For those with experience in AI, automation and cloud computing the tech downturn is not a big problem.
Jaydeep Vacchani, a software developer in Toronto, began to hunt for a new job just as the surge of layoffs in the technology sector spread across the world.
Mr Vacchani found that his expertise in automation and cloud technology was in demand, and in October he had five interviews on the go.
Using cloud technology involves shifting data storage and processing to a third party like Amazon’s AWS or Microsoft Azure. Meanwhile automation, in this case, means building software that streamlines labour-intensive work, like processing paperwork.
By November Mr Vacchani had found a “perfect fit” at sherpa°, a remote-only tech firm offering customers a way to secure travel visa documentation online.
“I like to work with a company that is focused on the user experience, especially when it comes to a product I can relate to, since I also had a challenging time trying to get the right visa paperwork when I moved to Canada from India,” says Mr Vacchani, who is now a developer at the company’s automation team.
He says this wave of heavy layoffs didn’t phase him because of the demand for his skills: coding in the Javascript language, and managing the infrastructure for products and data housed in the cloud.
When Alex Gogan, VP of Engineering at sherpa°, seeks qualified candidates for software developer roles, he looks for a “sweet spot of those who enjoy creative and collaborative work, and are really good at it, too.”
While the start-up first wanted to grow by hiring generalists in the tech sector, Mr Gogan says today they are seeking specialists who can focus on scaling the company and help others who may need mentoring.
It is a good time to be hiring workers with those kinds of skills.
More than 900 tech companies have laid off 143,500 employees in 2022 alone, according to Layoffs.
