How working for Big Tech lost ‘dream job’ status

Despite impressive earnings from companies like Alphabet and Microsoft, layoffs continue to impact the tech industry.

Layoffs.fyi, a portal that tracks job layoffs in the technology sector, reported around 263,000 job losses in 2023 alone. As of April, the industry had lost more than 75,000 jobs so far in 2024.

“So instead of rewarding the growth that we saw [tech companies] all pursue years ago, they’re now rewarding profit,” says Jeff Shulman, a professor at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business. “So the layoffs have persisted. People have gotten used to them. Unfortunately, it appears that layoffs will be the new normal.

Despite ongoing major layoffs in the technology sector, the labor market appears to be solid. The U.S. economy added 303,000 jobs in March, much exceeding the Dow Jones projection of 200,000, while the unemployment rate fell to 3.8%.

According to Handshake, a famous free job posting site for college students and grads, the IT layoffs have spurred new employees to look for alternative options. Between November 2021 and September 2023, the percentage of employment applications from tech majors submitted to internet and software companies decreased by more than 30%.

“Part of the reason for this is that stability is such an important factor in students’ decisions about what types of jobs they apply for and accept,” said Christine Cruzverga, Handshake’s chief education strategy officer. “They’re looking at the headlines in the news and they’re paying attention to all of the layoffs that are happening in Big Tech, and that makes them feel unstable.”

Mass layoffs have damaged the IT industry’s luster, prompting workers to ask if a career in the tech industry should still be considered a “dream job.”

“For the people who are chasing… a tech dream job, I think keep your options open and be realistic,” said Eric Tolotti, senior partner engineer at Snowflake who was laid off from Microsoft in 2023. “Don’t just focus on one company and feel like you have to get into that one company because it’s the dream.”

Watch the video to discover about tech workers’ attitudes, tips for potential Big Tech employees, and more.