Let’s face it, no one can escape the huge elephant in the room currently: the massive, endless, layoffs in the tech industry. Did you know that since the start of 2022, there have been more than 200,000 tech layoffs, according to layoffs.fyi? The first month of 2023 alone has seen more than 67,000 layoffs globally! This has got to be one of the saddest starts to a blog post, ever!
Once you get over the initial, jaw-drop emotional reaction to these numbers, you can’t help but wonder what all this will mean for Product careers. After doing some research and crunching some numbers, I’ve come to the realization that all is not lost – in fact, almost nothing is lost.
Yes, numbers in the hundreds of thousands, or even in the tens of thousands, seem large at first. If you look at the actual individuals in that count, it’s a huge loss, no doubt. But if you take it as a proportion of overall staffing for the companies laying off, it makes up for just a fraction of the massive increase in headcount during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Remember all those big techs that went on a hiring spree a year plus ago during the pandemic so that they could keep up with the new online world’s demands? You know, the ones that got published in those “Pandemic increases need to hire tech workers” type of articles that will be remembered for years to come? The Meta, the Amazon, and a lot of other FAANGs that got on the same bandwagon? Well, they just did a reality check and realized it’s time to dial back down! Things need to slowly return to pre-pandemic volumes. And hence these endless layoffs.
Now, realize that Silicon Valley is not new to these tsunami waves. It has experienced major downturns in the past. Can anyone say dot-com bubble?! But it has ALWAYS bounced back, you know why?
Because tech is a resilient, growth-oriented industry. Today’s world has learnt, and now prefers, a hybrid mode of existence. Tech needs to empower this mode of existence for the world, now more than ever. The world needs amazing tech products to ride this new wave of the post-pandemic world.
Product careers, my friends, are going to rise. We are going to see the proliferation of the Product mind-set and growth globally. We are going to see the appreciation of well thought-out, value-based products globally. We are going to see the Product discipline grow and become better represented globally.
Be aware of your own worth, use all of your power to achieve it. Do not beg for light from the moon, obtain it from the spark within you.
Muhammad Allama Iqbal