Tech talent in high demand despite massive layoffs in industry

By Onome Amuge

There is no doubt that the technology industry is under an immense financial strain, inflicted by a global economic downturn which has resulted in a wide-scale layoff as tech companies across the world,including, Amazon, Google,IBM, ,Zoom,PayPal,eBay,Spotify and others, run a tight ship to scale through the unforeseen effects of the unstable economy.

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank,which served a critical role in financing many of the most innovative and high-growth tech companies, further worsened an already rocky industry. With the failure of the bank, it is a no-brainer that many tech companies would be faced with a bigger challenge on how to secure the financing they need to continue to innovate and grow.

This has further led to more job cuts in the past two weeks alone as Meta Platforms announced it was cutting another 10,000 jobs and eliminating 5,000 open roles,while  Amazon.com laid off an additional 9,000 workers and job-hunting website Indeed fired 2,200 employees.

With a recession looming, big tech companies are downsizing in areas they no longer see as priorities. However, they’re also doubling down on resources seen as mission-critical, such as artificial intelligence, engineering and software development.

Workplace experts who help companies fill their job openings, observed that the need to maintain existing infrastructure, continues to fuel demand for key positions in the industry,considering it a great time to be a technology worker

According to Matt McLarty, the global field chief technology officer for software company MuleSoft, businesses have desperately needed tech professionals for some time.

“Now that more tech workers are out of a job or growing disillusioned with Silicon Valley giants, employers in non-tech industries are being opportunistic and “swooping in,” he said.

McLarty noted that though the promise of Big Tech might have lost its luster for some who are looking to more stable, greener pastures,but as technology becomes more and more ingrained in societies, tech-based jobs will become increasingly in-demand, no matter what shape the economy is in.

Citing a new report from MuleSoft, which surveyed 1,050 business leaders across the globe, the technology expert observed that in the past 12 months, businesses spent an average of $11.7 million on IT staff, and 78 per cent  of managers said they’re planning to increase their budget and headcount toward IT hiring in 2023  to be able to meet increasing digital demands.

“While the pace and prevalence of digital transformation have been steadily increasing over the past decade, the Covid-19 pandemic “poured gasoline” on traditional business models of organisation and accelerated this trend ,as well as the need for technologists to keep up with this transformation,” Slabinski said.

Industry analysts have also observed that tech talent is still valuable in many other industries, including agriculture, manufacturing and retail, and the job cuts have presented a great opportunity for them to hire the best.

According to Steve Taplin, CEO of software development firm, Sonatafy Technology, software development is one of the most crucial fields in the tech industry that is seen to be in very high demand as basically all forms of digitisation across many industries require software programmes to create many solutions and produce real-world applications for everyday use.

Taplin observed that software engineers from companies like Twitter, Netflix and Microsoft are getting jobs within hours or days of getting fired,and is considered a win for smaller companies that are getting excellent tech talent at an absolute steal.

“Also, industries like banking have been hiring tech talent in the face of the tech industry layoffs. They can see developers’ value and are doing plenty to attract them. These industries know there has never been a better time to get the best tech talent,” he added.

Sharing a similar sentiment, Megan Slabinski, a tech jobs expert at Robert Half,California, said:  “I’ve seen bad job markets for tech workers, and this is not it.

According to Slabinski, the greatest demand and need for hiring right now, in almost every industry, is for tech professionals.

Mbula Schoen, senior director and analyst at technological research and consulting firm Gartner, noted that the demand for technology talent still significantly exceeds supply. Scheon also pointed out that talent shortage in tech skills applications and development such as AI and machine learning, software engineering and enterprise cloud architecture,meant that tech workers with the right skills were likely to continue to command relatively high salaries as employers compete for their services.

Kai Wu, founder and CIO of investment management firm Sparkline Capital, observed that while Big Tech retrenches after their pandemic hiring binge, other firms are still recruiting tech workers.

Wu noted that demand remains especially robust at old economy firms, which now account for 60 per cent of open tech jobs, compared to 39 per cent in Jan 2020.

“For decades, Big Tech has hoarded top tech talent, starving Old Economy firms of the technical skills required to meet their digitisation goals.

Now, as Big Tech relaxes its grip on the labour market, legacy firms see a golden opportunity,” he said.

In a research note titled “Digitizing the Old Economy,” Wu stated that technology is now embedded in all facets of the economy, even the asset-heavy old economy.  He further noted that whether manufacturing cars, analyzing credit data, or managing supply chains, tech human capital remains a key factor of production.