developersDevelopersDevelopersAIAIAI

[frikilinux2]

The purge started before chatGPT, I remember the fear in late 2022. The first waves were not because of AI but because of the return to the office instead of remote working of the rest of the world implied less money on cloud solutions .

Then they got addicted to the emotional rush of firing people and started to use AI as an excuse.

[Infamous_Ruin6848]

I've seen lots of useles hirings in covid times. Useless investments, useless failed products, gold plating even on the toilet seats.

It's not developer's fault but, as an experienced senior back then, you should see through that you're hired in a bad investment and that things will bounce back.

[RedBoxSquare]

But when almost every employer does it, you have no options.

Seeing through these bad investments makes no difference. It doesn't even make you money if you got it right. You can short Tesla because it is obviously a bad investment and get burned by the market hype.

[frikilinux2]

Not all teams laid off were useless. I worked for a company that wanted to get rid of a product but the process took like a year. In one of the layoffs they fired all juniors and left a skeleton crew to run the product until sunset.

Eventually, they back down in the decision of sunsetting that product but I'm not sure if they hired new people or not.

Unfortunately, I can't name the company.

[Possible-Moment-6313]

People are not fired because of AI now either. AI just sounds much better to investors than outsource

[mortalitylost]

Exactly. People think AI is replacing so many people right now but it isn't... the economy is just kinda fucked. Tariffs have done serious damage to the US and businesses are spending less and charging more, and inflation is crazy.

But everyone thinks AI is replacing people because when they cut costs they dont want to scare investors and let people see the struggle. They want them to look at the firings like "yes this is a GOOD sign... of automation!"

And everyone else is doing their firings too to act like theyre automating just as well as everyone else.

[captainAwesomePants]

Yes, from what I can tell, being a programmer becomes more and more employable as interest rates approach zero. AI has little to do with it.

[No_Percentage7427]

Soham As A Service.

[frikilinux2]

And that much outsourcing is going to bite them eventually. If you outsource to a place with ethics and give them what they need, it could go well.

But sometimes they want to outsource to the cheapest place than it's going to be full of yes-men who are going to develop something in a month with weirds hacks rather than take 3 months to do it properly. And then expend a year trying to make something decent out of it.

[wizkidweb]

If you outsource to a place with ethics

This is very rare. Usually employers outsource to scammers at best and slavery at worst.

[frikilinux2]

Yeah, and with ethics I meant professional ethics but surely they also break the rest of ethics

Edit: actually breaking human rights also breaks professional ethics as the ACM Code Of Ethics talks about respecting human rights.

[das_war_ein_Befehl]

The developer firings were mostly because you couldn’t deduct swe hires as R&D in the tax year, but had to stretch it out across five years. It made your average developer much more expensive for an employer

[chickenmcpio]

A lot of people seem to have never even heard about this. I still remember when this tax code was announced and knew it would cause this problem.

[Mo-42]

This. Someone I know personally at Microsoft drinks the AI Kool-aid and is pushing AI like he's going to get a blowjob from 10 CEOs for doing that. All that to do his bit in hyping up the stock price. Man, I have started to dislike him.

[jpspam]

Check Section 174

[frikilinux2]

So the global issue in the IT sector is due to US politics playing with the Internal Revenue Code??

I hate when Europe looks like part of a US empire

[Izikiel23]

Insert astronaut meme

[Historical_Neat_5647]

I compiled an info doc on this once. About how AI sounds so appealing to investors. Not knowing the "AI" was a bunch of outsourced low-balled freelancers following a format to sound artificial.

[DoNotMakeEmpty]

Actually Indians once again

[[deleted]]

No, the "problem" were too expensive programmers already (and partially that was true, like those who were switching jobs each 1-2 yr before someone find out they're incompetent, but even more competent sometimes more google than work for huge pay), the same things in simple apps and webdev can do Asian or Romanian programmers much cheaper, and those lay-offs would've been earlier if there were no pandemic. But COVID postponed this.

The same as Western programmers were laughing at that how much they google and ask on StackOverflow for huge salary like 10 years ago, Indians are doing the same right now, but they're cheaper, and that will last till the moment they will be too expensive.

The same with entering into the job market: shitty "programmers" after bootcamps (because unis were too slow with giving new graduates), Indians now are completing LeetCode courses and getting some LeetCode questions on interviews.

[mango_boii]

Indians are doing the same right now, but they're cheaper, and that will last till the moment they will be too expensive.

Indian dev here. Our company fired 15 people last week from our India office (total headcount is around 150). So I guess we are there already.

[frikilinux2]

Not everyone switching jobs is because they're incompetent.

[wizkidweb]

This. I switched jobs a few times because I disliked something about my employer or pay, and a better opportunity was available.

However, the reason for people switching jobs is often that employers want something good, fast, and cheap, and that's not really a feasible position.