I went down a bit of a rabbithole this morning comparing the tech industry layoffs from 2023-25 to the auto industry layoffs of 2005-2009

Some context: 

My dad was a careerist at Ford Motor Company for 30 years and basically could not recover from the layoffs in 2008 (because he never learned how to change jobs)

Today, I'm noticing a similar favor of fear among friends who work at Big Tech companies, many of whom haven't had to think about a new job in 10+ years

The thing that is striking to me in both cases is that these layoffs are disproportionately impacting people who chose security or stability over the riskier thing

Which means that when these people re-enter the labor market (for the first time in years, if not decades), it's a harder re-calibration.

I share more about this in today's post (some charts in casts below)

I went down a bit of a rabbithole this morning comparing the tech industry layoffs from 2023-25 to the auto industry layoffs of 2005-2009

Some context: 

My dad was a careerist at Ford Motor Company for 30 years and basically could not recover from the layoffs in 2008 (because he never learned how to change jobs)

Today, I'm noticing a similar favor of fear among friends who work at Big Tech companies, many of whom haven't had to think about a new job in 10+ years

The thing that is striking to me in both cases is that these layoffs are disproportionately impacting people who chose security or stability over the riskier thing

Which means that when these people re-enter the labor market (for the first time in years, if not decades), it's a harder re-calibration.

I share more about this in today's post (some charts in casts below)

https://hardmodefirst.xyz/what-todays-tech-layoffs-mean-for-the-modern-careerist

Teaching people how to build and making learning apps with Build First at buildfirst.ai.

Love this line “My dad’s generation believed security came from staying put. It seems mine is learning that security comes from staying curious.”