17.9% of IT pros were laid off but AI wasn't the problem.
Here's what really happened:
I know the headline of this issue might have teased you a bit. That was intentional—not for clickbait, but because the data shows some interesting trends.
Let’s state it clearly: the current crisis in the tech market is serious, not only in Poland but also in the United States and beyond. Since last year, we’ve seen significant layoffs, especially within big tech companies.
People are finding it harder than ever to break into tech. When I spoke to founders and people associated with software houses or larger brands, they often told me one thing:
“The number of applicants for a single position is unbelievable. Sometimes we receive over 500 applications for one role.”
And this is just the situation in Poland—a single country.
But there is good news. Even though AI is prevalent, it remains a niche for those who want to get hands-on with this technology.
Below, you will find interesting conclusions from the latest report from No Fluff Jobs, along with an additional surprise.
Grab a coffee and prepare yourself.🗝️ Quick Bytes:
OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is officially leaving
Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and chief scientist of OpenAI, is leaving the company to work on a personally meaningful project.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, announced that Jakub Pachocki will be the new Chief Scientist, highlighting his contributions to GPT-4 and OpenAI Five.
Jan Leike, leader of the Superalignment team, also resigned, with his responsibilities now assumed by co-founder John Schulman.
OpenAI unveils GPT-4o
OpenAI introduced GPT-4o, a new AI model handling text, speech, and video, which will be integrated into developer and consumer products over the coming weeks.
GPT-4o enhances ChatGPT's capabilities, allowing real-time voice interactions, improved vision functionalities, and multilingual support across 50 languages, with faster performance and lower costs compared to previous models.
OpenAI also announced updates to ChatGPT's UI, a new macOS desktop app, and expanded access to the GPT Store and previously paywalled features for free users.
I’ve spent the last 48 hours with this model and here are my early thoughts.
Google went all things AI in I/O 2024
Google I/O 2024 focused on AI software updates, including the launch of Gemini Nano with Multimodality, enhancing on-device capabilities to process text, photos, audio, and video, and the introduction of Gemini 1.5 Pro for global developers.
New features in Google Photos, like Ask Photos, allow advanced search functionalities, and the Gemini AI is integrated into Google Workspace, aiding tasks in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and Slides, while Project Astra and VideoFX enhance visual and creative AI tools.
Google announced significant updates to search with AI-organized results, AI overviews, and advanced visual search via Google Lens, alongside new security features like scam detection on Android and expanded SynthID watermarking to identify AI-generated media.
It was hard to even summarize all the things the giant from Mountain View showcased.
🎛️ Algorithm Command Line
This section of Algorithm Command Line is sponsored by No Fluff Jobs.
I must admit that I don’t recall seeing a situation quite like this in the tech sector.
Almost daily, I see posts on social media from people recently laid off and now seeking work. There's a HUGE narrative built to scare people about AI (we'll discuss that later).
But first, let's examine the No Fluff Jobs report on the Polish tech scene. We have a complex picture to consider.
What do you need to know?
📈 There’s real, rising unemployment
17.9% of IT professionals have recently left their jobs, either through layoffs or by choice.
🏆 We finally have proper competition
71.4% of tech workers say finding a job is TOUGHER now than last year. Frontend developers are facing the most significant competition, with job applications per posting up by a staggering 180%.
🤔 Should we worry about our job security?
Despite layoffs, only 14.3% of employed tech professionals are concerned about losing their current roles, and 60% of those jobless have been out of work for less than three months.
🌅 There’s light at the end of the tunnel with a shift toward stability
51.3% of IT professionals prefer permanent contracts over B2B arrangements, indicating a desire for stability. (that's something new!)
💼 Software houses are having tough times
22% of software houses are preparing for layoffs due to economic challenges and changing outsourcing trends.
🤖 What about AI?
Although AI gets plenty of hype as a disruptor, ONLY 1 in 7 IT professionals see it as a threat. The real challenges come from a cooling economy and previous hiring booms.
💡 My thoughts:
I'm really tired of two narratives: one questioning who qualifies as a "real" AI expert, and another promoted by the media that AI will immediately take your job.
Using fear works well, and people are starting to feel that anxiety. But the data, and my insights from talking to others, tell a different story.
Those who approach artificial intelligence as a natural enhancement are thriving. Even if it feels like AI is everywhere, there's no better time to start working with it.
No, it's not too late. This train hasn't left yet. Please don't fall for this story, which is just a quick money-making scheme.
Yes, we have a challenging environment, and it'll stay that way for a while. But there's light in the tunnel for those who adapt and focus on practical stability.
Are you surprised? Would love to hear from you in reply to this email.
I also asked Agnieszka and Ema about what allowed them to take a leap in their AI journey and which factors contributed to them being “inside” the industry right now.
Agnieszka
“I took part in four different AI4Good projects. These are volunteer projects where you work with a group of people to solve an AI problem. You usually perform research, analyze options, gather data, train models, implement solutions, and test them. It’s like running a project at work, but after normal working/school hours, with a group of highly motivated people at different stages of their careers who want to improve. The result? One of our projects is now one of the most well-known and common solutions for detecting waste in images and videos. I think this experience stands out. Check for example Omdena.ai which runs projects like this, or local communities like Women in AI Poland or Women in Machine Learning and Data Science Trójmiasto.”
Ema
“This might be an unpopular opinion, but one thing that helped me the most on my journey to becoming a professional in the field of AI is my Master’s degree in Data Science. While I think that anything can be learned by anyone, and university is definitely not the only way to become an AI Engineer, it helped me immensely on my path. It laid down the foundations of software engineering as well as it gave me a basis in data science and machine learning. I also had an opportunity to write a few scientific papers, one of which got published in a prestigious conference, which taught me how to read papers and extract value from them.”
🗞️ Longreads
Very interesting read, as always, from Ethan Mollick at his "One Useful Thing" Substack.
