State of Software Engineering Layoffs (2024)
In the last few years, we've seen over 450,000 people affected by layoffs in tech companies, including the coveted FAANG: Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google. But no one tells you how many of these people are software engineers. In the age of AI and an uncertain future of tech, should you be worried about becoming a software engineer?
Follow me @ / namanhkapur
Thanks to Dice for sponsoring today’s video. Despite all the Tech layoffs in the past year, there is a light at the end of the tunnel! Dice’s highly anticipated 2024 Tech Salary Report is out now. This FREE report offers insights into tech salary trends, skills, benefits and more.
Whether you are looking for a new job or hoping to increase your salary at your current job, this report will help you negotiate the salary and benefits that you deserve. Check out the links below:
2024 Tech Salary Report: bit.ly/495HC00
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
0:16 - General overview
1:35 - Deep dive into Meta layoffs
3:31 - Impact on software engineers
4:36 - Dice Shoutout (ad)
5:46 - Impact per department
7:07 - Takeaways
7:38 - The good old days
8:40 - Don't simp
9:28 - My advice
Follow me @ / namanhkapur
Here are other resources:
Python for Beginners Intro: bit.ly/python-beginner-intro
Modern Python3 Bootcamp: bit.ly/modern-python3-bootcamp
100 Days of Code: bit.ly/udemy-100-days-of-code...
Other Python Courses: bit.ly/udemy-python-search
Udemy Homepage: bit.ly/udemy-home-page
Complete Web Development Bootcamp: bit.ly/udemy-complete-web-dev...
Web Dev Bootcamp: bit.ly/udemy-web-dev-bootcamp...
Data Structures and Algos: bit.ly/udemy-dsa-search
Data Structure Interviews and Algos: bit.ly/udemy-dsa-course
My Equipment:
Main Camera: amzn.to/3HpzZ92
Main Mic: amzn.to/3Nuyfz8
Main Lens: amzn.to/3ncJUId
M1 Macbook Pro: amzn.to/3tjfkfJ
iPhone 13 Pro: amzn.to/3xwsI2r
Phopik 55'' Tripod: amzn.to/3zmL6vZ
Deity V-Mic D4 Duo: amzn.to/3zoF126
Boom Mic Stand: amzn.to/3H1IOEw
Audio Cable Extension: amzn.to/3MrBcfH
TRS to TRRS Patch Cable: amzn.to/3mvDSy6
3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter: amzn.to/3MwX0GG
Disclosure:
Some of the above links are affiliate links. Using these links is one of the best ways to support me at no cost to you!
Sub count: 218,000
#tech #softwareengineer #coding #layoffs #programming
"this graph is kinda sexy" yep he works in tech
LOL
It goes up and down😂 yep his evenings are still spent on the screen with a jar of lotion
Create a solution for the masses using your talent and networking skills. I'm not sure if content creating is becoming saturated. If interested, I would like to collaborate. I am working on a solution to get doctors paid correctly, the first attempt.
I've been a software engineer for over 50 years and I've learned the economy is cyclic. Right now software in the big tech sector is slow but aerospace and defense are strong and medical is steady. The wheel will turn again in a few years.
So amazing to see that simple statement -- "I've been a software engineer for over 50 years"... not many can claim that, but amazing to me that it is indeed possible now. (I myself have more then 40 years programming experience).
You got any connections for jrs?
Retail is exploding as well. Specifically physical retail tech like store automation etc
Difference now, is AI will be replacing lots of jobs….
@@user-pq9ji7kt4l Not for awhile. the reality to the ai fear mongering is replacing workers with ai is more expensive than alot people think. people are working for cheap and even if people got paid what they actually deserve. yea it would be less billionaires but ai would take alot of coin to maintain and observe. its all about profits at the end of the day
2 months into my layoff. my conscious brain: this is fine. my subconscious brain: IM GONNA BE HOMELESS SOON
keep your head up!
How is everything going
I hope you will get another role soon
any news?
I've been laid off for 9 months now
Well done and presented. I'm also an Engineer from Tech and was in that 10+ category. Fortunately, I created several revenue if-then-loops that keep the home, hearth, and family warm. Engineering FTW. :)
major props to you for being 10+ yoe
I really enjoyed this - very informative. Terrific charts and analysis. I need to watch it again because you talk so fast. I'm 70 years old and have gone through much of what you described towards the end about differentiation, tenacity and not letting rejection get the better of us. You're a smart guy.
thanks for the comment! noted the feedback to speak a little slower :)
Yeahh... You speak fast , spells are not clear, making this video hard to understand
0.75x
this gives a way better perspective now
makes me happy to hear
This is a very insightful video that you made; another thing I’d like to point out is the fact that a lot of these tech companies have more software engineers alone than the total amount of employees at other companies. For example, Google has around or over 30,000 software engineers alone, the company that I work for has around 30,000 employees in total, that includes from all departments. I say this to say, at a lot of these bigger tech companies when you’re a software engineer, you’re not necessarily as special as if you worked for another company where they don’t have as many engineers.
great watch man! makes a lot of sense and is really well presented.
thanks! would you watch more commentary like this?
Great tech career data in your video!
Thank you for the insight!
always!
Competition is only going to increase and we all just have to work to become better and better. Adulting sucks
which also means the salary will go down . like how it went down for pilots.
That means better software and a better future
@@johncerpa3782not necessarily
If you don't want to do that, there are other careers that make good money.
I'm a full stack for new organizations. Makes me think if I should pick up a new trade in case something happens
Great video and looking forward to your next video 👍
thanks!!
Great analysis and advice!
Love this. Thanks for sharing.
thanks for watching !
Ah, I see... no wonder the headline didn't 40% of Software Engineers laid off, in the press articles. Still bad news, however clears thing up well. Cool video, pretty valuable info.
thanks for watching!
That's a good overview of layoffs. However there should also be a consideration for not many companies are actually hiring and it's a very competitive job market right now. Especially for new grads as most companies are preferring 1-3 years experienced devs over training new people.
i think you'll be very happy with the video dropping next week then
The requirements in job listings are a wishlist.
Thank you so much for this!
yessir!
Very grounded take, great stuff 👍
appreciate that
Activision/Microsoft dev here, and yes, 2024s been rough, most of our team that was let go in Jan were Junior/newer folks.
Junior developer in California costs you about 140k per year. He knows how to solve leetcode, but doesn't have any real experience. Senior/Lead developer in East Europe with 8+ year of experience cost you about 45-55k per year. And it is high-end salary, for which people ready to work for years (this person will be predictable and stable). __ So, USA developers are just not competitive to developers from other countries. During good times, companies were able to pay such salaries, but not now.
Love this❤❤ thanks man🙌
thanks for watching!
I really like this it’s more factual and whole then just fear being pushed thank you
i gotchu
Think another point (from an economic perspective, which actually helps makes sense of it) that should be mentioned is that this happens in literally every business cycle. You have low interest rates, which give companies the comfortability to expand labor and invest, because companies as a row love generating cash flow but want to preserve it. But when interest rates go up, that shuts off the pipe, since the capitalist system makes companies need to satisfy investors. EPS needs to go up perpetually (I know, it's not sustainable), which means companies will need to slash some hiring, even if their profit margins are seemingly paradoxically high. It's hard to predict when this will end, but know that the Fed made the money supply skyrocket to *unprecedented* levels since 2020. Liquidity was so high, and now we're seeing the consequences of all that (low interest rates -> mass hiring, spending, inflation). A lot of the talent that got laid off probably shouldn't have even been hired anyways, but this is how a BUSINESS CYCLE WORKS. We are in a late-cycle expansion phase, though, so I think people can still be optimistic in the long run.
Namanh, you are outstanding. Thanks.
🥺
Big tech companies have always been realities I never understood. To make a peer to peer application like WhatsApp which has also a server communication part are not needed more then two/three skilled developers. Imho the exponential growing trend of IT followed the bad rule "many means more productivity then more income". It has to be mentioned also that IT is not creating anything new. Almost all the dev stacks are mature enough that do not require too many specialists to be manteined and updated. There is also another aspect of the whole situation, population growth. In the last 30 years the population has grown exponentially under the false myth that there were going to be work for everyone. The major problem maybe is not the lack of IT jobs or jobs in general but the too much abundance of people on planet Earth.
the way u make the ad is good
yooo appreciate that
When I first started my career a software engineer there were a bunch of layoffs of Juniors and I thought this is awful I wont be able to get any jobs, it was complete opposite. Essentially a bunch of jobs started appearing a few months later at these companies but with lower pay
How much lower pay
That's exactly the purpose of all of these coordinated layoffs. Almost never in economic history have there been such massive layoffs in an industry that continues to report record profits at the same time. This is all coordinated and greed because workers got too much leverage during the pandemic in both pay and remote work. This is about taking power back.
From 1960 to 1980 engineers (space race & defense) were a hot commodity, from 1980 to 2000 tech salespeople were hot, from 2000 to 2020 programmers were hot. Hot professions with high pay attract a lot of new entrants. Companies look for structural ways to hold down the high labor costs. So good people will still find work but it will be a grind for most, just like with the engineers and salespeople of the past.
To the point What we actually needed
would you watch more commentary
we all grindin, thanks for the 10+ min vid
keep pushing
They always scream bloody murder during tech layoffs but never tell you it's mostly recruiting and HR...who are completely disposable...unlike engineers Non-technical people in tech have a rude awakening coming, and they know it... In my opinion, there is an aspect to it that links to DEI, ESG and those types of things being pushed so hard in tech/the wider corporate culture; if you look at the mechanisms of those programs and companies backing them more cynically (ie. not being a naive rube and trusting everything blindly), they are designed to keep the racket going and convince executives they are 'essential' for as long as possible (it's the death throws of dying fields).
awesome news 🎉
Layoffs during the height of COVID are worse than statistics would indicate, as some companies ghosted their staff with furlough (of the don't call us, we'll call you kind, after which you never hear from them again) presumably so they wouldn't have to pay severance. I know, I was one of them. I ended up resigning from my employer who would no longer allow me to work nor pay me and finding another job. The plus side to COVID is that there are now more remote work opportunities for tech staff that don't need to be on-site and I hope that remains; it opens up the job field more and allows for more opportunities where you don't have to up and move your entire family to a new city or state.
Thank you for the cheering by the way man, I was really thinking of quitting!
Would be good to see the graphs distinguish between developer and engineer
That is normal... There were too many jobs, the big techs were just over-employing to convince shareholders and the market. How much development is realistic needed?
Thanks @Namanh this insight has been really helpful, myself I have been laid from last year May and its been a hustle trying to get another role, yes its difficult but with a little positivity and lots of improving on my skill I have hope that I will land another role as a software engineer.
and you will !
Can you make a video on specialties? How I can choose and study different aspects of engineering
yes!
@@namanhkapur patiently waiting.... Thanks man.
Specialize in data science; most fun field out there.
Very humble to admit that SEs at big tech companies are priviledged. I agree. I get paid 280k to work a 9-5, more like 30 hours a week, I work from home 100%. Work sucks no matter where you work. SEs jobs just suck less.
gratitude is key, complacency is death
280k? that's insane man! I sometimes hear about salaries in the developed world and it blows my mind. I mean, how do these company get back this amount of money and make profit? Here in Africa, we have very bright young engineers, who are educated in the west, and they can't make even a quarter of this amount.
Bs, to get a job at a big company is hard to pass their tech interviews.Its not like if you can just create programs you will have a job. No matter what, you have to earn what you want.
Where in the US do you live?
Perfect video at right time namanh. Awesome mannnnn
i gotchu
8:12 such a great point - I think a lot of SWEs had to hear this
thank you
How many of the people layoffs are temporary foreign workers with H1-B visa? The temporary foreign workers with H1-B visa are not included in unemployment statistics. When a foreign worker contract with H1-B visa is terminated, he has a grace period of 60 days to find a new employer or leave the United States!
Sometimes, I can almost convince myself of the justice, or at least necessity, or our current political and economic systems, then I read something like that and every bit of faith evaporates.
I find it interesting that most people view tech jobs as being mostly programming or software development jobs. But wouldn’t robotics and computer engineering fall under the same umbrella? What about designer that work at tech companies? Are these jobs affected too?
To be honest, I don't find it difficult. It's more about the culture where everyone expects things to be easier. Personally, I faced greater challenges when I immigrated to the US 10 years ago due to it being my second language.
the true battles
Hey man, can you make a video about specializing ? Thanks in advance
sooo true
The good thing for me is that i can be homeless because i still live with my parents. But i turn 33 in the next 5 months so i got to get a job soon.
But the other factor of all this is that recruiting is way down. Even companies that are didn't have layoffs and are still actively growing aren't hiring as much as they used to be. The market is oversaturated with qualified candidates looking for jobs and not enough openings. So most engineers may still have their job, but now the companies hold all the leverage. I've noticed recruiting emails that mention salaries, the salaries are about 1 level lower than they used to be (e.g. a senior salary is where mid-level used to be, etc.).
The companies now having leverage is what I've been thinking about all of this. They realized like "wait a second... 🤔 " and now we're going through that normalization phase mentioned in the video. Sucks, but most people are gonna suck it up and take the lower salaries or risk being homeless or whatever. Especially now that you have self-taught folks entering the competition and happily working for less to get tha experience. Oh and AI changing the game a bit as well.
no worries
Worth remembering that Tech is not the only industry that needs good engineers.
Section 174 of the tax code went into effect, and this is the key factor behind the layoffs of R&D staff (which includes all software developers, save for those who build applications for internal use by their employers). Many companies were unaware of the changes to Section 174 until taxes were filed. There have been three emergency bills introduced in Congress to repeal the changes to Section 174, but none of these bills has gained enough support to be enacted into law. The layoffs of R&D staff will continue until Section 174 is fixed.
A more obvious way would be writing 10-30 that would show how big that group is relatively speaking. So if they where as detailed as the previous the numbers would be WAY lower.
This all sounds great , in my experience GPT doesn't get the code perfectly correct. I would think you still need humans to check what the machine is doing. Maybe you need less coders but you still need them.
Only do the quality and volume of work for what an employee pays you. If you aren't paid what you deserve work less. If companies want your best they need to pay you what you charge for your best work.
Hi Namanh, could you please make a video/advice what career one can go into, with a Computer Science & informatics Degree, that’s not necessarily coding but still pays fairly well. I’m currently studying right now(second year) and I love tech and don’t wanna leave it but also don’t think “coding” 24/7 would be something I’d be interested in doing.
Try looking some type of engineer, like product engineer maybe
You could consider roles like a Solutions Architect, business analyst, project management in tech, UX researcher etc
Hey guys, i finish my course recently and i think i'm something below junior, i know the theoric part well, but the only pratice i have is from studying by myself, and i don't have much of a choice since where i live, i think i'm pretty much the only person from I.T in my city. So yeah, from the looks of it, i'm not going to find any job for at leasts some months, do you guys any tips on things i should be doing to help me get my first job when the market gets better?
Get exp through tech adjacent jobs like qa tester or content producer or web manager. Be different then most junior currently . In short , offer value as a whole as a service whether it's a company or your community. becoming a service based programmer with multiple skills is the way to go in 2024 so get used to this underrated trend now!
Please do a video, what is the most safest job in tech industry, not for the biggest salary. I just want to know the safest jobs only. Sorry if my English is bad. Thank you if you read this comment
Im hoping that I’m that guy making 200k in 5-10 years. I secured a 100k new grad remote job during this market, so if I can do that, then I can keep getting better at both the job and life. I’m saving a shit ton of money already so if I do get laid off hopefully I won’t have to worry about going homeless at all. Used cars only, minimize debt, be conscientious of spending, but spend just enough to live a little
"you have to specialize" I respectfully disagree. Specialization is what you do when you want a bigger paycheck. If the job market is tough, then generalization works better because you broaden the number of positions you can fit into. I spent a lot of work studying IOT and specifically bluetooth and BLE protocols. It did yield better pay for several years. Now the bloom is off that rose, and it's not really helping.
I think it’s a yes and a no. I’m a generalist which means I’m always the dumb arse in every meeting who doesn’t know the deepest intricacies of whatever is being discussed. On the flip side I’ve been in tech 20 years this year and I’ve always escaped every round of lay offs. At the moment most of my team is in the process of being retrenched, but because I’m a decent programmer who can also do a bit of devops, a CSM in agile, etc, they are keeping me around to plug the holes the hatchet people have left.
despite all odds there is no noticeable differences with design. Maybe it only hit painter/ illustrators
hmm interesting
Hey, Could you do a video on section 174 and Why this is the cause of tech layoffs? Its literally the biggest reason and its going to get reversed. Someone like this so he can make a video on it!! Edit: Its literally why we had so many jobs drop over the last 12 months, a big reason!
can you send me some resources explaining section 174 and why it’s related to layoffs
Like every bubble that has burst out, it takes years for another to be pumped out. And this is never the same bubble. Those times of "A day in the life of a $300k programmer" have gone for good. Coding has become a blue-collar job. Last but not least, a remote programmer is the same, regardless he works from home 30 miles or 3k miles away. In Manhattan, he has to pay $7k for a 2BR apartment, in other parts of the world he pays five, or maybe ten times less.
Yup changing to remote was the biggest effective raise I ever could get. I live in a very low cost part of the country but retain "low for a big city dev pay". In other words: more then store managers here. And these people are on average 15 years older then me with 20 more years to their career.
That REALLY depends on what you do. You can solve simple problems, and you can solve complex problems. Being able to code is trivial in and of itself. It's the deep knowledge (on subjects like statistics/machine-learning/security/data-structures/distributed-systems/databases/graphic-engines/whatever) and ability to solve problems with that knowledge that is valuable. The solutions are then articulated in code. - $300k per year is of course a VERY high salary.
@@fgregerfeaxcwfeffecethis! $100k and you'll be living like a king or queen lol. Then not having kids on top of that? $80k would be more than enough here, so it always blows my mind to hear salaries higher than $100k. (Currently work a minimum wage job $12.30 hr)
thank u
you got it
Please do video which tech stack to learn and have better career
soooooooon
You know there is no layoff in India ,china,singapore or even canada offices of big companies like google meta amazon.all are in the US.is not that interesting?
New video 🔥
more to come!!
What's the average time it takes to find a job after a layoff for entry level engineers
i hope it’s 3-6 months but i’ve heard worse
I enjoyed the video, however the speedup of the audio is a little bit jarring for me. I'd let people choose to slow down or speed up the audio on their own since KZhead offers playback speeds. But since you've already sped up the audio, slowing it down, although it sounds like normal speed, does have audio oddities. But I'd argue slowing down your audio makes this video more enjoyable to watch. Let your viewers choose the speed. :)
Personally, I didn't learn to code so that I could work for a company but instead, because I wanted to be able to make things with code. I'm mostly self-taught and now getting into school to fill in my knowledge gaps. A lot of developers who go into this to get good pay while doing the bare minimum will find they are expendable in a saturated market. I'm not surprised by any of this.
honestly the best reason to learn
How much did you self teach? And did you go for a Bachelors in CS?
@@GoodByeSkyHarborLive I started when I was 12 and got my first pc on visual basic. Im almost 40 now so taught myself everything. Not being bogged down with massive student debt definitely increased my financial mobility. Edit: Its early and I didnt even answer your question.. I'm going for a bs in game dev programming (mostly out of pocket) to fill in some niche knowledge gaps in math and design. Wanting to start my own studio.
A.I. has been in the back ground learning for years. Everything the software engineers have been doing is being memorized by A.I. Every phone call and every text people send is memorized. A.I. has perfect memory. And A.I. can take all the things it has learned and out perform any human. Over the next few years A.I. will just get better and better and faster and faster. Most of the people in Tech unless they are top level best of the best they will be let go. Do you really think they could let go that many people at the same time without having a backup plan.
When I was laid off in 2023. It was such a big deal for me. Now, I think these are just normal things in life.
The owners need a few billion more. A clever system. What has the decrease in owner wealth been in the last 5 years?
"D-d-decrease!? No decreases around here pal! Minus $10k salary for you 🧐" Yeah they lay off and pay less so they can keep themselves steady. Clever system indeed
I got laid off in may last year, I am software engineer L1 with 1year of experience, I was in data science team there, now I want to switch into development side role what advice would you give me.
did you get placed anywhere since layoff?
In short, if I wanted a low A.I. impact affected industry to be in, I should’ve gotten a degree in any engineering that doesn’t involve software, but physical engineering be it electrical, mechanical, aerodynamics, structural, etc.
Unsurprising that data science got a scything.
Maybe the the engineers laid off are 10%, I know people not able to find jobs for more than 6 months now. HR or recruitment is not just for tech employees though. Being an SE has never been difficult these days
The same people who are laid off are the ones who trained Ai 😂😂😂😂
that TECH life baby
lord help us
Buddy talks and sounds like he was a short documentary narrator for Msnc or Bloomberg..all He is missing is the cliche techy narrator music in the background 😅
i'm taking this as the biggest compliment
😂I can hear the music
I’m doubting the engineers were saying “I want…”. The companies were saying “We’ll give you…”
go look on blind lol
Probably started with "I'll give you.." then it was taken for granted and thus became expected by new employees
8:31 - 8:40 told me everything I needed to know. I see what you're trying to do man and you make great content but this video is just not it. Saying only low performers, junior devs and non-software developers are the ones mainly being laid off is just not completely true NOR DOES THAT MAKE IT OKAY (These companies have the means to truly invest their workers and get them up to speed). I agree layoffs are definitely cyclical but chalking it up to "Thats showbiz baby 👉👉" is exactly what allows companies to continue to do so until it's YOUR job that's on the line. At the end of the day it is these corporations that are prioritizing profits over workers rights and well-being. many of these workers weren't even given time or notices before being laid off. Please don't make excuses for them.
never said it was just low performers, most people get unlucky -- often it's business lines or just cutting costs, but companies do take the opportunity to let go of people with title inflation, insane comp packages, and sometimes low performers
I have to disagree with one thing said, and that is the debate between engineers and medical professionals. I know surgeons who are getting out of med school making 700k meanwhile very few software engineers make it to those levels, and not just surgeons I know nurse anesthesiologists and PAs that make more than 200k and they get free food as well. Lastly, I disagree that health providers have more impact if anything I would say they even out or that software engineers should be making more. Consider this how many things are created by software engineers including tools that doctors need to do their job, let alone how many things in this current world rely on the creativity of engineering.
Does Data Engineer count as Software Engineers in the stats? I see Data Science has a it’s own grouping Can you speak more on the DevOps/ Cloud Architecture side?
hmm not sure actually, but probably
I'm a first year student but this video still got me clicking
what’d you think?
Do yourself a favor man, get a tech job while you’re in school. Wordpress designer, helpdesk, system admin, web dev, even a remote customer service job will give you experience with ticketing systems, Active Directory, and APIs. Education is important but experience is king
Hllo I saw a coding challenge on Unstop, flipkart runway pls make a video on that
50% is already being done AI GLOBALLY
Create a new place for these people, the new tech world
Feel like the "new tech world" would be some cyberpunk type of stuff where most people know how to code, but you have those with deeper knowledge applying it to some brain stuff 😅
I am a Chinese developer, my company went bankrupt, so I lost my job
First I thought I'd set the playback speed to 150%.
So as a new entry level software engineer that means that there is hope 😅
yessir
Please just don't become this one guy I met who said he was better than doctors or equal to doctors as a software engineer...
"you can never go down?" that is not true. I am making less this year than I did last year. Same company
did they lower salary?
@@namanhkapur converted to full time, promised compensation difference as bonus. Bonus cut twice, now 37% of original amount, and they are making everyone go back into an office. I'm looking for a new job.
this graph deceptive as it doesn't show hiring
Do people talk faster now days or does it just sound like it because I'm getting older?
maybe it's a social media thing, because he is speaking so quickly to my ears I thought i had the video speed up😂
i learned everything i know from this guy
beast
Bro, I just wanted to say I love you
love you more
"Omg that's disheartening. Don't worry. Not all of them are software engineers." And everyone but the software engineers aren't even people? lol
so have you found a new job now since your layoff?
It's a problem if people are paying attention. It is that bad.
golden era is over
all I know Is I just got laid off January 3rd by my company and im not having luck looking for another job
What is your tech stack?
@@Chris-qg6kc my previous job was node Vue and PostgreSQL
Sell your home at these high prices that excess will last a couple of years.
Good video,but…. anyone who assumed 400k tech layoffs were all software engineers needs a lot more help than this video can deliver.