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tencent technology news according to foreign media reports, many software engineers in the current technology industry are facing unprecedented challenges. as resources continue to tilt towards the field of artificial intelligence, traditional software development positions are becoming increasingly exhausted, leading to increasingly fierce competition in the job market. so far this year, us technology companies have laid off as many as 137,000 people, and many it practitioners are desperately looking for new job opportunities. at the same time, the reduction in equity rewards and the general reduction in wages have intensified the industry's internal circulation phenomenon. against this background, the career prospects of software engineers have become more uncertain.

it's getting harder to find a job in the tech industry by submitting an application online, so glenn kugelman is taking a different approach, going back to pen, paper and tape.

caption: kugelman posted flyers in manhattan to promote his linkedin profile

since leaving his job as an online marketer at ebay this spring, kugelman, 30, has spent nearly three months posting 150 flyers on lampposts in manhattan. the flyers read: "recently fired, looking for a new job!" he specifically posted flyers outside the offices of tech giants such as google and facebook, hoping that these carefully designed "job search signals" would stand out in the daily vision of hiring managers, as eye-catching as a "missing cat notice." the qr code embedded in the flyers allows people to view his personal profile on the professional social networking site linkedin.

“i believe this will make me stand out from other job seekers,” kugelman said. “the job market is more challenging than ever before, and only innovation can win.”

“my network of connections seemed to have dried up overnight.”

tech talent, once fought over by companies, is now competing for more scarce positions. for a long-dominant group, the dramatic reversal of fortunes indicates more than just a brief period of pain during the adaptation period, but a signal of a massive restructuring of the industry that has redefined the structure of labor demand and put some practitioners under pressure to transform.

according to indeed.com, the number of software development job openings in the united states has fallen by more than 30% since february 2020. at the same time, according to layoff.fyi, the wave of layoffs in the u.s. technology industry is still continuing, affecting a total of about 137,000 workers so far this year. for young technology workers who have not experienced the bursting of the internet bubble in the early 21st century, this sudden job search challenge is particularly severe, and they have to desperately look for work.

the focus of corporate strategy has also quietly shifted from aggressive expansion and high-risk investment in the past to steady development of profitable products and services. this strategic adjustment is directly reflected in the recruitment strategy: the recruitment scale of junior positions has been reduced, the recruitment team has been streamlined, and those areas with bleak profit prospects, such asvirtual reality(vr) and hardware equipment, and related projects and positions have also been eliminated.

in this context,aithe field has ushered in an unprecedented wave of investment and development opportunities. the rise of generative artificial intelligence such as chatgpt has demonstrated its huge potential in creating content and reshaping many industries, which has stimulated fierce competition in the industry to build top artificial intelligence systems. professionals in this field have become one of the most in-demand minority groups in the current market and are highly favored by companies.

chris volz, 47, an engineering manager in oakland, california, had been in the field since the late 1990s until he was laid off by a real estate technology company in august 2023. “i’ve been working in the technology field for many years, but this feels very different,” he said.

caption: waltz, who was fired last year, said that although i understand the "boom and bust cycle", this time feels very different

in most of his previous jobs, waltz was either contacted by recruiters or got a job through referrals from his network. now, he was surprised to find that almost no one in his social network was spared from the wave of layoffs, forcing him to lower his posture on the job search for the first time, and even reduce his salary to find a way out. he lamented: "my network resources seem to have dried up overnight." he sent his resume to more than 120 positions, but received only three replies.

walz also worries about his mortgage. he finally found a job this spring, but the job required him to take a 5% pay cut.

the hospitality experience for job seekers is gone

during the covid-19 pandemic, the full digitalization of consumers' lives and consumption patterns has prompted technology companies to expand rapidly, competing to recruit talent with attractive salaries, promised flexibility, luxurious office environments and even various enviable benefits. the war for talent has intensified, forcing companies to "raise" employees to resist competitors, and some employees even reported that they actually had no specific responsibilities after being hired.

however, as inflation soared and interest rates rose, leading to a slowdown in economic growth, the market quickly cooled, and some tech giants, even those with a history of few large-scale layoffs, had to reluctantly cut tens of thousands of jobs.

payroll services company adp has been tracking employment of software developers among its client base since early 2018, and data showed that employment in this field grew steadily until it hit a peak in october 2019 and began to decline.

although the hiring boom during the pandemic slowed the overall downward trend, it failed to fundamentally reverse the process. nela richardson, director of adp research, pointed out that this reflects the natural development trajectory of innovation-driven industries. she said: "in the digital field, breakthroughs are less frequent than before, and there are more and more technological solutions that no longer rely solely on manpower growth."

job seekers generally report that the job search experience of the past is no longer there. this spring, a former meta product manager in san francisco drove an hour to attend an interview. on the way, he received an email asking him to complete three writing tests on the spot. when he arrived, the office was empty, with only the receptionist left. about three hours later, the interviewer hurriedly showed up, but only asked him to complete the test without conducting an in-depth interview.

figure: software engineer employment index: the number of adp clients employing software engineers has been decreasing

i sent out 100 resumes and only received two or three interviews.

kaitlyn knopp, ceo of salary planning startup pequity, pointed out that the salary bubble has burst, the mismatch between job titles and experience is gradually being corrected, and the market is returning to rationality.

pequity data shows that in 2024, salary growth in the us software industry will almost stagnate, with a year-on-year increase of only 0.95%, reflecting the adjustment of corporate compensation strategies. pequity also found that since 2019, the average equity grant for entry-level positions in medium-sized software service companies has dropped by as much as 55%.

today, american companies' requirements for engineering skills are becoming increasingly diversified. ryan sutton, executive director of the technology practice department of human resources company robert half, emphasized that soft skills, collaboration capabilities and insight into the strategic direction of artificial intelligence are becoming key bargaining chips, and companies are eager for versatile talents.

against this background, many technology practitioners have taken the initiative to seek change and actively participated in courses such as artificial intelligence training camps to broaden the boundaries of their skills.

michael moore, a senior software engineer from atlanta, encountered a career change in january this year when he was laid off by a web and application development company. after seven months of unsuccessful job search, he decided to return to school and attend an online university to improve his programming skills. moore pointed out that he successfully got a job with no academic background six years ago, but now faced with a fierce competition in the job market, including the double pressure of laid-off workers and new job seekers, he is eager to enhance his competitiveness by obtaining a degree.

moore, 40, said that for every 100 resumes he submits, he only gets two or three interviews. he admitted: "this ratio is not optimistic."

“the process of waiting to be discovered is really painful”

cornell universityjason greenberg, associate professor of management, pointed out that in the past, technology internships used to attract college graduates with nearly six-figure annual salaries and could be directly converted into full-time opportunities. however, companies have recently reduced the scale of internships and entry-level job recruitment, and the market trend has changed. he said: "it's not the same as it used to be. it's not 2012 anymore. college graduates are no longer in the golden age of the job market!"

in order to switch to the technology industry, myron lucan, a 31-year-old retired us air force personnel, began to study programming technology, but after graduation, he found that all entry-level positions required several years of work experience. he was confident that if he got an interview opportunity, he would be able to show his expertise in aviation computer systems to the employer and use it to build the company's database. but after nearly two months of application, he did not get a single interview opportunity. he said: "i still have hope of finding a job and i am sure i can do it, but the process of waiting to be discovered is really painful."

in addition, non-technical positions in the technology industry, such as marketing, human resources, and recruitment, have also faced the impact of multiple waves of layoffs. james arnold is one example. he has 18 years of experience in technology recruitment, but was fired twice in two years. during the epidemic, he was the head of talent acquisition at meta, but left in november 2022 due to market changes. after that, he went through nearly a year of hard job hunting and finally had to turn to outside the technology industry to seek development.

at the beginning of this year, arnold was worried about the new opportunities brought by the electric car company, so he chose to act conservatively and stick to his original position for several months, while secretly juggling the work of the two companies. however, when he mustered up the courage to quit his first job and devote himself to the electric car startup, fate played a joke on him. he was fired just one month later and fell into unemployment. he said helplessly: "i had two jobs as a guarantee, but now i have nothing. at least if i hadn't quit, i could have maintained stability."

arnold revealed that in the current job market, the salaries of the positions he encountered were generally reduced by one-third compared to the past, which made him feel frustrated. what made him even more angry was that although the overall financial situation of the technology industry has improved, some companies have turned to rely more on consultants and outsourcing, reducing the size of full-time employees. he analyzed: "the epidemic has accelerated the popularity of remote work, but it has also invisibly promoted global competition in the job market!"

competition for ai talent remains fierce

however, the technology industry is not lacking in bright spots: in the field of large language models that power cutting-edge products such as chatgpt, professionals can easily get high-paying jobs, with annual salaries easily exceeding the million-dollar mark.

pequity ceo knopp said that ai engineers are paid two to four times more than regular engineers. she pointed out: "this is a huge bet on cutting-edge technology, so companies are reluctant to spread too much money on other human resources."

not only technology giants, but also cross-industry companies have stepped up their competition for talent in the field of artificial intelligence. martha heller, a senior executive headhunter, emphasized: "five years ago, the board of directors rarely asked the ceo about the deployment of artificial intelligence strategy. now, such issues have become the norm. if the senior management has only a superficial understanding of artificial intelligence, it will be difficult to win a good reputation in the board of directors." (translated by jinlu)