The layoffs continue - The golden age awaits

This week’s headlines are much the same as last weeks. More layoffs This time it’s Google and Spotify that trim their number with 5 -6% the same number that we have seen time and time again during this fall and winter.

I’ve speculated for some time that this is indirectly a blessing in disguise. And I have come to think that I’m even more right than I initially thought.

If we look at the people that have been let go, most of them are, according to several sources and a simple quick study by searching through Twitter and LinkedIn, employed just days after.

In my beloved home country, Sweden, employment and layoffs are often slow moving things. The employer needs to follow legislations and union rules to be able to terminate an employment. So in the case with Swedish layoffs this effect is less visible at the moment.

But why is this? How come that something that has been reported as a sure sign of the impending doom for the industri, the ground crumbling under the tech giants feets and the start of the next great recession ends up as a zero sum game. (Not for the employee, mind you. The feelings and stress surrounding being laid off is nothing I would wish upon my worst enemies. Well… maybe my worst.)

It all boils down to the fact that the people that are currently being let go are the fat of back from big tech. They need to trim some weight and reduce their numbers by a handful of percent to balance out the spreadsheets. These handful of percent of people are some of the best tallant around. They are so good that they have been unacquirable for most sectors and the rest of the world. Suddenly there is a chance for us, the others, to get their hands on some of the best talent this industry has produced.

We see Microsoft and others are loosening some of the AR and WR projects and reducing their hardware experiments, other companies have started to lay off the people building their self driving cars and drone programs.

I predict that we will within the next two years see a massive leap in AR for industrial use. Not the Metavers glasses that we see today but practical devices to keep people safe. That helps the operators of heavy equipment of workers in a mine do what they do, safely, correctly and on budget.

We will see less WR for WR sake and more projects that actually deliver on bringing key features to the users and generating a return on investment.

We will also see a leap in unmanned vehicles for industrial and construction use. No more driving around in dangerous environments of the mindless back and forth halling rocks from one pile to another. This is the manual labor for machines. People, you’re too good for this.

Lastly we will see self-driving stuff that are not cars. Have you ever thought about how many things that should get the self-driving treatment but have been neglected in favor of the pipedream of one day driving on the highway while reading a book. First of all, get a Kindle, and secondly why is this the be-all and end-all of self-driving solutions.

Cars have proven to be harder to get to work right and most importantly safe. So let’s take a step back and use the same idea and tech on something else. Like a wheelchair. My friend presented the idea the other night and I was baffled when I could not find any effort being put into this sector. But now there is a chance. A chance that the right talent and the right tech can get together and make that dream a reality.