Get best of the week

Unicorns (Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, Careem) lay off thousands of employees amid problems during the coronavirus pandemic



Last week, news of layoffs at Lyft was actively discussed. This well-known American taxi service has reduced 17% of its staff or 982 employees. Now its main competitor Uber is conducting its own, much larger reorganization of the state. Up to 5,400 employees (20% of their total number) will lose their jobs. Airbnb, Careem, Eventbrite, MagicLeap, Yelp and many other world-famous IT products were not forced to wait.

Changes in Uber may affect not only drivers and non-technical personnel - the company has already announced that CTO of Tuan Fam will leave the company after several years of operation. The media already suggest that this is a sign of future reductions among IT-specialists - according to estimatesEditions of The Information, 3,000 of 3,800 Uber engineers can cut. The article will try to understand the reasons for such sharp and large-scale reductions.

Why do American startups fire people


The coronavirus pandemic and related quarantine restrictions hurt the US economy. Since mid-March, more than 30 million applications have been filed for unemployment benefits - people who have lost either a substantial part of their earnings or even lost it receive it. In March alone, American companies reduced 700 thousand positions, another 2 million people were laid off in April.

The unemployment rate is at its highest level since the great depression of 1939. According to statistics, this indicator was at 10% after the global economic crisis of 2008, and during the Depression reached 25%. According to economists, in April the unemployment rate in the US was approximately 16%.

Technology startups did not stand aside - many of them were fully affected by the crisis. Travel and tourism companies were the first to suffer - Trip Advisor had already reduced 900 people, and Airbnb raised $ 2 billion in loans , canceled large-scale projects and also reduced 25% of the staff - but it’s not easier for other startups now.

During the period of large-scale isolation, people move around the city less, spend less money - including because of the difficult financial situation, because many lose their jobs. According to statistics recently voicedthe founder of the Dubai taxi service Careem (bought by Uber), the company's business has declined by 80%, and the prospects for its restoration are unclear. As a result, the startup was forced to cut 536 employees (31% of the staff).

Who is most actively fired now in Silicon Valley


According to the Layoffs.fyi service, startups are most actively cutting people in the sales and user support departments. For example, the developer of POS systems for restaurants Toast recently fired 50% of employees and 70% of them worked in sales and support departments.

At the same time, engineers and management of reduction are also affected. For example, the CEO of financial startup Carta, who also recently made cuts, said that layoffs took place in all departments, including among engineers.

The distribution of abbreviations by profession is shown in the graph below:



How can an engineer find a job even during quarantine


Despite the fact that general economic troubles affected everyone, the situation in the field of technology is noticeably better than in many other industries. This is confirmed by the number of open vacancies. Here are a few resources that even during the quarantine period, experts use to find work in the United States.

  • Stillhiring - this resource combines vacancies in companies in North America, Europe and other regions of the world. Its peculiarity is that there is work for specialists in various fields, from retail to design. Including come across and good engineering jobs.
  • Angel.co is a well-known resource where job postings in startups are published. Until now, dozens of vacancies are presented on the site and new ones are constantly appearing.
  • Layoffs Board - Recently Angel.co itself was forced to make cuts. As a result, a sub-service was created that helps those who were recently laid off from IT companies to find work.

In addition to, actually, sites for job search, there are other services and projects that help with employment. For example, the services Paysa.com and Levels.fyi aggregate salary data in the field of technology that American companies offer. With their help, you can find out how much developers are paid in Amazon, Facebook or Microsoft, compare the salaries of engineers in different states and cities.

, , — , , .

, DevJobAccelerator. , . 12 , , . , 70% ( , )!

And how do you plan your career during the crisis, and is it felt in IT in your opinion?

More articles:


All Articles