- Demand for tech workers at non-tech companies has reportedly outstripped demand at tech firms.
- Workers with experience in Web3, AI, and cybersecurity are still highly sought after, one report says.
It's been a tough few months to be a tech worker.
Tech jobs, highly sought after for their high pay and cushy benefits, seem less secure than ever as nearly every major tech company has cut headcounts and slashed budgets in the past six months.
The bloodbath shows no sign of slowing down: Nearly 95,000 tech workers have been laid off in the first few weeks of 2023, according to layoff tracker layoffs.fyi.
A silver lining for tech workers?
However, it's not all bad news for recently laid-off tech workers: Many of their skills are still in high demand, but they may need to get more creative in their job search, a report from Bain & Company finds.
According to Bain, job postings calling for people with tech expertise are growing within non-tech industries.
"The growth of demand for tech talent from non-tech business has really been a game-changer," said Jonathan Frick, a partner at Bain and one of the study's authors.
Using publicly available job postings and US government data, Frick and his team determined that demand for tech workers at non-tech businesses outpaces demand at tech businesses for the first time.
Companies across industries are using more technology, causing a greater need for people with software engineering skills, Frick said. He used Walmart and Amazon as an example: one is traditionally seen as a retailer, and one is seen as a tech company, "but the reality is that they've had to converge in terms of what kind of skills they need," he said.
Workers with Web3, AI backgrounds in demand
Wajid Mirza, founder of Xperti, a recruiting firm specializing in IT and software development roles, said the report's findings ring true at his company. While some tech projects have been paused or canceled, Mirza said he still sees strong demand for software developers among government and retail clients.
The team at Bain found that skills in Web3, AI, data science, cloud computing, and cyber security were among the most in-demand at non-tech companies. Job openings for workers with Web3 and AI experience grew 237% and 108%, respectively, between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the third quarter of 2022, according to Bain's findings.
Frick estimates that the demand for workers in these fields in the US, India, and Europe still vastly outstrips the supply.
Mirza said his tech recruiting firm had seen a similar trend.
"For certain types of jobs, it's still pretty hard to find resources," he said.
The pay question
Whether non-tech firms, such as retailers, can pay the same sky-high salaries as their tech counterparts remains another story.
"They're trying to find other ways to attract these people because they just don't have the same ability to print cash that some of the big tech companies have," Frick said, though he predicted that companies might get "creative" in order to attract workers in high demand.