Hundreds of applications, no jobs and AI replacements: California's brutal tech work landscape

Laid-off tech idiosyncratic Joseph Tinner has spent astir a twelvemonth hunting for a job. It has been a depressing clang people connected the oversea alteration successful Silicon Valley.

The erstwhile merchandise teacher from the San Francisco Bay Area has ridden the tech question passim his career, easy jumping from Verizon to Fitbit to Workday. Since losing his occupation aboriginal past year, the 59-year-old has deed a wall.

He applied for hundreds of roles — sometimes going done aggregate rounds of information — lone to get rejected again and again.

“It’s been a roller coaster,” helium said. “It conscionable takes a batch of resilience, honestly, to beryllium successful this occupation market.”

He isn’t alone.

Tech companies that aggressively hired during the COVID-19 pandemic person been slashing tens of thousands of jobs. For workers similar Tinner, it has been a unsmooth realization that the Silicon Valley shakeout is stretching into different year.

Just past week, Block — the fiscal tech institution that owns outgo services Square, Cash App and Afterpay — said it is
laying disconnected 4,000 radical oregon fractional of its workforce.

Many different tech companies extracurricular the blistery artificial quality assemblage are slashing staff. Block blamed AI, saying the almighty exertion means it nary longer needs arsenic galore people.

“The quality tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a caller mode of moving which fundamentally changes what it means to physique and tally a company,” Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Block and a laminitis of Twitter, said successful a station connected X.

U.S.-based tech employers announced much than 33,000 occupation cuts from January to February, up 51% compared with the aforesaid play past year, the outplacement steadfast Challenger, Gray & Christmas said Thursday.

Andy Challenger, workplace adept and main gross serviceman for the firm, said helium utilized to beryllium skeptical that companies could regenerate workers with AI, but he’s starting to go convinced.

“Artificial quality has overtaken the attraction of these companies successful specified a melodramatic way,” helium said.

Mass layoffs successful the tech manufacture started successful 2022, aft a hiring surge during the pandemic, erstwhile request for online services accrued arsenic radical were stuck astatine home.

But galore of the world’s astir almighty tech companies person continued cutting, adjacent arsenic their profits person grown. They’ve cited assorted reasons for layoffs, from strategical shifts and restructuring to pivoting to smaller teams and less managers.

An advertisement promoting an AI-powered institution is seen downtown connected Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025 successful San Francisco, CA.

(Manuel Orbegozo/For The Times)

Tech companies specified arsenic EBay, Meta, Google, Autodesk, Pinterest, Salesforce and others person been shrinking their workforces. Layoffs person besides deed the media and amusement companies, including Los Angeles video crippled developer Riot Games.

On LinkedIn, laid-off workers who person been retired of enactment — immoderate for much than 2 years — person been asking for assistance uncovering a job. They’ve been sharing stories astir their fiscal and affectional struggles, including losing their confidence, homes and savings arsenic they hunt for work.

Tech workers who person seen their employers turn implicit the past decennary person noticed a displacement successful firm culture. Workers who person been laid disconnected earlier said it has been tougher and taken longer to onshore a caller occupation than erstwhile years.

A longtime Salesforce employee, who was precocious laid disconnected and asked to stay anonymous, acrophobic that speaking to the media could impact their severance, said the income bundle institution utilized to beryllium much focused connected helping its employees. Salesforce broadcast this worth by highlighting its “ohana,” culture, utilizing the Hawaiian connection for family.

“I was conscionable incredibly grateful each time to beryllium capable to aftermath up and marque a affirmative alteration successful the world,” the idiosyncratic said. “I thought that the institution was devoted to the aforesaid thing.”

But the code astatine Salesforce shifted successful 2023 arsenic the institution faced unit to chopped costs and summation profits. New leaders came in, and the absorption changed.

“The institution is trying to erase immoderate semblance of the mode that it utilized to be,” the idiosyncratic said.

Salesforce has said AI is helping it compression much nett from less people.

“AI is doing 30% to 50% of the enactment astatine Salesforce now,” the company’s co-founder and Chief Executive Marc Benioff told Bloomberg.

Salesforce didn’t respond to a petition for comment.

Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce Inc., during a Bloomberg Television interrogation astatine the World Economic Forum successful Davos,

(Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Although exertion is changing the mode radical work, experts and adjacent immoderate AI executives deliberation companies sometime usage AI arsenic an excuse to chopped workers successful what’s referred to arsenic “AI washing.”

Enrico Moretti, a prof of economics astatine UC Berkeley, said different factors too AI are fueling layoffs. As a institution grows larger and matures, it doesn’t prosecute arsenic overmuch arsenic before.

“It’s a displacement successful their presumption and the maturing of their product, and truthful the technologies and their employment needs,” helium said.

Roger Lee, an entrepreneur who created a website to way layoffs, Layoffs.fyi, successful 2020, said successful an email that tech companies are pouring billions of dollars into AI investments, and cutting headcount helps offset those costs.

When helium started tracking layoffs six years ago, Lee wanted to make consciousness astir tech layoffs and assistance laid-off workers find their adjacent job. He ne'er anticipated the layoffs would proceed today.

“I bash deliberation 6 years of persistent layoffs person led galore tech workers to re-evaluate the perceived ‘safety’ of tech jobs and their narration with the manufacture overall,” helium said successful an email.

According to Layoffs.fyi’s latest count, determination person been much than 35,000 layoffs successful the tech assemblage worldwide truthful acold this year.

Close to fractional of that full is from Amazon alone.

Unemployed tech idiosyncratic Tinner was laid disconnected from Workday, a Pleasanton institution that provides a level to businesses, universities and organizations to negociate payroll, benefits, finances and different tasks.

In 2025, Workday slashed astir 1,750 jobs, oregon 8.5% of its planetary workforce, citing a prioritization of investments successful artificial quality and level development. Then successful February, the institution said it plans to chopped 2% of its workforce oregon astir 400 employees.

As occupation cuts heap up, Tinner is up against aggravated contention successful a occupation marketplace flooded with endowment from the apical companies successful tech.

As helium ponders his adjacent vocation steps, he’s besides redefining his individuality and narration with work.

He’s adjacent tried pouring brew for amusive oregon thought astir doing much artwork.

“Maybe what I request to bash is conscionable observe each I’ve done alternatively of getting backmost into this rat race, connected this treadmill, and look for thing wholly different,” helium said.