Tech Layoffs for 2016 Projected to Be Deep
inc.com
inc.com
It is a PR piece not journalism.
To be fair, that's pretty clear upfront.
My main problem is that they don't provide any references for all these layoff numbers. That would have been nice. Of course, they didn't do that probably because the numbers are BS.
http://www.informationweek.com/strategic-cio/10-top-tech-com...
Isn't PR just a subset of advertisement?
I'm personally not very worried - I got one immediate no-interview offer from a former boss and about 6 other folks who were interested in hiring me. And if I suddenly can't find any work in tech, I can always go back to laying tile. But this is going to suck for a lot of people.
Amusingly, I think I had a better feeling of job security working at startups than I do at IBM now.
There was also a strong possibility of transferring to a position in some other part of IBM, so I wouldn't be fired, just changed roles.
While I've had continued stability. I would rather not get pushed out of my own industry for being too old or demanding too much pay. I think I would be pretty depressed if a snot-nosed kid out of college was managing me.
As a side effect, my company can now hire all of the new cheap labor that will be poured into the marketplace after the next bust.
Does he really? That's very surprising. In a previous life, coffee shops used to be a big part of my client-base[1]. Out of all the coffee shop owners I knew, I didn't know a single one who wasn't worried about putting food on the table. It's a very cut-throat business with lots of competition, and even if you're located in an expensive area, the margins tend to be razor-thin.
[1]I learned an important lesson from the experience: it is a horrible idea to have clients with little or no disposable income.
You can put pretty much everyone that owns a business or works into this category. Unless you are the top 1% or have a VC subsidized lifestyle, you are always worried about putting food on the table.
Most businesses in that industry have thin margins. But it doesn't stop people from being successful. In my hometown there are at least 5 competing independent coffee shops that are all doing pretty well.
or just razor-thin margins on the stale muffins and biscotti?
Did they really? That's very surprising. In my experience, developers tend to be very understanding and supportive of other developers who leave stable jobs to start their own company.
>>While I've had continued stability.
I'd say you're in the minority. Startups are much riskier, and "stability" would be one of the last words people would use to define them. Everyone knows that.
Have you ever started a business? Most people are not supportive, including developers. You might even lose friends over it. You are going against the norm and most people can't relate and find it strange. The only people that are supportive are those that have a business mindset.
"I'd say you're in the minority. Startups are much riskier, and "stability" would be one of the last words people would use to define them. Everyone knows that."
All businesses have some risk. It took a year or two to get to the point where it was stable. But I was profitable from day one.
I'm not sure what you define as a 'startup', but if you mean create an app and hope that people come to it with no real business plan, I didn't create a startup. I formed a company around a business model and slowly built it up.
Too many people in IT think they aren't replaceable or that the good times will last forever.
Yes I have.
>>Most people are not supportive, including developers. You might even lose friends over it. You are going against the norm and most people can't relate and find it strange.
Software is one of the few industries where leaving a stable job and striking out on your own is an acceptable and relatable career path. The reasons are two-fold: low cost of entry and the many inspirational and well-publicized stories about famous software startups. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook... any developer who has been in the industry for more than a few years will be familiar with how those companies got founded.
All of my friends were supportive when I started my own business. Not everyone approved, but they all understood. If you've lost friends when you started yours... maybe you should pick better friends next time.
Also doesn't really mention what sorts of roles are getting cut, just that they're skewing towards older employees. My guess is that there will be a lot of non-technical people under the knife here.
We're likely in a shallow recession right now.
260,000 layoffs in the the industry can send ripple effects to other parts of the economy. That's a ton of high paying jobs gone. Not enough to create any major recession, but enough to be felt around the communities.
I think ageism will play a part in the selection process, but not always because of the age directly, rather the older staff may have larger pay, pension and benefits costs.
While some companies are reducing their workforce others are growing, some of this is because market share is switching. Traditional business losing to the cloud for example.
There is more software work today than at any point in history. This is only going one way. Until AI will be able to develop software at least.
With respect to age while there are pockets of ageism I think most of the big players and some of the smaller don't have a problem with anyone's age. There are still a lot of companies who can't find enough people regardless of age and I don't think there's a huge salary differential between someone really good in their late 20's to 30's and someone really good who is older. So there's really no economic incentive for ageism. Yes, you can hire someone out of school for cheaper but you need to invest a lot more in them and then they disappear for a more lucrative job...
Big firms are greedy and dumb. IT is a cost centre too them, every tech employee is a moocher sucking cash that could be used in yet another stock buy back to try and keep the stock price high a bit longer so the board can cash out and run.
Brilliant. Garbage all the way down.
A lot of the businesses laying people off aren't even in financial trouble. Some of them have piles of cash in the bank and are profitable. They just lost what it takes to enter new markets and grow their business.
The sad thing is that the stock market will often reward this strategy because in the short term the cost goes down and the revenue decline lags. The good thing is that it's a healthy process that leads to new businesses being created that are better than the old ones.
There's a whole host of reasons why it would be smart to lay off a big part of the workforce.
Mostly, it just comes down to getting a better return on invested capital elsewhere.
Also, the neat line, we at.. Will help.. Hm