U.S. Tech Layoffs Hit Two-Decade High in October

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Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨cyrano@piefed.social⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://thefivepost.com/u-s-tech-layoffs-hit-two-decade-high-in-october/

cross-posted from: https://ttrpg.network/post/28484448

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jtj4135@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Atmospheric and Oceanic science has been heavily defunded this year. A quarter of my program at NOAA has been laid off this year.

If I lose my science job, I was planning on going into tech. Now where do I go??? It feels like the walls are closing in.

I should have gone to a trade school instead :/ STEM was a bad choice.

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- IronBird@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  uironically, leave the US. plenty of countries/international research orgs are pouching all sorts of US-intelligencia right now.
  
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  - YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    This is not entirely true and blown away out of proportion by the writers of all the articles you’re seeing. For example that big one that got a bunch of attention in France was only for 15 applicants. Also outside of a few exceptions, most STEM workers lack the resources to pick up and leave where they are at.
    
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  - ripcord@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    
    just
    
    You say this like it is easy/simple
    
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  - themaninblack@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I left and got two Sr SWE positions within 3 months. It’s like the 90’s down here
    
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  - Meron35@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Obviously you should try to consider all options, but the amount that this is happening is way exaggerated.
    
    Europe in particularly is diverting a lot of funding away from public sector to defense spending due to geopolitical anxieties.
    
    International organisations aren’t safe either, because they rely on funding from the developed countries who are all cutting funding, i.e. US, Europe, etc.
    
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- squaresinger@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Tech is a field where there’s always infinite work to do, and it’s always only limited by the budget.
  
  We had very low interest rates for over a decade, which made investments more profitable and thus there was always a ton of money to go around. The current financial downturn is the main reason of all the tech layoffs with no budget there are no jobs.
  
  The upside of that: Even with all the talk of AI and stuff, once the interest rate goes down and investments go up, all the jobs will be back.
  
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  - sobchak@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    IDK. Tech companies are bringing in more revenue than ever. The trend seems to be companies reporting great revenue growth, then laying off shortly after, to which the investors seem to reward. In the past, layoffs would usually bring stock prices down, since they have less human capital to generate profit from.
    
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- inmatarian@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Don’t wait, go straight into training in another field. Send out your resumes for a tech job, but start working on a backup.
  
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  - jtj4135@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    That’s a good idea! And if I get rejected, at least I’ll know which new skills to focus on. In the meantime, I’ll try to figure out what other career besides tech would fit my education and skill set.
    
    I have a master’s of science in atmospheric and oceanic science, which unfortunately is a very niche field. I made a miscalculation that my field would grow due to the increase in severe weather and negative affects from climate change.
    
    Thanks for your advice :)
    
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- YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I feel this in my soul. I should’ve just went to law school.
  
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  - BrilliantantTurd4361@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I am probably older than you and just wrote the lsat to bail on tech. You can too!
    
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- HubertManne@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I was going to mention it seemed about right but it is worse than back then and I can’t put my finger on why and I think you have found it for me. Since stem across the board is being hit it makes it that much worse than just a tech meltdown.
  
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  - jtj4135@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    It honestly feels like public science is collapsing within America. I expected cuts to atmospheric and oceanic science given that the Heritage Foundation (creators of Project 2025) said they were going to break up NOAA due to our “climate change alarmism”. However, I didn’t expect that nearly every field of science would also get defunded this year, especially medical research. Anti-intellectualism is destroying the United States :/
    
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- Tollana1234567@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  most stem degrees were pretty bad place, within the last 10 years. maybe if you going for bio to health pipeline you have some kind of career, or engineer(its a little bit iffy). i was CMB major, but if arnt in a lab before graduation , which by the way arnt very reluctant to show them selves for universities to volunteer in. and besides theres a huge preference for women over men in labs.
  
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- Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Are you working for the government?
  
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  - ernest314@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    NOAA is run by the US government, yes.
    
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e461h@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Tech companies don’t innovate anymore. Their Wall Street string-pullers demand reliable profit growth so they kill innovation through buyouts and are left with stale products they can only make worse and/or charge more for. Layoffs are a direct wealth transfer from working class labor to wealthy shareholders and the street rewards execs for it every time.

And if you’re thinking AI is innovative, it’s got executives in a fever pitch for the same reasons - so companies can fire expensive labor and big tech can become even more monopolistic, shove more ads, push more propaganda, and control the internet. It’s fortunate it doesn’t work that well so far. Bubble can’t pop soon enough.

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- Tehbaz@lemmy.wtf ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  The problem is that when the AI bubble finally pops, the retirement funds that workers throughout the world will become worthless overnight. The ultra-rich will not be wiped out, and they will control even more wealth using their capital to buy as much as they can after the crash.
  
  One would hope that this is the time when everyone wakes up and puts those fuckers to the guillotine, but I doubt it.
  
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  - 1984@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    What if it doesnt pop and what we are seeing is the foundation for the dystopian society? Data centers being built will be used to monitor everyone in real time, connected to Ai of course so humans are not needed to watch it.
    
    I think this is exactly what is happening. There is a huge financial incentive to build that world where humans no longer are needed. Thats why I think this is not a bubble, it just looks like it.
    
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- nosuchanon@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Let’s make our own Internet with blackjack and hookers.
  
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atmorous@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
At this point for people who lost their jobs it would be much better for all of us to make new companies together that are not on stock market also unionized, cooperative, or unionized cooperative.

Coming back to the same companies who will just fire us for more profit is not a sustainable cycle for anybody. Yes apply for jobs if you really need it but let’s want better for ourselves.

We can release Open source/documentation/procedures/business documentation/management documentation etc to collectively make it easier to create different new tech companies for specific things.

We can spin up an opensourcebusiness community here on Lemmy to do it together (Have no idea how to and have projects already if any people would like to pick up this initiative)

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- jjjalljs@ttrpg.network ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Have you talked to a lot of tech workers? I feel like there’s a set of left wing ones, a larger set of libertarian types, and an even larger set of people who are shockingly ignorant of politics and history.
  
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  - mr_account@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Might not seem like it in recent years, but there are still tech workers with standards and morals
    
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- UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  it would be much better for all of us to make new companies together
  
  Companies need clients. That’s sort of the secret sauce in business. If you don’t have good relationships with the management at your client firms, you can’t win the contracts that give your work recognizable monetary value.
  
  We can spin up an opensourcebusiness community here on Lemmy to do it together (Have no idea how to make/manage Lemmy communities and have projects already if any people would like to pick up this initiative. I can assist however I can in spare time)
  
  :-/
  
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belling_the_Cat
  
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- Jankatarch@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  We would need capital and we would be competing with people that practically own politicians.
  
  Free market capitalism!
  
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  - techpeakedin1991@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Tbf, unless there’s some massive capital expense that I’m not thinking about, you don’t really need any capital for doing software related work besides a computer, which most people already have anyway and maybe some office space. Software is about as capital lite as an industry can be, so if making a workers co-op under capitalism is going to work in any industry, it would be software.
    
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- TimeChild@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Love the idea
  
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  - atmorous@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Do you have some free time? Would love to assist however I can on this if you/others pick it up
    
    It would get people working together to make it happen very quickly. Then the load will be shared by everyone who joins it on building it out. The initial setup & maintainence is the spark we need to get it going!!
    
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- mr_account@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I’m kinda split on this. On the one hand, I like the idea, but on the other, I don’t feel like my skills are up to snuff for this kind of project
  
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  - atmorous@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    No worries, maybe you can do a role of promotion getting it in the eyes of people with the skills to get it done. Many ways to go about it. Another person on my comment thread is willing to do it. Couple others too
    
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oxdeaddeed@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
The company I work for, which is a large publicly traded tech company, feels like a Darwinian hell right now. There’s an internship and a handful got hired out of it, but that was more the exception than the rule.

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- douglasg14b@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Honestly same thing here. They didn’t even do internships anymore.
  
  They don’t seem to be hiring anyone that’s not a senior engineer either.
  
  They also have been regularly laying off folks every year or more than once a year but not backfilling. So workloads are up.
  
  Couple of this with them freezing promotions and now they’re risking high performers leaving because they aren’t being considered and rewarded for their contribution levels and engagement.
  
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  - cornshark@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Leaving to go where?
    
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  - scarabic@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    We must work at the same place.
    
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lechekaflan@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
It’s always the fucking suits.

Everyone else are constantly laid off and have to find work again. And again. And again.

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- theoneandonlyeggboi@lemmings.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  The working class is getting raped by people who went to businesses school.[
  
  Both literally, and figuratively.
  
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  - architect@thelemmy.club ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    The working class could stand up for themselves any day now.
    
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jaschen306@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
My entire web team got laid off from a major car company. Right before we got paid our yearly bonus and right before I went on my paternity leave.

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- Nalivai@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I work for a European company, and we had a major car company as a client. 6 month ago they abruptly stopped working with us and fired a bunch of their engineers, and now they hired again and are trying to negotiate a new deal with us.
  Your story might be an answer to why
  
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  - jaschen306@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Corporate life.
    
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- architect@thelemmy.club ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Why protect them?
  
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  - silasmariner@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Maybe worried about looking personally identifiable. It’s understandable.
    
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  - jaschen306@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Because they are giving us a tiny severance for being quiet. I’ll take what I can get.
    
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shalafi@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Should I give up on finding a tech job? Surely my resume won’t stack against all these laid of people. I mean, it’s not bad, and I’ve scored great jobs before it was as stacked as it is today. Been unemployed for over a year and a half, haven’t looked too much.

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- mr_account@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  It’s probably worth it to look into changing fields entirely, but honestly so many industries in the US are hurting right now, IDK which ones would even be a good option…
  
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  - Zirconium@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I just finished my associates in something called “industrial maintenance.” A degree that is a little bit of electrical, HVAC, Circuits, & machining. I have not been accepted to the 20 “entry” level jobs I found (also went to a career fair). And everywhere I look for related fields or anything people say there’s too many people in the business. It’s like every job field has “too many people”
    
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  - Alexstarfire@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Any chance you’re good at making guillotines? One can hope they become high demand.
    
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- scarabic@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Do you mean you’re trying to get into tech? If yes then it’s a terrible time for that. No harm in trying but it is not the rapidly expanding field it once was, sucking up people from all other industries left and right…
  
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Gammelfisch@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Everything to make sure the shareholders are fucking delighted.

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- silasmariner@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Which is weird because if you’re actually trying to get shit done, you get much more value out of someone with experience in your ecosystem than someone you’ve just hired, and it’s astonishing how low you an keep those ppls salaries compared to new hires who’re much less effective. Hire+fire is shit for everyone. Except, I guess, idiots who can only think 2 months in either direction.
  
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peoplebeproblems@midwest.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Hmm. Uhoh.

I’m out on FMLA. Am I even going to have a job when I get back?

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- stringere@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Oh, oh, my turn: I was fired on my first day of FMLA for a mental break caused by the ongoing discrimination at my workplace. Woohoo!
  
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  - peoplebeproblems@midwest.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Oh. Well I’m not gonna be out that long.
    
    I hope.
    
    Uhoh. It really depends on how well I do and it is not well so far.
    
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jaykrown@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
This absolutely has to do with AI. If 1 tech worker now has the productivity of 2 tech workers, then they only need to hire half as many workers. Junior developer positions don’t really exist anymore. If we want new jobs, we need new businesses that try to solve the problems that still exist, like the lack of recycling. I’m lucky to have a job in the refurbishment industry, but I’m starting to strongly believe I’m going to need to start my own business next year.

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- Infinite@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Yes, that is what the clueless executives think.
  
  I’ve never worked with a junior developer that was worse than AI is now. It’s often confidently wrong and can do so much damage, all while winning the politics battle without trying.
  
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  - Zink@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    The juniors on my team at work have been productive as hell lately while we olds ponder over the more obscure runes.
    
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Jason2357@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
We have had more outages in our corporate tech services in the last month than the last year before that. Between AWS, Azure, and Teams issues, it’s been crazy.

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PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Can someone with talent remake this gif by replacing the word “flames” with “leopards”?

Image

Original link: media0.giphy.com/media/xQz492gZVUoms/giphy.gif

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- el_abuelo@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  AI can do that.
  
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  - PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I’m not familiar enough with it with respect to images I guess, so I didn’t know. But thanks for the tip, I’ll start playing around with it :)
    
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