Engineering jobs are holding up better than almost any other tech role
New hiring data shows engineering roles have shrunk far less than the rest of tech during the industry's contraction, a pattern researchers attribute to AI creating more work rather than less.
A widely cited talent report tracking millions of employees across tens of millions of companies finds that engineering has been the most resilient job category through tech's recent hiring slowdown.
Overall hiring at major tech companies has dropped by roughly a quarter compared with a few years ago, but engineering roles fell only about a tenth as much. At early-stage startups, engineering hiring is actually up compared with the same pre-slowdown baseline.
The explanation researchers point to is a version of the Jevons paradox: when a resource gets cheaper or more productive, demand for it tends to expand rather than shrink.
They're suddenly a lot more productive, and there's endless work for them to do.
Rather than replacing engineers, AI coding tools appear to be widening the amount of work each engineer can take on, which is keeping demand for the role strong even as other functions contract.