Searching for the reason why I’ve been looking for a job in my field without success, when the usual for the past 10 years has been to go no more than a month without work, always finding jobs in companies or freelance projects quickly and even being able to choose the best among good and interesting projects, I came across information that now forces me to rethink everything I’ve been doing until now.

I just read the term “The Tech Jobpocalypse, 2022-2024” on Amy Santee’s blog, and it seems like the most accurate term for what’s happening in my field right now.

In her article, Amy talks about the massive layoffs in the field:

“Then things took a turn for the worse. As documented by layoffs.fyi, an astonishing 450,000 tech workers (and counting) have been let go by a large roster of over 1,000 companies since 2022. My guess is that this is an undercount and it’s at least 500,000, because it doesn’t seem to include some of the companies with tech worker layoffs at “non-tech/product companies”, it doesn’t include contractor cuts, nor does it reflect the trend of quiet firing related to return to office mandates.”

Amy also discusses the possible reasons behind it:

“There’s a variety of takes on why this is happening ranging from the abstract to the specific: pandemic overhiring, poor planning, a potential recession (which we’ve been talking about for years now), interest rates and inflation, TeH EcOnOmY (whatever that means), redundancies (mkay), artificial intelligence and large language models, a capitalist power grab, bosses putting workers in their place, changes to US business tax law, shareholder interests, UX research “democratization”, etc. etc. etc.). I think it’s a mix of all of those things, but such a discussion is outside the scope of this post.”

Along with a decrease in demand of over 400%:

On top of that, now comes the wave of AI.

New AI technology has a major impact on nearly every aspect of UX design. For example, AI-driven tools can process vast amounts of data to uncover user trends and preferences, helping designers make informed, data-based decisions. Moreover, AI helps automate routine tasks, enabling designers to devote more time to creative thinking and solving complex problems.

But this comes at a cost, a collateral damage: the reduction in the number of designers needed to perform the same task. There are already precedents where 200 jobs were replaced by AI, or in another case, 90% of call center positions (and that percentage is expected to become widespread according to experts).

And it’s not just in those basic tasks; there are already examples of replacing programming teams for software updates, which is a tedious and laborious task. This means that, in the very near future, UX teams—already small in many tech companies—will be reduced to the minimum, as complete screens and flows can be fed into AI, which will improve the flows, suggest enhanced designs, create design systems, and even generate components in React or whatever technology is required.

Now the question is, what the hell do I do with this? Do I analyze the market and, with my experience and skills, look for an area that is in demand right now? Do I assume that AI will take 90% of tech jobs and start studying a manual trade that will at least provide for me for a few more decades before robots have the fine motor skills needed to replace even watchmakers? Do I start a business in a high-demand field even though I have no idea about the area?

I don’t have the answer right now, but what I do know is that a change is coming for me personally and for everyone in my field in the coming years. Good luck to all, and may God help us.