The layoffs continued even as sales and profits jumped and share prices spiked. That disconnect, tech insiders and analysts say, is reflective of an industry facing two big challenges: coming to terms with frenetic work force expansion during the pandemic while also making an aggressive move into building artificial intelligence. Now, instead of hiring thousands of people every quarter, the companies are spending billions to build A.I. technology that they believe could one day be worth trillions. Employment in the broader tech industry, despite notable cuts at a number of other companies, is still positioned for a rebound. In January, tech delivered its second month of job growth, adding 18,000 workers, according to CompTIA, a technology education and research organization. Its unemployment rate of 3.3 percent is below the national average of 3.7 percent. āWe go through these cycles where you see this intense focus on innovation and then the pendulum swings and thereās an intense focus on the bottom line,ā said Tim Herbert, CompTIAās chief research officer. āBut when I read that Amazon is cutting back on Alexa workers or Google is cutting staff on its Pixel phone, it tells me there is a focus on margins. Theyāre trimming where they can and redeploying resources.ā Techās biggest companies are rushing to hire engineers to build A.I. systems. Last year, there were 180,000 job postings in the United States related to A.I., including roles in software development, semiconductor engineering and cloud computing, according to CompTIA. The number of A.I. job openings has expanded this year. Those employees are helping Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta improve chatbots and build other A.I. systems. Apple is hiring for A.I. engineers, as the company develops its own A.I. offering to release later this year. āWeāre looking to hold the line on head count,ā Brian Olsavsky, the chief financial officer of Amazon, said during a media call last week. ... https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/05/technology/why-is-big-tech-still-cutting-jobs.html
What should I do to get hired as an āAI engineerā? I have 10 YOE doing mobile and full stack with no relevant degree. I do have a resume item or two that I can coerce into an ML achievement. What should I study? Every course on ML using sklearn, Keras, Jupyter etc is boring AF. But I need to stay relevant and am willing to fake it til I make it.
Paying billions in severance packs, instead of paying people to do work
The billions on severance will be off by the stock jump quickly and even make more profit. For example, META market value jumped by 200billions after QR, although it spent several billions on severance, 50B on buy-back and one billion on dividend.
Layoffs good for shareholders but not for me and you