A Feature, Not a Bug: How the Tech Job Market is Rigged Against Workers

It might sound like a conspiracy to say that tech workers are subject to a rigged job market designed to keep them afraid and insecure. 🎧

Essay: Reflecting on layoffs, past and present ✍️

Several years back, the large corporation where I worked laid off 10% of its employees globally. I was not one of them, but my team lost a lot of great colleagues, and our tight-knit Portland office was disproportionately affected.

After the news broke, I made a post on LinkedIn to spread the word about the talented people who were looking for new opportunities. No big deal, just a well-intentioned gesture. But in the time before mass layoffs, before precarity came to tech, such posts weren't really a thing you'd see that often. Today it's just standard practice.

The very next day, a design director called me and demanded that I remove my post because I was "making the company look bad." My memory of that call was a blur. All I know is that it was not pleasant.

I deleted the post right away, at which time I noticed that the COO, CPO, and a "lawyer at ****" had been looking at my LinkedIn profile. Naturally for me, I had a panic attack. Bouncing between flight, fight, and freeze, I hid out for most of the day in the research lab, almost certain I would be fired for my dumb and careless mistake.

At least that's how I was made to feel about it. After taking a few days to process things and share with some close peers, I realized that these men had bullied and censored me for trying to help The People who they were directly responsible for harming.

My skip manager at the time even asked me to apologize to the CPO, which I never did, because eff that. I had nothing to apologize for.

An injury to one is an injury to all

I look around today at the continuing mass layoffs that are now so normalized, and even in the midst of all the anguish and turmoil, I have gratitude for the support that others are providing for The People—colleagues and strangers—whose livelihoods are taken away from them so easily, who are unceremoniously tossed aside by greed, and who, in an instant, lose the connections and fulfillment and stability of their day to day. It's inhumane.

Layoffs are a choice

2+ years of such decisions have adversely affected over a million full-time and contract tech workers, not to mention the economic ripple effects on families, communities, and other industries. Tech work is now as precious as any other sector.

In the growth-at-all-costs game, the ones making these decisions lose nothing material. They have the most to gain, by unfathomable leagues. Shareholders win and wealth and power are further consolidated at the top.

The People continue to rally, creating public resources and establishing support groups, by and for workers, to assist people who are struggling to find work due to a layoff or any other reason. Plus there's all of the individual actions and contributions behind the scenes that we never hear about.

Our collective tribulations teach us that building and sustaining community is crucial, especially beyond the workplace. In turbulent and uncertain times like these, community, solidarity, and collective action are the only answer.

Originally posted on LinkedIn, 2/25/2025

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Thanks for being here!

Jesse Pinkman Gains Class Consciousness 🧪