By Jocelyn Reyes, March 21, 2023
Over one hundred thousand employees have been laid off from jobs such as Amazon, Google, Netflix with companies still continuing with layoffs in 2023. Cal Poly Pomona is working one-on-one with students to increase their potential to being admitted to big tech companies.
Graduating students could be facing an unfortunate decrease in jobs related to their fields with a sweep of jobs cuts last year and an uncertain global economy. After graduation, many jobs won’t be available for students given the current economic circumstances, and students may have to compete with smaller companies now that big companies aren’t hiring.
During the pandemic several companies were hiring at high rates which turned out to be healthy pattern for most industries and those companies started to grow such as Zoom, Microsoft, doordash, Amazon and more.
After the hiring spike during the pandemic companies started investing in hiring with the belief that they were going to make money after the pandemic.
“The issue isn’t that companies need fewer people in their companies, it is that they need different skill sets to work for those companies,” said Ron Pike a Biology professor. “So they are letting people go who have the skillset of a generation of technology that really came here in the early 1900s and really starting to die off in this high level of animations and intelligence.”
However, it isn’t all bad for workers when big companies lay off workers. The new advancement technology that students are receiving during classroom instruction can still help engineering students find jobs since their skills are improving.
“I still keep positive in the current situation, in every dimension of society was impacted but now it’s a bit better,” said Tingting Chen, Associate professor of Computer Science.. “Keep positive first and for the senior students, big companies might not be hiring people but it is a good opportunity to look at small companies specially startups because of the development and growth cycle. It is also the best time to attract talent from bigger companies.”
With new hardware, software and practices for students, including help with applying to internships, hands on projects, and networking. Professors are helping students become more successful by teaching them the newest technology that is being used in todays companies.
Even if big companies aren’t hiring now, students can achieve a job in an unpopular company and build some skills to continue going up to bigger companies.
“Big companies are where many students dream of working but not all. I know a lot of excellent students who never work for big companies and are starting their first day of their career and are really successful,” said Chen. “The cycle of the economy will come back for sure sooner or later when the market becomes better for big companies.”
Students who want to pursue a career working for these popular companies can face either good or bad news when they hear these companies are laying off workers. Upon graduation, some students wish to pursue a variety of careers and maybe work for a specific company, but it may not be as prominent as Amazon, Google, or Microsoft.
“I have thought about working for big companies such as Google and Microsoft because of the prestige they hold in the industry,” said Frida Hernandez, civil engineer student. “I don’t want to live with the constant fear of being laid off and not being good enough or having to drop everything to being another city because I got fired.”
Feature image by Jocelyn Reyes