The lackluster predictions on topics like “When will IT companies start hiring again?” are truly pointless… Mostly because this is a sensitive topic, and the prediction is often wrong. But the guys from interviewing.io tried to give a sensible answer to this question by analyzing relevant data.
Part of the data found by the interviewing.io platform is super relevant. The platform offers anonymous mock interviews with engineers from top companies such as Amazon, Google and Facebook. It is designed to help engineers improve their interviewing skills, particularly in areas such as algorithmic and system design problems.
Virtual interviews are completely anonymous. After each session, the interviewed user receives a detailed action plan from a senior engineer who has experience in making hiring decisions at FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) and other top companies. Interviewing.io also offers mentoring and training sessions for those serious about getting hired at Amazon, Google or Facebook. The training includes a work plan tailored to the interviewed user and the role they are applying for.
Founded in 2015, Interviewing.io aims to change the way tech companies hire. They provide engineers with the tools to make hiring easier and give employers access to rigorously vetted engineers. So far they have done over 100,000 technical interviews. Thanks to the data the platform has it can make some informed predictions.
Here are the predictions for next year:
Hiring should start again this year
Data from Interviewing.io shows that some of the big companies like Meta and Netflix have already started hiring aggressively. The other FAANG companies are not hiring yet, but the expectations are that there will be changes in this direction at Apple, Amazon and Google as well. Although, Google plans to replace some of its employees with artificial intelligence.
The hiring of mid and senior staff will increase the most!
From January 2024, the employment of mid and senior engineers will increase. interviewing.io estimates that the figure will be similar to the first half of 2022,
No increase in compensation for the next 6 months
Even if there is an increase in wages, the expectation is that the compensation will remain the same as before.
For at least 6 months, the staff will be employed at a lower level position than the one they apply for
In the next few months, everyone, no matter what level they are at, can expect to be employed in a lower position than the one they are applying for. This will contribute to lower wages, but also to slowing down career progress.
Employment at a lower level is evident at Facebook, which almost without exception employs those registered in lower positions. In doing so, the company cites poor interview results. In addition, Facebook offers candidates a lower salary and a fairly high bonus ($50 to $70,000) upon signing the contract. The company usually does not even negotiate on wages. The only exception are candidates who have offers from other companies.
In addition to Meta, the chances of “down-level” are also high in Netflix (50 percent), Google (59 percent) and Microsoft (66 percent). In the case of smaller companies and startups, the chance of “down-level” is lower and amounts to about 37%.
At the same time, the interview results are better than previous years. This goes for coding as well as troubleshooting.
Companies have a shortage of recruiters
Recruiters were one of the first staff to be laid off in recent years, so it is expected that there will now be a shortage of them in companies. As a result, hiring will be slow and inefficient. Data from interviewing.io’s questionnaire says that 17% of users estimated that the most difficult part of the interview was being called to the actually interview. Even the technical part of the interview was not a problem the way getting that call was.
Online registration and recruitment are practically frozen during this period. The easiest way to get an interview is through hiring managers.
We won’t be back to the good old days for a long time
Hiring froze in mid-2022. During this period, most of the big companies like Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce not only stopped hiring, but also had serious layoffs. On average, these companies laid off 10 percent of their employees across all sectors. Although layoffs slowed down in the second half of 2023, they did not stop entirely. However, layoffs are now significantly reduced. Additionally, from January 2023 to December 2023, employment has increased by 58%, which is certainly great news.
Which major IT companies are hiring right now?
The largest number of employments comes from the large companies in the FAANG group (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google). What is interesting, although large companies account for the majority of employment, is that startup companies also play a significant role, accounting for 17% of employment.
There is work, just not for people
The latest news from Google for the last year was that the company is also working on internal artificial intelligence for its own needs. The development of artificial intelligence could have a significant impact on Google employees. This could keep all 30,000 employees in the online advertising department busy. The company will integrate artificial intelligence into different segments of business processes, so the final number could be even higher.
Google has already laid off 12,000 employees, and is now considering what to do with another 30,000. According to Information sources, Google is planning to reorganize Google Ads. The company could reduce the number by half, and in the future this number could be further reduced.
Tech jobs will certainly be affected by artificial intelligence, but they are far from the only ones. Artificial intelligence could also affect the administrative part in the health sector. On the other hand, artificial intelligence would greatly facilitate the work of doctors, who would be able to spend more time with patients and less with administrative duties. There have been rumors to cut the need for drivers, although autonomous vehicles still seem far off.
New technologies certainly open up new opportunities, although the more advanced artificial intelligence becomes, the more relevant the question will be of how many of these new positions humans are more suitable for than machines.
