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2026 tech layoffs reach 45,000 in March

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Re: 2026 tech layoffs reach 45,000 in March

#61

Post by RealityVoid »

bogzz wrote: post #23
win311fwg wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is never just one cause, but I do think AI is one of them. Not in some AI "dey took er jerbs" kind of way, but because businesses are turning their investment focus towards AI-related ventures, like building data centres, and away from investments that require tech workers. Non-residential construction jobs, for example, have surged.

Well yes, Meta even said so explicitly about their upcoming layoffs. They're offsetting the capital expenditures into data centers, and "preparing for greater efficiency brought on by AI-assisted workers".

So who is getting that money then? Contractors building sites? Is it going off to the silicon manufacturers? Is Nvidia getting a large part of the pie?

Re: 2026 tech layoffs reach 45,000 in March

#62

Post by 10xDev »

nickthegreek wrote: post #42
MSFT_Edging wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you don't often see screenshots of threads posts on other sites like you do twitter/bluesky.

Sure, but I’d argue that 140m dau, 400m mau is still success.

It is somewhat integrated to Instagram with billions of active users. Not saying a whole lot.

Re: 2026 tech layoffs reach 45,000 in March

#63

Post by avidiax »

logicchains wrote: post #36
doomslayer999 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

It's not the boomers' fault, they were misled into believing the social security system they were paying into was a genuine savings system, not just a perpetual wealth transfer system from the young to the old.

How were they mislead?

From day one, Social Security was a "new money pays old money" scheme, the one thing that makes it Ponzi-like.

To be fair, the boomers got screwed in the 1980's SS reform to pay for their parents (but had it sweet before), so maybe this is just paying it forward.

Re: 2026 tech layoffs reach 45,000 in March

#65

Post by jordanb »

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #54
paxys wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their last success was acquiring Instagram in 2012. Every new effort since then has been hemorrhaging money. They get away with it because they have two limitless money faucets in Facebook and Instagram, but their product strategy as a whole has been a disaster.

It would be incredible to think that Mark Zuckerberg genuinely thought their Metaverse/VR investment was going to be akin to Xerox's bayarea PARC campus (developer of modern networking / GUI &c). I guess both were ultimately profit-negative financial disasters.

Watching their demo video was the perfect encapsulation of "this was not made for users" I have ever seen. First of all the idea of hanging out in a digital world with Mark Zuckerberg is so bleak. I can't imagine a worse hang.

But other than that, it was all about working in a digital office, being advertised to, etc. They had this scene where one of Zuck's definitely-real friends is excited about "this new street art" on the digital wall that jumps off the wall and they interact with it. Imagine having popup ads that jump up at you when you're walking (gliding?) down the street!

Re: 2026 tech layoffs reach 45,000 in March

#66

Post by phyzix5761 »

bwestergard wrote: post #4

The framing of this makes it seem like this is a sharp change in trend, but this long-running layoff tracker shows no evidence of this. 2020 and 2023 both had serious layoff spikes, but the 2023 spike trailed off to an asymptote that we're still hovering around. https://layoffs.fyi/

This is missing a lot of data. Companies that I know for a fact are doing mass tech layoffs are not listed here.

Re: 2026 tech layoffs reach 45,000 in March

#68

Post by Forgeties79 »

corysama wrote: post #56
cyanydeez wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you go into the larger field, the trend since 2021 is overall concerning, particularly if you factor in Trump's desire to just stop reporting: https://www.macrotrends.net/3208/us-layoffs-and-discharges

According to that chart 2021 was anomalously low and it has been linearly returning to normal for the past four years. AFAICT, the general populace is anxious about AI. So, the news knows they can get clicks with “You are right to be afraid. AI bad.” Meanwhile, CEOs know they can get stock boosts by saying “We are so AI we don’t need expenses. Infinite ROI!” Put together we’re getting a ton of scary reporting on what…

I wouldn’t call the massive levels of investment by both private equity and municipal/state governments “business as usual.” The sums being thrown down and/or promised are staggering. People/groups that lose are going to lose big.

Re: 2026 tech layoffs reach 45,000 in March

#69

Post by HDThoreaun »

paxys wrote: post #43
PlanksVariable wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surprised it took this long. I feel bad for the employees, but I can’t remember the last success they had. Metaverse, VR, throwing absurd money at AI and for what?

Their last success was acquiring Instagram in 2012. Every new effort since then has been hemorrhaging money. They get away with it because they have two limitless money faucets in Facebook and Instagram, but their product strategy as a whole has been a disaster.

Meta ad spend increases 10% every year. Their products have had non stop continual successes for decades at this point. If fb and insta never changed and were solely relying on tailwind you could say they havent had any success, but this clearly is not true imo. Their family of apps have changed a lot, mostly for the worse imo, but it has led to massive increases in ad shows and spend per ad show.

Re: 2026 tech layoffs reach 45,000 in March

#70

Post by dd8601fn »

coffeefirst wrote: post #57
smithcoin wrote: post #8

Cutting layers of bureaucracy not replacing with AI

Some of this smells purely nihilistic. The market rewarded layoffs with higher stock prices, incentivizing more layoffs.

It sure didn't reward Atlassian. If anything it accelerated the long, downward slide.
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