AI and layoffs: the future of tech jobs

Tens of thousands of tech workers have been affected by layoffs this year, and some of the biggest cuts involve companies with deep roots here in the Bay Area. From Netflix to Meta, Intuit, Oracle, tech layoffs are raising a bigger question about the future of work, especially as companies invest more in artificial intelligence and restructure their teams. Now, for insight on how to navigate this shifting job market, we welcome Ahmed Banafa, professor of technology at San Jose State University. Professor, nice to see you again. Thank you for joining us. Good to see you, Pam. Let's first talk about the job cuts. What are you seeing in terms of, is it AI that's replacing these jobs? That's been the big concern. Well, AI is part of it. It's not the whole story. But Netflix is not doing this because they want to survive, because their last quarter they made about $3.4 billion. dollars. This is something which is the big realignment structuring. And if you look at the thousand jobs they cut, you're going to see that it's actually not just only tech. It's tech and product development and human resources and legal. So they go into the administrative stuff. The bottom line for them is they would like to be more competitive in a sense of looking at which jobs that can be combined, which jobs that can be done by AI. And you talk about the combined because, boy, I am hearing it from many people in many industries, more with less. I mean, fewer people are having to do the jobs of more and more people. Is that a trend you are seeing and what impact is that having on the job market and these companies? That is true because, you know, the biggest expense in any company is the salaries plus the benefits. You're talking about something close to 50%. So if they would like to improve their bottom line, that's the first thing they're going to look at. And in order for them to do it correctly, they're going to see, okay, two people doing this job, one person can do that, with the help of the technology tools. Now, what I tell my students, Pam, to be ready for this market, I tell them do not leave the school with just a degree. Leave it with a degree plus portfolio, basically what you have done, project and your research and all your publications. for the experienced, you know, tech workers, you need a software upgrade. Your domain knowledge is fantastic. But just now we have to add something about how going to use the tool, including the AI, when you are applying for a job or you want to keep your current job. Yeah. Expand on that a little bit, because that's exactly the two points I wanted to talk about. Your advice for people in it and for people studying and going to be entering the job market. Let's start on the people who for the people who are already in it. You're talking about a software upgrade. What kinds of things should they be? I mean, they've trained in their experience and their resume for for most of us who have been in a business for a while. This is what our experience is. So how do they expand and still stay in what they probably hopefully love to do? Well, it's a very good question. It's you have 20 years of experience. you have 15 years of experience in your own job now things are changing tech is not disappearing it's just transforming to a new shape the issue with what we are facing now is the speed things is happening so fast it's not like what we have with other technologies so so we have to be you know proactive we have to be ready for that now for experienced worker look at the tools specifically in AI that will help you in your job you are doing some kind of a data analysis or data base any tools that you can use like Copilot on the other that you can use to make it faster so you can do the you do the job of two or three people this is how we look at it i mean there's a there is a famous saying in the valley AI will not take your job people who know how to use AI will take your job so that's that's the bottom line for the experienced people which is a software upgrade it's going to have that shield you know at least for the you know for the coming years that against you know looking at you as somebody can be replaced and and really quick before we have to let you go uh students studying now, are you still advising them to get into tech, or does that look very different? Tech is the future. There's no question about it. But now we have to change it by saying, I'm not going to just get a degree in computer science or software engineering. I'll have a degree plus portfolio. What I mean by portfolio is project you did that related to your job or related to what you're looking for that you can show it in the interview. You know, quickly, I mean, all my capstone and senior project students, I put a condition on it that 30% of your projects should be related to AI because I wanted to be ready when they get to the market. Okay. Ahmed Banafa, Professor of Technology, San Jose State University. Professor, thank you so much for your insight and advice. Your students are lucky to have you. Thank you, Pam. Thank you.