Tech recession

Question

Joel stated on the latest podcast that the current Global Financial downturn has not impacted remarkably on the tech sector.

As an Australian, I was heartened to hear this from the US.

My company shed 10% just before Xmas (thankfully I am still employed although 1/2 of my Innovation department was lost), and I was happy to hear a sizable amount of those retrenched have since found work.

I am interested to hear from fellow developers how current economic situation has affected their situation / working environment, and whether the global economic downturn has hit the tech market.

Also has the market for contracts increased as companies are less inclined to hire full timers, or is no one employing on any level?

EDIT An interesting side note I felt I should add.

Since originally writing this I was made retrenched in the 3rd round of layoffs, but within a week picked up a new, and in some ways, much better contract that I have been assured will become full time in the new financial year.

We have been actively searching for new developers, but an interesting effect of the downturn is that the job market is flooded with below average and incompetent developers, those kicked out of their jobs earlier on who cannot get new jobs in this vicious employment market. I have been astounded at the 'Daily WTF' style candidates we are being barraged with.

As a consequence, we are having a really hard time finding decent developers, as anyone worth their fee is snapped up quite quickly, and there are less decent developers who will risk testing the job market at a time like this.

Answer 1

The Economist has an excellent article on the issue in this week's printed edition (but also available online if you click on the link). I think you should definitely read it.

Answer 2

Our firm is focussed on getting people in the right place. Some countries there have been cuts, but others there is a lot of hiring going on. I work in the financial sector, so for us and competitors its about going for the opportunities available, even more so at this time.

Answer 3

The only thing that the economy has screwed up for me is my 401K (retirement investment account) but since I am still very young I do not have to really worry about that. Other than that I have not been affected because I don't really have any of my direct money or savings tied up in things like the stock market.

Answer 4

I'm in Canada, and there is still a lot of hiring going on in technology here. My company has grown by about 10% last year in terms of the number of people employed in their tech division. A few people have left (voluntarily) to move to other companies. A friend of mine is working at a company that grew 30% using the same system. I work in the insurance industry, and while profits on investments are down, internal structure is growing.

On a personal note, I have had a few more private clients than usual in the last year, and the only downturn has been in terms of my retirement savings, and as TheTXI said, I'm young and can handle fluctuations in the market.

Answer 5

In times like these, companies look not to avoid spending money - but instead of extract the most value for their money. This is where you can thrive as someone highly skilled and continually improving those skills. We all know that so many people in IT departments are dead wood and thankfully most of us have superiors who recognize that as well. Be about keeping yourself busy, finding ways to make the company better and get more productivity out of your time.

Also remember that if you do happen to lose your job that you are sitting at a great moment in history - where with simply your brains and the tools you have at your disposal (ie your computer) you can create a fortune. 100 years ago if you got laid off from the factory you could work the farm or....today you have bountiful choices and the freedom take your knowledge and build a product with little or no materials, just your imagination. It is unique in the history of man. And remember, that many men of astounding wealth find their way because a tough time or situation forced them to find it. It is a great time to be a highly skilled practitioner of software development.

To the independent consultants like myself I should also say to just hang in there, so many people are taking refuge in w2 positions that the market for really strong consultants is shrinking and since companies are laying off, when they do need help they will turn to consultants first because it is cheaper in the long run.

Answer 6

It's effected our company for sure. We are into financial services software, and guess what, banks and other financial institutions are not spending at the moment. Likewise, if your company is not self funding and relies on continuous investment to run it's damned hard to get investment at the moment or even a loan.

I think in the next 6 months you could see a lot of devs out of work.

Answer 7

Stick with it, folks. Work hard, stay the course.

Start a company or consulting firm. Be tenacious. Now is the time to keep plugging away, since the big companies are paralyzed by fear and will be institutionally unable to take risks with new ventures. You are not.

Many of the biggest companies in technology were founded in similar recessions. Don't let fear of unemployment ground your dreams.

Good luck, and I'll see you on the other side among the ventures that come charging out of this downturn.

Answer 8

Over in my part of Canada, Calgary, AB, we have some problems from the yo-yo that oil prices have done that have caused some problems within the Oil & Gas sector which is a big employer in Calgary. Some oil companies have posted some losses or scaled back on big oil sands projects which have impacted some more than others but some big deals like Encana splitting have been put on hold. Some real estate developments have also run into problems or backers have pulled out completely.

While I don't work for Oil & Gas, that is the story I'm hearing from some areas around there. I work for a technology company here that seems to be doing OK. There are still some contracts out there but there may be more applicants these days I'd think. I think our big tech hit was Nortel filing for bankruptcy protection after having a series of failed re-organizations.

I think I've seen more than a few stories about layoffs within the U.S. from tech companies like IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Texas Instruments to name a few. Hallie Goertz' story is one that I'm following a bit just to see what happens and I did used to work in Seattle a few years back.

Answer 9

When recession bites most companies layoff people based on performance. This floods lot of incompetent resumes in the market and makes a interviewer job difficult. And yes you are right good people tend to not switch the job in this time unless really required.

Sometimes good performing people also gets laid off because they were idle at that point of time but they find job easily as they are good and somebody is always hiring.

Answer 10

We're a Finnish medium-sized company and we're hiring faster than we can find the talent. I think we have almost doubled in size during the previous year (from just a bit over 20 employees to just less than 40.) Fortunately, we aren't bound to companies like Nokia that have downsized and are saving on outsourcing.

I haven't heard that our tech companies would be struggling either, other than those that relied on Nokia's money for the most part.

Answer 11

I'm also in Australia and my company is certainly not struggling in the current economy. We're primarily a software house and tech services supplier and we have more work on than ever before.

I started here late last year, and since then the company has hired at least 4 more technical staff. For a company of about 35 people, that's quite significant. And as several people have mentioned already, it's becoming difficult to find good hires.

I'm personally not worried in the slightest about the "financial crisis". I'm yet to find a software developer who is to be truthful. It might be one of those rare careers that's relatively impervious to economic downturns like doctors or social workers.