Tech jobs are getting demolished in ways not seen since 2008

Crazy that the job you hold in tech right now, might be the last tech job you ever hold. Cherish it.

We went from “how can AI be useful to me” to “how can I be useful to AI”. Or headed that way.

I remember going to school for computer science back in 2004 and literally everyone around me thought I was an idiot. I worked a part time shift at a grocery store and 2 of my coworkers were CS grads without any job offers. Then in 2008 I graduated and the financial market collapsed. My first real programming job paid less than my grocery store job but I was happy I had my foot in the door. I don't remember when the market picked up but I don't think the layoffs were as drawn out as they are today. At least back than you kinda new why everyone was on a hiring freeze. Today there are so many economic factors and a massively disrupting technology that it feels messier than ever before.

I mean this with respect, but if this is your sincere worldview, I'd suggest you step outside the tech news bubble a bit more.

There are some white collar jobs, possibly including many software engineers, that are at risk from gen AI. I guess there's some delicious irony in that, given that not long ago, we've been telling blue-collar workers to deal with economic shifts and learn to code. But short of some LessWrong fanfic about self-assembling nanobot AGI doomsday, there's plenty of other things for humans to do for a living.

Employees on work visas are the first and easiest employees to lay off because we don't see our insurance premiums rise when laying them off (it's what most of us did early during COVID). And now with the $100K fees we have no incentive to hire most employees on a work visa anyhow.

Hear that sound? It's the sound of GCCs opening in Poland, Romania, Israel, and India with those employees who were on work visas in the US now in charge.

If you remain in a major tech hub like the Bay or NYC where you are close to early stage capital, you are secure as it gives you a density of established and early stage employers which makes job hunting easier.

If you are in an inshoring hub like Atlanta, RTP, Denver, Minneapolis, or Pittsburg you're in big trouble.

If you are remote first and lack a network of friends and colleagues in the Bay and NYC who can personally vouch and refer you for roles at their companies you're in big trouble.

If you are a bootcamp grad, you are also in trouble so get the cheapest online degree you can that forces you to take a real algorithms and systems programming class.

Edit: can't reply

> The matter of fact nature of your reply sounds highly, personally anecdotal. Given the confluence of moving parts from AI and policy/politics alone, let alone potential regional instability and the effects on US financial markets, it’s really impossible to speak to the next quarter, let alone year/years. Not saying your prediction is not correct, but few are

Well, duh. This is an anonymous forum, not a research paper. That said, I am speaking from my personal experience, and a couple of other decisionmakers on HN have also voiced similar sentiments on here.

It's free advice - take or don't. It's not my problem. To quote Buck Strickland, "I ain't yo daddy".