When Will The Tech Jobs Come Back?

When with the software developer jobs come back? A few different ways to consider how things might pan out, ranging from traditional interest rate models to the impact of low-code/no-code, AI and robotics on investment.

[Subx-x]

Imagine being a programmer in the 90s and writing html and making big bucks lol

[LemonTheInternetDog-nxbo]

We told everyone for 10 years to be a SE. Imagine if there was a decade where everyone told everyone that the fastest way to a comfortable life was learning how to be a plumber. What if there were plumbing boot camps. What if there were hundreds of thousands of self-taught plumbers and they still couldn't keep all the jobs staffed. Plumbers were in such demand that they would secretly work two jobs and do just enough to not get fired at each.

Then the building bubble pops and capital dries up. No new construction. No new plumber jobs. Big business realizes you don't need nearly as many plumbers to maintain as you do to grow, so half of the plumbers get laid off.

And then, just as that dust is about to settle, an industry-shaking breakthough in plumbing automation happens...

[btm]

refreshing to finally see someone who acts and talks like an adult regarding this subject

[mr.random]

People always say emergency fund of 6 months…yeah that’s not enough in times like these

[Mr.Mister]

At this point, Every junior developer needs to build a product and ultimately become an entrepreneur...

[masterelf]

Graduated in ‘22, got my first tech job, ready to start building my IT career

Got let go, almost got evicted, had to go back to working at a security guard and doing graveyard shifts in ‘23 and current


Oh I’m living the dream

[tfedorova]

Quit my full stack software developer job recently after 20 years of IT career. I found it impossible to wear all the shoes. Front end, back end, Devops, cloud computing, automated testing, security... I had been pushing myself beyond and beyond. I have severe burnout now. Endless headaches and clinical depression.
So, guys, if you are young and smart it's maybe a great chance now to choose another career now rather then continue with software development.

[alexandrudumencu]

Hey, just wanted to say that I enjoyed this video. Seeing someone talk in a down-to-earth manner and based on facts is a fresh air over all the other "here's 5 game changing things that will impact x" type of videos. Please keep this style.

[adanioiii]

As a new grad struggling to find a job, this video feels so grim. I appreciate the reality check though, thank you for your insight.

[squitz]

Hey, found this video very informative and down to the point. Im in a similar situation to most developers right now. got laid off at the end of last year as a junior developer. I haven't been able to find a job and I'm debating whether to go back into school to either get a new software degree (I dropped out to work for the previous company) or to just pick up something more trade related like mechanical engineer or electrician. I hope all the people watching/reading this that are in a similar position have the best of luck!

[Kevin-kfct]

I've been writing code professionally for 30 years. Over the last year I've very much integrated AI into my workflow and use it extensively. It's probably made me 2 or 3 times more productive - not least because software developers don't spend all their time actually writing new code. A lot more is spent figuring out what code to write.

When I first wrote code it was Fortran and C and pretty much on the bare metal. At a guess I'm now about 100 - 1000 x more productive in terms of outputs than I was 30 years ago. Modern IDEs, API and Libraries for eveything, better languages, Frameworks etc etc. AI gies me another boost - but how is it different from what's gone before?

This is at least the 3rd time in 30 years I've been told coding is over. Frankly although it will change, I don't see anything that makes me think it we're done here.

[KatharineOsborne]

I transitioned from front end dev to full stack a couple of years ago thinking that picking up Python would help me but I really just shot myself in the foot as my front end skills got a bit stale and I don’t have enough backend/full stack experience to get a new job after being laid off 9 months ago. Also everything is moving incredibly fast. There’s a whole bunch of new technologies that didn’t exist 2 years ago that job postings are listing as required experience. It’s so hard to keep up, and so much more expensive and time consuming to do portfolio projects incorporating this new stuff.

[halkon]

This is the perfect time to work on skill development. The jobs will come back eventually; focus on being prepared for when they do rather than stressing about how they’re not here right now.

[Geomaverick]

I feel that these tools are lowering the barrier for people to start businesses not necessarily getting into Software Dev. Back when WordPress came out I felt that my job was over...who would hire a developer if they can make a WordPress site...well i learned people who use these low code or no code tools still need people who know how to make changes on the fly...even with the advent of AI, they will still need someone who knows if the AI is correct. Also, most businesses are too busy to maintain an app or website or service themselves...we will get into a situation where people will create a bunch of apps...turn them into companies...and need Devs to maintain them because they just dont have time or focus to learn how to do it themselves

[Zynapse]

I changed path after 2 years from software developer to solution architect, it feels pretty good honestly and I like making personal connections with the customers for example.

[JohnMcclaned]

These tech jobs were basically a mirage.

It’s all been a game of free money, rock-bottom interest rates, and founders/vc's using head count as a proxy for the success of their company. This environment got the attention of people (who have no business being in tech), convinced by youtubers, that it's possible to cram into a boot camp, spend 8 weeks learning how to center a div in order to land a $150k dev position. It’s ridiculous, but thankfully the world is healing.

To your point on low-code apps to avoid engineers. This been available, and it nearly fails every time. It called outsourcing. It works initially, but the moment you need to evolve or change, it falls off a cliff.

I liked your take though.

[eey]

I graduated as a fullstack javascript developer last summer. And everyone is saying you should learn and study something else now and every tech is getting laid off. I mean where does it end, i feel like you need to study, learn and upgrade all the time and so much and so fast that you don't even have the time to work and apply what you learned in the first place.

[j.r.]

I think this take is pretty spot on.

My gut feel is moving more towards devops/ data engineering roles will give more job security for your conventional full-stack / backend dev. I've had good jobs / 6 years exp, however, I do feel like my resume is a dime a dozen.

[TheBestNameEverMade]

All software jobs I have worked at want things produced faster, that saves way more money for a company than letting go of workers because they can get the product out to market faster. I imagine many companies will figure that out again, particularly when rates are reduced again.

[AvobProject]

1991 grad (which could have been 1990, but I took my time) and could relate to the comment "Finishing a CS degree was just something nerdy guys do". Some of my friends were in other forms of engineering, and none of us viewed programming as something to pursue for big bucks. It was just a choice, pre-internet ... like going into electrical, or mechanical engineering.