That's the thing: they're not scared to be fired. Well, check that. They're scared of the process of being fired and having to face the fact that someone somewhere doesn't think they're the bee's knees and super valuable to humanity.
But they absolutely think they'll be able to waltz into another Big Tech job at another office somewhere. Or failing that, they can be a "project manager" at some well funded startup who might not have a fully automated wine machine or their own chef prepared brunch available for rooftop patio dining, but still will give them gold stars for making presentations that say "We need to engage our customers moar! YAY!"
The problem is they've never seen a recession before, and the one we're on the eve of is looking like it's going to grow into a depression. They don't realize that alphabet (Google) has just announced they plan to slow down hiring (which is a prelude to freezing it then doing mass layoffs), or that Meta (facebook) is about jettison a few thousand competitors into the workforce. They think the unemployment rate will stay at 3.5% while the demand for tech employees will continue to grow. They don't realize that as this SuckFest gets going the first thing that's getting cut is the advertising budget which is bad news if you're in an industry that depends on advertising dollars to fund it.
And those side hustles are about to dry up, too.
And inflation is about to wipe out whatever you've been saving up (assuming you've been saving up).
But I actually have faith in these kids (the Gen Z'ers, not so much the millenials). Even though they haven't really been challenged, I see some natural grit and the drive necessary to make it through this. I think when the game is on, they're going to roll up their sleeves and get to work rather than sitting around crying about they miss the meditation rooms and free doggy daycare at the office.
I would say that comparing this to covid is a mistake. The lockdowns drove more people online and ultimately drove more money into the tech sector. It looked like tech bucked the trend, but it was basically just benefiting from the downturn in other sectors of the economy.
In a recession, spending goes down across the board, and tech is on shakey ground as a lot of the products and services can be viewed as luxuries... or at least optional. When customers stop paying subscriptions, consuming content, or buying the current pretty device, the money flowing into the sector is going to drop. Companies are going to need to start managing costs, and the only way to do that is by managing payroll and product lines.
Bottom line is those hundreds of thousands of job openings are going to start getting yanked while the number of people who can do them is going to increase.
Those who can't be reassigned or are redundant get pink slipped and re-enter the job market. Eventually some MBA will rediscover "outsourcing", and then someone else will come up with a new word for "topgrading" and write a book on it. More competition for less jobs available.
Meta has already started to turtle down, alphabet as well after a terribad quarterly report a few days ago. About to see it from Twitter big time.
It's not the end of the world. Tech workers are still going to have it easier than others in a lot of cases, but I'd expect the salaries to get a littler lower, the perks to dry up, and the process of finding a job to get harder. Will get worse longer the recession lasts.
And if someone's one of the people who's a "project manager" or "community moderator" that likes to say they are a tech worker... they should either be looking into developing high demand skills or thinking about a lateral career change right about now.
No wonder rhey are so scared to be fired. They'll never find a place to pay them for not working again unless they find a gov job.
That's the thing: they're not scared to be fired. Well, check that. They're scared of the process of being fired and having to face the fact that someone somewhere doesn't think they're the bee's knees and super valuable to humanity.
But they absolutely think they'll be able to waltz into another Big Tech job at another office somewhere. Or failing that, they can be a "project manager" at some well funded startup who might not have a fully automated wine machine or their own chef prepared brunch available for rooftop patio dining, but still will give them gold stars for making presentations that say "We need to engage our customers moar! YAY!"
The problem is they've never seen a recession before, and the one we're on the eve of is looking like it's going to grow into a depression. They don't realize that alphabet (Google) has just announced they plan to slow down hiring (which is a prelude to freezing it then doing mass layoffs), or that Meta (facebook) is about jettison a few thousand competitors into the workforce. They think the unemployment rate will stay at 3.5% while the demand for tech employees will continue to grow. They don't realize that as this SuckFest gets going the first thing that's getting cut is the advertising budget which is bad news if you're in an industry that depends on advertising dollars to fund it.
And those side hustles are about to dry up, too.
And inflation is about to wipe out whatever you've been saving up (assuming you've been saving up).
But I actually have faith in these kids (the Gen Z'ers, not so much the millenials). Even though they haven't really been challenged, I see some natural grit and the drive necessary to make it through this. I think when the game is on, they're going to roll up their sleeves and get to work rather than sitting around crying about they miss the meditation rooms and free doggy daycare at the office.
I would say that comparing this to covid is a mistake. The lockdowns drove more people online and ultimately drove more money into the tech sector. It looked like tech bucked the trend, but it was basically just benefiting from the downturn in other sectors of the economy.
In a recession, spending goes down across the board, and tech is on shakey ground as a lot of the products and services can be viewed as luxuries... or at least optional. When customers stop paying subscriptions, consuming content, or buying the current pretty device, the money flowing into the sector is going to drop. Companies are going to need to start managing costs, and the only way to do that is by managing payroll and product lines.
Bottom line is those hundreds of thousands of job openings are going to start getting yanked while the number of people who can do them is going to increase. Those who can't be reassigned or are redundant get pink slipped and re-enter the job market. Eventually some MBA will rediscover "outsourcing", and then someone else will come up with a new word for "topgrading" and write a book on it. More competition for less jobs available.
Meta has already started to turtle down, alphabet as well after a terribad quarterly report a few days ago. About to see it from Twitter big time.
It's not the end of the world. Tech workers are still going to have it easier than others in a lot of cases, but I'd expect the salaries to get a littler lower, the perks to dry up, and the process of finding a job to get harder. Will get worse longer the recession lasts.
And if someone's one of the people who's a "project manager" or "community moderator" that likes to say they are a tech worker... they should either be looking into developing high demand skills or thinking about a lateral career change right about now.