Regardless of 2024 being a difficult yr for a lot of tech professionals, marked by layoffs and fewer job alternatives, a brand new report from Cube signifies that the state of affairs could possibly be worse.
In a survey of 520 absolutely employed U.S. tech professionals, 80% preserve a constructive outlook for the tech sector within the subsequent 5 years. The extra rapid image acknowledged that “layoffs have been notably extreme this yr,” with 60% extra tech professionals dropping jobs in 2024 than in 2023.
Moreover, the report discovered “a notable lower within the proportion of full-time staff throughout the tech sector.” In final yr’s survey, practically half of respondents (48%) had been employed full-time. This yr, that determine has dropped to 38%, which factors to a troubling development of lowered job stability, based on the report.
The proportion of respondents who’re unemployed however actively looking for work has risen sharply, from 34% in 2023 to 40% in 2024.
Regardless of the turbulent instances, the survey’s extra shocking findings are that “in comparison with final yr, a considerably bigger variety of tech professionals presently employed full-time are actively looking for new roles and usually tend to change employers within the coming yr,’’ Cube CEO Artwork Zeile informed TechRepublic. “That is occurring regardless of their decreased confidence to find a good place throughout the tech trade.”
Views on tech progress within the present economic system
The report famous combined sentiments on the way forward for tech progress.
Almost one-third of tech professionals (31%) stay cautiously optimistic about financial situations over the following yr, unchanged year-over-year. Nevertheless, an nearly equal share of tech professionals harbor pessimistic views, indicating a cut up in financial sentiment throughout the trade. Simply 20% of youthful professionals between the ages of 18 and 34 have an optimistic view of the economic system, the bottom amongst these surveyed.
Tech professionals who maintain a extra optimistic view attributed their constructive outlook to:
- A robust perception in technological progress.
- Confidence of their capabilities.
- The presence of favorable financial indicators.
“In an election yr, it isn’t shocking to see that this optimism is usually tempered by an consciousness of potential challenges, together with financial and political shifts that might affect what the following yr brings,’’ the Cube report acknowledged.
The extra pessimistic tech professionals expressed issues about financial coverage, job market volatility, inflation, and political instability.
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Areas of focus: AI surging, cloud know-how declining
The survey additionally discovered an emphasis on AI and machine studying abilities, which “aligns with tech professionals’ expectations that AI/ML would be the most quickly rising discipline over the following 5 years.” Already, 76% of HR professionals reported that their companies already provide the chance to be educated or upskill in AI or ML abilities.
Regardless of the heavy concentrate on generative AI, “fewer tech professionals appear to have adopted the know-how into their workflow than anticipated, with simply 30% utilizing GenAI at the very least as soon as per week,’’ Zeile famous.
The concentrate on cloud applied sciences has “declined considerably this yr,’’ to 46%, based on the report. This can be as a result of maturity of cloud applied sciences lately, driving the skillset to be extra generalized and main fewer professionals to put money into upskilling on this space.
Different areas that tech professionals stated they had been coaching/upskilling in anticipation of future progress are cybersecurity (46%), large knowledge (43%), Web of Issues (22%), and robotics (15%).
What tech professionals need of their subsequent position
Almost all job seeker respondents (94%) are focusing on full-time positions. Motivations for contemplating a job transfer embrace:
- Larger compensation (65%).
- Higher accountability (42%).
- Improved advantages (36%).
“These elements spotlight a workforce that’s not solely financially motivated but additionally looking for profession progress and stability,’’ the Cube report stated.
Dissatisfaction with their general profession, job, and administration are the elements propelling tech professionals to modify jobs. This dissatisfaction can also be compounded by a increased charge of burnout, which is 3.3 instances extra widespread amongst these planning to modify employers, based on the report.
The main reason behind burnout cited by these professionals is a “poisonous work setting,” reported by 28% of these more likely to change — adopted by unfair pay, which was talked about by 21% of the tech professionals on this group.
Most tech professionals can discover roles in industries exterior of tech that also leverage their specialised tech abilities. Nevertheless, working inside tech is the clear desire amongst surveyed members. Almost seven in 10 tech professionals would most prefer to work for a tech firm, and 21% desire to work for large tech corporations particularly.
Whereas tech layoffs and a decline in sure roles have outlined a lot of 2024, Zeile identified that “sure tech subindustries akin to cybersecurity are … going through an acute scarcity of staff with very particular skills.” He cited the 2024 ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Examine, which discovered there are 4.8 million tech professionals wanted worldwide to fill open cybersecurity roles.
Zeile stays optimistic concerning the future for tech professionals, saying “new applied sciences, akin to AI, are already altering the panorama — bringing extra new sorts of jobs and definitely extra wanted abilities to the market than they’re taking them away.”
He added, “Whereas at the moment’s hiring panorama could seem tumultuous, if there’s one factor historical past and knowledge persistently present, it’s that hiring tendencies are cyclical. Indicators are pointing to tech hiring selecting up in comparison with final yr. Tech professionals and functions should keep optimistic and proceed their concentrate on constructing their profession for the long-term.”