hit highest level for the month since 2003

#37
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If tech folks are laid off who is renting that insanely expensive housing in the coastal cities?

One thing that strikes me as odd, as someone not from the US, is that it’s kind of assumed that people are renting? I’d expect that lots of people in SV/Bay area would just buy the place, expensive as that might be.

There are a ton of costs even if you own and have paid off. Aside from my $5K/year property taxes, I've spent probably $50K (likely more) in the past year for costs related to a fire. Also some significant costs for deferred maintenance that had to happen. Some routine plowing and lawn/field maintenance that I could do myself but that would take capital costs (and time). So not a typical couple of years but I've spent well over $100K on my house even though it's paid-off. It's far from free once you've written that last check to a bank.

Of course, modern condos will likely be cheaper but now you're paying HOA fees each month.

Re: Layoffs hit highest level for the month since 2003

#38
post #18

This is what one-on-one relationships with our employers gets us (where one-on-one means one worker's relationship to a chain of command, a department for compensation & benefits, ownership, board, and a network of investors & advisors coordinating on compensation, hiring practices, regulatory politics at a national level)

The alternative is unions correct?

Unions helped Detroit autoworkers so much. I'm not totally opposed to unions but if people don't want to buy the company's product at the price it's offered for (and costs), they can't sustainably force the company to pay workers more.

Re: Layoffs hit highest level for the month since 2003

#39

I’m not from the us, so can someone give me some real perspective? If you have a couple years experience and you want to make at least ~50k a year, is it actually really hard to find a job in tech right now? Or is this more about senior people not being able to find ~100k a year jobs as easily?

The current tech job situation in the US is hitting junior developers a lot harder than senior developers, which is why there's a general assumption a lot of it is being driven by the combination of AI and outsourcing.

Whether this is sustainable remains to be seen, there was a big outsourcing trend back in ~2004 in the tech industry here that ended up being somewhat short-lived as many companies realized those efforts were costing them more than they were saving them beyond the short term. Whether or not this time is different with the added AI component, I have no idea. I wouldn't bet on it in either direction.

Its not great out there for senior developers either, but on the senior side its more of a freeze (try not to lose your job because the next one may be very hard to find) whereas on the junior side its more of a clear contraction (keeping your job will be much harder, finding a new one harder still).

Re: Layoffs hit highest level for the month since 2003

#40
post #27

I’m not from the us, so can someone give me some real perspective? If you have a couple years experience and you want to make at least ~50k a year, is it actually really hard to find a job in tech right now? Or is this more about senior people not being able to find ~100k a year jobs as easily?

Junior jobs are very hard to find right now. They are much rarer than they used to be. However, if you are even somewhat capable you could probably find a role if you're willing to accept $50k total comp (which is very low in most areas) just by being willing to work for less than others.

Certainly, anecdotally, that seems to be the case. There are exceptions like interns who have some in. But whether it's AI or some combination of other reasons, it does seem to be more difficult for juniors than at least mid-career professionals.
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