One of the defining tech industry trends of the past decade, along with the meteoric expansion of big companies and their insatiable appetite for talent, was the growing influence of engineers who commanded ever-increasing salaries.
That dynamic is changing with the waves of layoffs by Amazon, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Salesforce, Facebook parent Meta, and others. As one example, recruiters say the big pay increases that workers could previously expect when changing jobs are becoming a thing of the past.
“Here’s my theory: this is a grab by the tech companies to re-establish their power,” says my colleague, GeekWire co-founder John Cook, on this week’s episode of the GeekWire Podcast.
It’s one of the major behind-the-scenes shifts resulting from the cutbacks at major tech companies, our topic this week on the show.
We also discuss the impact on startups and other businesses that suddenly find themselves in a stronger position to recruit engineers and other technical workers.
Plus, we take note of one major tech company that hasn’t announced significant layoffs (Apple), and point out an interesting similarity between the Amazon and Microsoft cutbacks (hardware).
Here are some of the stories we discuss.
- Full memo: Microsoft to cut 10k jobs, about 5% of workforce, and take $1.2B restructuring charge
- Microsoft and Amazon job cuts mark new phase for tech industry after decade of massive growth
- Commentary: Washington state’s tech industry will continue to grow, despite layoffs
- Stanford News: Why are there so many tech layoffs, and why should we be worried? Stanford scholar explains
- New York Times: The Era of Happy Tech Workers is Over
- Bloomberg: Microsoft Job Cuts Hit HoloLens Unit After Setback on Army Goggles
- CNBC: Apple grew more slowly than Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta, and has so far dodged major layoffs
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