#Remote

A few years ago, software engineering was a pretty great job market.

Then, in 2022, tech companies laid off 165,269 employees. In 2023, they laid off another 264,220 employees. So far, in 2024, they’ve laid off 124,517 employees.

It used to take very little time to find a new tech job, and now most of us have friends who have been looking for a new job for months, or even more than a year.

Years ago, my friend Doug – one of the smartest engineers I’ve ever worked with – was sitting at his desk at work, leaning back in his chair and thinking hard about the problem he was trying to solve. The CEO of the startup he worked for sauntered past Doug’s office, then stepped back a few steps and looked in at Doug, who appeared to be staring blankly off into the distance. He asked Doug “Why aren’t you typing?”