Michael Calore: If you could have any job in the tech industry, what do you think it would be?
Lauren Goode: I think I would like to be an internal critic. I don’t know if anyone would hire me to do this, but I would just like to be the person who says, “You are not designing this for a real human being,” or “You need to treat both your users and your staff better.”
Michael Calore: The gadfly?
Lauren Goode: Yeah, the ombudsman. Is that how you say that?
Michael Calore: The ombudsman?
Lauren Goode: Ombudsman. What would you be?
Michael Calore: I’d want to be the barista on one of the swanky campuses, just so I could chat with people all day and make them happy by giving them something that they want.
Lauren Goode: I would watch that sitcom. Was there a character like that in HBO’s Silicon Valley? I don’t think so.
Michael Calore: I don’t think so.
Lauren Goode: Oversight. Is there security in that job?
Michael Calore: I don’t know. The tech industry has been suffering a lot of layoffs lately. I don’t know if there’s any job security in the tech industry anymore.
Lauren Goode: Yeah, we should talk about this.
Michael Calore: Absolutely. Let’s do it.
[Gadget Lab intro theme music plays]
Michael Calore: Hi everyone. Welcome to Gadget Lab. I am Michael Calore. I am WIRED’s director of consumer tech and culture.
Lauren Goode: And I’m Lauren Goode. I’m a senior writer at WIRED.
Michael Calore: We’re also joined this week by WIRED senior writer Paresh Dave, visiting us from the business desk. Hello, Paresh.
Paresh Dave: Hello.
Michael Calore: Welcome back to the show.
Paresh Dave: Thank you for having me.
Michael Calore: Of course.
Lauren Goode: I think the first time we had Paresh on, it took us what? 11 months, as he pointed out, to bring him into the studio. And now there’s no stopping it.
Paresh Dave: It’s because I became your ombudsman.
Lauren Goode: That’s right. Welcome back, ombudsman.
Michael Calore: Today we are talking about tech jobs. In the first seven weeks of 2024, tech companies, big and small, have been laying off significant numbers of workers. Amazon, Google, Discord, Duolingo, Cisco, Instacart, dozens of others, they all cut staff in January and February. It all adds up to tens of thousands of jobs lost across the industry. Companies often conduct layoffs at the very end or the very beginning of the year, so these workforce reductions are not particularly out of step with historical patterns. But the cuts that started last month are not slowing down, and that feels off, so we’re going to talk about why now.
In the second half of the show, we’re going to talk about what it’s like to interview for a tech job and how that typically strange experience is getting even stranger for job candidates. But first, let’s talk about the layoffs. So Paresh, I want to start with you. You’ve been covering this along with our colleague Amanda Hoover on the business desk at WIRED. I want you to tell us, is there any end in sight to the tech layoffs?
