The most obvious happening is that they are trying to offshore development to a third world country like India for cheap labor. A.I. standing for actually Indian is a joke for a reason, many of these companies are hooked on cheap labor and just using A.I. to obfuscate that.
I can confirm that at least one company I worked for did this. Two rounds of layoffs in a year (2023). Iwwas let go despite not even being there for a year and rotating through three managers over the first nine months because executives know what they're doing (
cough).
When being let go, my manager said something like, "Your position is no longer needed." Keep in mind this manager was German and lived in Germany (I'm in the US) and which knows if he was pushing for more European jobs or just relaying info.
In either case, looking at the company's job board a little while later shows a lot of tech roles, but zero in the US. The only US-based roles were in sales or some shit. Because US-based companies unwilling to support the US workforce should totally be able to keep selling in such a rich marketplace.
Otherwise, I keep getting emails from companies i applied to before, but ne"er got so much as an initial phone screen, asking if I want to "keep in touch with all that's happening at ACME Company." No, bitch, I want a job or not to be bothered by you.
So, with a recent one, i scoured their job listings and, wouldn't you know it? All the tech roles are targeting workers in Pune, India.
Naturally, I replied to the sender (and, some HR email addresses) letting them know that my schedule is open and whenever they want to schedule time to suck my dick, I'll put it on the calendar.
Still waiting for a reply. Fingers crossed!
The next happening is them getting rid of useless talent. Many of these companies over hired during Covid and need to thin out now.
I wouldn't say over hired insomuch as "free" money suddenly became unavailable due to US fiscal policy changes and cuts needed to be made. Thus, mandatory RTO as a means to coerce voluntary employee separation became a thing.
(Remember when companies were crowing about embracing remote work? Keep that in mind the next time your boss or CEO is talking and always keep an eye on the job market. )
Now, whether that is still the case two years after the fact is up for debate, so you may be correct that we're seeing some excess fat get trimmed.
