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Ask HN: What is the reason for recent tech layoffs

6 points by alwinaugustin ↗ HN
Feeling a bit lost amidst the uncertainty. Can anyone shed light on what's driving these layoffs and offer advice on career pivots for someone who has been a full stack dev(Python, Angular, Node, PHP etc) for lat 14 years ? Where's the demand, and what skills should be prioritised to stay relevant in this volatile market?

6 comments

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koconder
Supposed "right sizing" due to economic factors such as interest rates and the rapid hiring that's happened over the last few years. You can track them on https://layoffs.fyi/
codingdave
The charts on that site show that layoffs have been on a steady decline for a year. Now I'm curious why the talk about it seems so elevated when the data shows the opposite?
meiraleal
Layoffs compound with other layoffs. The data show that more people were fired and still no positions open so the data doesn't show the opposite.
softwaredoug
A better question

Why should so many unprofitable businesses and products exist?

Ok that covers a great deal of it.

But then how much return are even profitable companies seeing on hiring? If you’re an investor, you see a company that hired 2x or so have not the same proportional growth. And that even small amount of growth would seem unlikely to happen given the economy.

So, it really sucks. It’s borderline incompetent and immoral management. But this is the nuts and bolts of it sadly. And tech companies are prone to boom and bust.

meiraleal
The demand currently is with taking revenue out of the companies laying off. Nobody is hiring, it won't get to the previous state so soon, maybe never.

But the money is still there and big tech never been so fragile against capturing their market share.