Steven Bubonja graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in computer science five years ago. He\u2019s still looking for his first job in the technology sector.<\/p>\n
Despite applying for hundreds of roles \u2013 everything from junior software developer to business analyst programmer \u2013 the 35-year-old resident of St. Catharines, Ont., hasn\u2019t been able to break into his chosen field. To pay the bills and support his family, Mr. Bubonja has continued to work in heating, ventilation and air conditioning, the field he was trying to ditch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was kind of blown away, because in HVAC, I would basically call everyone in the city and by the end of the week, I would have a job,\u201d he said. \u201cFor computer science, you could be applying to 200 to 300 companies and it may not materialize to anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Bubonja\u2019s experience is hardly unique. After a pandemic hiring boom, the technology sector has been mired in a multiyear funk. Employment in certain high-tech roles has plateaued or fallen. Job postings have collapsed. And with companies looking for efficiencies through <\/b>artificial intelligence, there are mounting fears that junior-level roles will dry up.<\/p>\n
For many young people, the tech sector was considered a safe haven for building a career, and \u201clearn to code\u201d a salient piece of advice. But for graduates like Mr. Bubonja, reality has proven more complicated.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d want to really think about it now if you\u2019re getting into school for comp sci and be more realistic about what you can get out of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The pandemic led to a frenzy in the tech space. People were stuck at home and needing digital services, and because interest rates were low, companies big and small could borrow heavily to invest in their operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuddenly there was a massive rise in demand for tech companies and tech products as everyone sort of transitioned into virtual spaces in lieu of real spaces,\u201d said Viet Vu, manager of economics research for public policy and leadership at The Dais, a think tank at Toronto Metropolitan University. As a result, \u201cthere was a massive wave of hiring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Between 2020 and 2022, tech job postings more than doubled on the hiring site Indeed Canada, reflecting <\/b>opportunities for thousands of people. As of June, 2023, employment in computer systems design in Canada \u2013 a rough proxy for the tech industry \u2013 had risen by 45 per cent (or roughly 121,000 positions) since the end of 2019.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Since then, the industry has gone through a dramatic reset. Many companies said they expanded too quickly, or struggled to adapt to higher interest rates, leading to scores of layoffs. As of early July, tech job vacancies on Indeed Canada were down 21 per cent from February, 2020. And tech employment has faded from 2023 peaks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tech sector is still large in employment, but for job seekers, the market has become tougher,\u201d said Brendon Bernard, senior economist at Indeed Canada.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Tech giants are continuing to cut back their global work force this year, with many of those decisions tied to artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
In May, Microsoft MSFT-Q<\/a> laid off nearly 6,000 employees, <\/b>followed by another 9,000 workers in July. Chief executive officer Satya Nadella says AI now writes 20 to 30 per cent of Microsoft\u2019s code. Meta META-Q<\/a> announced layoffs at the beginning of the year that would see 3,600 employees let go as part of navigating what CEO Mark Zuckerberg refers to as an \u201cintense year\u201d focused on developing AI talent. <\/p>\n In April, Shopify SHOP-T<\/a> CEO Tobi Lutke posted an internal memo<\/a> that said resources for expanding headcount would only be given to jobs that cannot be automated by AI.<\/p>\n There is, however, some skepticism around the extent to which AI is truly responsible for layoffs. \u201cAs a founder, seeking investments, of a company <\/b>that\u2019s in a public market that trades stock, you don\u2019t want to rattle the market and say \u2018Oh we\u2019re actually in a really tough position because we can\u2019t borrow money cheaply and the economic condition isn\u2019t great,\u2019\u201d said Mr. Vu, \u201cYou want to be able to at least try to shape the narrative on why your company\u2019s headcount isn\u2019t growing as quickly as it should, and in fact right now, AI certainly seems like a good reason to attribute that to.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Bernard said that there are more job vacancies related to training or maintaining AI <\/b>than traditional tech jobs such as software engineering. \u201cJob postings are quite elevated for data centre technicians,\u201d he said as an example. Conversely, \u201cthere are a range of jobs where demand has come down a lot \u2013 software engineers, in general \u2013 but also a range of developer-type roles, such as front-end developers and JavaScript developers.\u201d<\/p>\n