https://www.anildash.com/2026/01/05/a-tech-career-in-2026/
QuoteIt's an extraordinary moment in history when people who work on Wall Street tell me that even their HR departments wouldn't put up with the kind of bad behavior that we're seeing within the ranks of tech company execs.
I think I've told this before. When I was in college, my sister's company (DEC) hired out an entire amusement park for the day for employee appreciation. I was reading Marx and thought I had a rough handle on surplus labor and all that.
My sister said, "That is so you socialize with the other employees and feel like all your friends are at your job, so that even if you get offered better pay or better work somewhere else, you don't want to leave."
That always ran through my head when people would tell me about the amazing cafeteria and free massages at some tech company as they worked themselves into poor health to meet unnecessary deadlines imposed by VC rounds or whatever. But they were treated so well, they didn't think to fight for a union or some sort of protections. And now that companies are shedding large numbers of workers, it's a tough time to take those stands.
Next time we talk, I have to remind my sister that I did in fact listen to her once despite significant evidence to the contrary.
"What you may have missed is that half a million tech workers have been laid off in the years since ChatGPT was released"
I didn't miss it, but I didn't think tech layoffs added up to 500k.
Same and same. Caught my eye too and seemed higher than I remembered
Some of it was overhiring during Covid. But 500,000?
artistic license
>artistic license
Looking pretty close actually. ChatGPT came online November 30, 2022.
https://news.crunchbase.com/startups/tech-layoffs/
https://www.bestbrokers.com/stock-brokers/2024-tech-layoffs-over-200000-jobs-slashed-globally-since-january/
The Tech Industry's Workforce Crisis: 90,471 layoffs so far (June 13, 2025), projected to reach 236K by the end of the year (https://businesstoday.lk/the-tech-industrys-workforce-crisis-90471-layoffs-so-far-in-2025-projected-to-reach-236k-by-the-end-of-the-year/?pdf=29014)