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It's a combination of Covid over hiring, CapEx for AI hardware, AND you don't need as many software developers anymore per product.
by aurareturn 3mo ago
It's a combination of Covid over hiring, CapEx for AI hardware, AND you don't need as many software developers anymore per product.
- adrian_b 3mo agoI doubt very much that COVID over-hiring has any relevance today. COVID is now ancient history and there have already been several years of big layoffs when every time I hear the attempt of explaining them through COVID over-hiring. That may have been right a couple of years ago, but since then every company that had over-hired must have already disposed of the surplus.
- nlpnerd 3mo agoThe mad rush and overhiring didn't stop immediately after Covid. I know of cases where experienced software engineers were getting picked up by big tech with huge increments as late as end of 2023. My impression is that the current trend for layoffs only really began around early 2025. For reference, the layoffs during the dotcom bubble I was told took around 2 years to plateau
- pir8life4me 3mo agoSo then why aren't bad decision making execs being let go? If they can't forecast demand or headcount they should be replaced by confident sounding AI.
- lux-lux-lux 3mo agoWe’re going to be well into the Diamond Age before people stop attributing layoffs to ‘Covid overhiring.’
- aurareturn 3mo agoBig tech employee counts are still nearly 2x higher now than 2019.
- strken 3mo agoIn 2019 I bet they were more than 2x what they were in 2012.
- lux-lux-lux 3mo agoAnd big tech market cap is 5x what it was in 2019, yes. I’m not hearing wild overhiring in these numbers, quite the opposite.