Big tech has a lot of drawbacks with the amount of the paperwork/processes and overall humongous structure. It is easier to get a promotion in a smaller company and then get re-hired later on in a bigger company with a better title, a lot of people are planning their career this way. Also one thing I think is becoming a trend is that within tech you can get "good" money, but not F-you money, that's why there could be a shift to people building their own companies.
Tech Companies are in there Delusional phase. They asking for to do the work of 3 jobs and paying not even Average Amounts. Its better being on your Own. This Disrespect has to Stop. If the Company cant effort you, then let them know it. Do not work for Less.
Just like anything, it's a cycle. I am sure the same thing happened to petroleum engineers back in the 1950s. No matter how cool-sounding a job might be, eventually, everything will become dissatisfactory.
In 2012, I asked my programmer-father if he would recommend becoming a software engineer. He said this: We automate ourselves to oblivion. He saw his company shrink from 300 to 8. That, he said, is the nature of the job. Always has been, always will. As companies improve their systems, programmers on the job, unwittingly help to make systems function well enough for companies to see that what used to take lots of people to work on their systems/apps, etc, only a few would suffice. Also, let's not kid ourselves. If an employer has to choose between a remote worker in California and one in Asia for 80% cheaper, -- and they're both remote -- who would employers pick? Then again, there's AI. So many factors come into play when it comes to tech and remote work.
Ai can't code for jack. Really talented software engineers are rare and they have companies lined up to snatch them. Been in the field for 7 years, always had a job. Depends on how hard you will compete.
The AI part is where you got it wrong. AI in its current state is simply overhyped. Tech is not necessarily Big Tech. 99% of Tech jobs are not in Big Tech. Before May 2024, I had conducted technical interviews (not those stupid leecode ones) to fill 7 positions for different companies.
I work at Amazon/AWS I'm leaving next month after my stock vest. Trust me there is plenty of money to be made outside big tech. This is my highest earning year ever hear but still going to leave. You don't want to sell your sanity for money. Trust me!
As a Fin working a big tech aint too bad, x4 salary to swe in finland and benefits are amazing. Its still a grind but atleast you can cry in a porsche :)
I worked in big tech for 2 years, I took the stock and left. The job was not exciting, for me personally. At my age, early 30s, and with my experience I want to work on new startup projects that are changing the way things work or making a difference. Those big tech companies are behemoths now, they are becoming the old guard and they are soaking it dry. The startups of today will be the behemoths of tomorrow and that’s the paradox. Those who worked at these behemoths when they were startups are/have cashed in. Interesting, as an American, I started my own small software company and have been contracting with startups from outside the US. I might not become a behemoth, but we’ll scale and I’ll get a piece of the pie. Oh, and yes I’m relocating outside the US - there’s tons of talent across Eastern Europe.
Big Tech companies are imploding. No one wants to work for a company that could collapse like Enron at any moment. Investors think AI is way better than it really is and CEOs play along.
Comparing the job of a investment banker to a programming job is apples to oranges, programming is WAY WAY WAY more frustrating and taxing to your mind and body than an investment banker job which you know most of the 100s of hours they work is a "show face" one, doing coke with your boss and billing your client for it is not really "working" homie...
Startups are not paying big tech salaries, they're also much more stressful! So any big tech dev claiming they're leaving for this is lying. It really means they're burnt out or about to be fired.
They’re just individuals who have garnered human capital from working at such places and now are cashing that in. If you were capable of such opportunity and didn’t take it on for a t least an extended period. I would say that’s very foolish.
It also has very little to do with cost-of-living and has more so to do with the fact that the majority of these programmers lived well outside their means oh you got a tech job and you bought a Tesla your first year and you wonder why you don’t have any money, oh you got a tech job and you’re paying $5000 a month for an apartment and you wonder why you don’t have any money got a tech job and you get DoorDash literally every single day instead of cooking your own goddamn groceries I wonder why you don’t have any moneyif you’re making $100,000 a year you could easily live off of 4000 very comfortably and you could be banking $2000 a month
I'm sure there is some of that. Why though would you choose a monastic lifestyle to work in one of the hubs instead of an upper middle class lifestyle in a small town working remotely and able to have kids in safe environment and a wife that can work part-time or not at all?
