Despite continued strong demand for IT professionals across the country, recent news of layoffs from tech giants including Twitter, Facebook, Meta, Salesforce and ride-hailing company Lyft have reignited concerns of a slowdown in IT job market.
On Monday, Amazon added to the slew of layoff announcements with its plan to lay off about 10,000 workers starting this week.
However, demand for skilled IT professionals remains strong and that’s not likely to change anytime soon, according to Megan Slabinski, Robert Half Technology’s regional director for Canada, the Pacific Northwest and Northern California.
From her perspective, these layoffs are largely isolated cases at the tech giants, but there are still “tons” of tech hiring opportunities within small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
“The need for tech professionals isn’t just isolated to tech companies,” she explained. “The demand supersedes every industry by itself. It’s a broad-based need for security, cloud computing, data analytics and business intelligence for digital transformation.”
Slabinski noted that these needs are what drive job openings for technology professionals across all industries.
“While there are some very visible companies in the tech space talking about layoffs or even hiring freezes, there are many more positions and openings in other sectors of the job market,” she said. “Tech workers still have many choices and opportunities.”
Mixed signals, but a strong overall outlook for the IT job market
Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA, admits it’s definitely a strange period of conflicting information.
“Despite the headlines of hiring freezes and layoffs, overall tech industry employment and economy-wide tech occupation employment are holding up quite well, as recently reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics,” he said. .
This report shows that hiring in the technology industry now stands at 23 consecutive months of positive gains through October.
“It gets to the point of diversity of types of companies in the technology space, where weakness in some areas can be offset by strength in others,” Herbert explained.
Although some prominent companies that focus on the corporate or enterprise market have announced layoffs, for the most part this market segment has held up quite well.
Enterprise customers who rely on cloud infrastructure, application development, data services and cybersecurity typically won’t cut those costs — and the accompanying staff — because the technology supports so much of their business operations, Herbert said.
“There was a rebound in employer postings for tech positions in October, reversing a five-month slide,” Herbert noted. “This could be seen as a segment of companies returning to the labor market to hire — perhaps in anticipation of a return to growth in 2023 or perhaps to take advantage of additional tech workers seeking employment.”
Many of the mainstays were also actively hiring last month, among them Amazon, Apple, Intel, Verizon, Salesforce, Google, VMware and Cisco, he said.
“Another factor to keep in mind,” said Herbert, “is that because of the demand for tech talent in many non-tech industry sectors, a displaced software engineer, for example, may end up moving into a job in the financial sector , health, or other sector”.
Demand for senior IT professionals still strong – and growing
Another factor contributing to the confusion is the common practice in the tech space for companies to simultaneously hire and fire workers, according to Herbert.
“Companies routinely move workers or hire workers to new growth areas while cutting back on legacy or slow-growth areas of the business,” he said. “Some of the above companies have announced layoffs or hiring freezes recently, but they also continue to hire in strategically important areas.”
John Bambenek, chief threat hunter at Netenrich, a SaaS security and operations analytics company, points out that the tech industry, like any other industry, is not immune to economic headwinds.
“Even in cybersecurity, we’ve seen a number of layoffs recently,” he noted. “That said, bench time is typically much less for tech workers looking for work.”
From Bambenek’s perspective, the biggest trend that could negatively impact IT professionals is outsourcing.
“But even then, not enough work is being done to outpace the growth in demand here in the U.S.,” he said.
Absent a significant economic downturn, the IT job market is only getting better, according to Bambenek.
“The job market thrived during the pandemic when others slumped, and if the IT job market can survive the COVID shutdown, it will remain strong,” he said.
Matthew Warner, CTO and co-founder at Blumira, a provider of automated threat detection and response technology, agrees that the technology is growing in need and application across industries.
“Computer science and the ability to solve complex problems are needed more than ever as data grows within organizations,” he said.
Entry level is still a minority of open positions, he said, as IT candidates who have years of experience are needed more than ever to meet the needs without additional or unnecessary supervision to keep organizations efficient.
“While there may be some bumps in the road, IT and technical jobs will continue to grow,” Warner predicted. “Like now, there won’t be enough people to fill these open roles, and there will always be openings for smart IT people.”
New opportunities for IT professionals – and small businesses
Remote employment and the appetite for remote workers remain quite high, especially in the technology sector, meaning people are not geographically tied to where they can look for job opportunities, according to Slabinski.
“They can continue to look at distant opportunities across the United States,” she said. “But the demand for tech workers isn’t isolated to geography either.”
The impressive layoffs probably mean smaller organizations looking for IT talent may get a second look from a wider pool of applicants.
“You still have to be competitive as an employer and offer competitive wages, competitive benefits and benefits, but maybe now you get a fair shake at the same talent and employers have to make sure they’re selling their opportunity,” Slabinski said.
By this Slabinski means that employers have to sell the career path, access to technology and all the other advantages that come with working at an SMB.
“One can have much more ownership of a product, a team or an outcome,” she explained. “For one person on a team of four versus one person on a team of 400, that can be really attractive.”
This means that employers must be able to sell who they are and what they are offering in a way that gets in front of these candidates and grabs their attention.
“But now at least there is an opportunity,” Slabinski added.
Looking Ahead to 2023: Lots of Jobs and ‘Returns’
Over the past year, tech job postings have been plentiful and tech unemployment has been extremely low, and there’s no reason to expect a big change in the situation in 2023, according to Herbert.
Indeed, CompTIA’s “IT Industry Outlook 2023” forecast found that the upheaval of recent years isn’t dampening the spirits of IT professionals: Nearly 80% are optimistic about their job role, including 38% who feel very optimistic.
“Recent tech layoff announcements can be seen as a cautionary tale for firms caught in a similar position of experiencing disconnects between their business fundamentals and the market, but we must also recognize that this may be offset by segment of the technology market that is lagging,” added Herbert.
Slabinski said her best advice for job seekers is to focus on their skills and look at opportunities that keep them moving forward and progressing skills-wise.
“This trend of ups and downs in hiring or layoffs is always cyclical under any circumstances,” she said. “You want to make sure you stay gainfully employed and continue to build your skill set, and you want to make sure you emphasize that range of knowledge.”
SMBs are often looking for someone who has a broader skill base and can do more for their organization than an isolated job function or technology.
“Highlight your area of specialty, but also make it clear to a potential employer what else you bring to the table and your range of knowledge,” advised Slabinski. “If you lived in one of these markets that are concentrated with tech giants, you probably look outside your market for competitive opportunities.”
There are also indications that some affected by the layoffs are seeking to rejoin former employers, she said.
“We’re starting to see ‘returns’ come back into play as well,” she said.
About the Author
Nathan Eddy is a freelance writer for ITPro Today. He has written for Popular Mechanics, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine, FierceMarkets, and CRN, among others. In 2012, he made his first documentary film, “The Absent Column”. He currently lives in Berlin.
