For the last 50 years, the tech sector has served as one of the main vehicles for economic and social mobility. It\u2019s the cornerstone of the modern American dream.<\/p>\n
And yet, for almost a year, the white-collar recession<\/a> has bared its teeth. Huge companies are announcing multiple, eye-watering layoffs. Others simply aren\u2019t hiring at all. Even in the Bay Area, once the capital of knowledge workers and technology, the number of white-collar jobs has plummeted<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n With opportunities drying up faster than ever, how can tech professionals ensure their survival, if not prosperity?<\/p>\n How Can Tech Pros Survive the White-Collar Recession?<\/p>\n More on the Job MarketThe AI Boom Is Making Workers Miserable \u2014 But Too Afraid to Quit<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Try to Keep Your Current Job (Duh)\u00a0<\/p>\n This sounds obvious, but it matters for your next job as well.<\/p>\n There are a few signs of hope for tech pros. For one, the\u00a0One Big Beautiful Bill Act\u2019s<\/a> reversal of the 2022 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which forced companies to amortize domestic and foreign research and development costs like software engineering salaries, research, prototype development and more. This law incentivizes tech companies to bring R and D roles to the US.\u00a0Concurrently, the Federal Reserve recently lowered its target rate, which would make it easier for businesses to borrow money again, signaling a longer-term plan to bolster employment.\u00a0The combination of these two factors, so long as the US doesn\u2019t slip into a recession<\/a>, is a good reason to expect that the job market will improve in 2026.<\/p>\n Still, despite the economic downturn, one thing I\u2019ve heard from multiple employers in private is that, if you aren\u2019t currently employed, something must be wrong with you.\u00a0<\/p>\n This belief is nonsensical, of course. We all know it\u2019s an incredibly hard job market right now. Yet, I\u2019ve consistently encountered this sentiment, with hiring managers preferring to take a job-hopper over someone who isn\u2019t actively employed. This is also an easy way to cull applicants during the hiring process. Maybe the only way to manage hundreds or even thousands of applications is to add more disqualification criteria, even knowing that risks missing out on a great hire.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Look For a New Job, and Do It Today\u00a0<\/p>\n Gone are the days when you could work at one company your entire life, when a company took pride in its workforce and when layoffs were more shameful for the company than the workers. The only way to advance your career and keep your salary anywhere near the cost of living is to change jobs every few years. You have to spend your free time thinking about, planning and interviewing for new jobs.<\/p>\n Journal in detail every day about what you accomplished, who you managed and what your impact was. You want a record to help you remember everything when you\u2019re preparing for an interview. Review your accomplishments quarterly, and match them against company and team goals. That way, you always have evidence of how your value aligns with the company\u2019s objectives.<\/p>\n Critically, use your time at your current company to establish healthy business relationships. The people you meet at this job may come back around to you later on in a different role or with some information that might help you. Invest in those relationships not just for today, but for the future. You never know how someone may be able to help you later on.<\/p>\n The easiest way to do this is by scheduling one-on-ones with people across all levels and functions of the organization. Build mutually beneficial relationships by discussing issues you\u2019re both encountering, ideas you have and leave with at least one action item to implement from the call. Make sure to keep things light-hearted, personable and helpful. Don\u2019t let your interactions devolve into complaint sessions.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Referrals Are the Only Way to Succeed Today\u00a0<\/p>\n AI tools that tailor resumes and help with interviews have broken hiring systems, which now get hundreds of applications within a day of posting a job opening. Applicant tracking systems (ATS)<\/a> are struggling to add AI enhancements to fight against this onslaught. These battles are turning into an arms race where everyone loses.<\/p>\n Even before AI, an estimated 60 percent of hires in knowledge worker fields came through referrals<\/a>. That number may be as high as 80 percent today.\u00a0<\/p>\n Networking just means building and maintaining relationships with your professional colleagues, but it does so much more than that. These relationships can lead to referrals for job opportunities, professional recommendations and connections through their networks, too.<\/p>\n If you ask someone you parted on good terms with, you\u2019ll generally get a good reference. But to get a great reference, you need to be memorable, which is where your ongoing relationship maintenance is so important!<\/p>\n There are plenty of tips out there for creating professional relationships. Pick a few that resonate with you and make sense for your industry and start doing them. My favorite is to offer help before asking for it. Be a giver, not a taker.\u00a0<\/p>\n I personally don\u2019t believe that just commenting or liking on LinkedIn posts qualifies as keeping a contact \u201cwarm,\u201d however. You want your interactions to be meaningful, even if they only require lightweight responses from others. Try asking people about their weekends, occasionally sending them articles about their interests and emailing their bosses when they make your life easier.\u00a0<\/p>\n Strengthening those relationships isn\u2019t for the today version of you, even though it may make your day-to-day life easier. It\u2019s for the future you, the one who\u2019s applying for a new job at an employer where a former colleague now works. Or the future you who needs to put a few names down for a reference check. Or the future you who sees a job that isn\u2019t the right fit but knows just the person who would be amazing. Your reputation as someone reliable, caring and friendly is just as important as your reputation as an Excel wizard or Salesforce custom variable tamer.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Know Thy Enemy<\/p>\n If you aren\u2019t using and talking about AI in your white-collar job already, you should be. You want to be seen as a resource and leader, not a dead weight that isn\u2019t adapting. AI is coming for our jobs. Not today, and not all at once, but companies are spending billions of dollars to replace skilled human labor with AI tools.<\/p>\n Take notes about what parts of your job AI excels at and which ones it struggles with or completely fails at. Identify which aspects of your job require more than just being technically correct, like navigating office politics and understanding nuanced institutional knowledge. Figure out when using AI is taking up more of your day rather than less.<\/p>\n Talk about these things with coworkers, in your one-on-ones and when networking. Make note of their opinions and take them seriously but with a grain of salt. This is a rapidly evolving technology, and what was true last month might not be next month.\u00a0<\/p>\n Keeping this discourse alive will strengthen your ability to use AI, but it will also make sure you know whom to tap amidst specific AI implementation issues. This is especially important in meetings with leaders at your company, where the day-to-day issues with using AI may not be as visible.<\/p>\n How Will AI Reshape Work?Is AGI Coming for Your Job? What It Means for the Future of Work.<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Focus on Things\u00a0That Can\u2019t Be Automated<\/p>\n Not all of us have the luxury of defining our own jobs. But many white-collar workers will find that, if they ask for additional responsibilities without seeking additional pay, they get them. Use this tactically. Find tasks at your work that you don\u2019t think AI can easily replace and get involved. Deepen your understanding of those areas by seeking out experts within and outside your company who can help you learn more. Make it your goal to ask good questions, not to always have the answers.<\/p>\n At the same time, keep automating the parts of your work that you can. This will show management that you\u2019re building AI into your job, keeping track of the incremental improvements it\u2019s making possible and what it\u2019s enabling you to do when you\u2019re no longer bogged down by the boring stuff.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Obtain Skills That Matter Now<\/p>\n Technical skills have a shelf life of 2.5 years, but you can extend that with AI. Whether it\u2019s spreadsheet formulas, the latest<\/a> updates<\/a> to SEO<\/a> or new regulations in your industry, you can use AI to upskill. It can help teach you new skills and tricks, summarize long meetings or help you gain a deeper understanding by doing a \u201cfive whys\u201d exercise about a topic. <\/p>\n As long as you fact-check the information you get and use your brain, there isn\u2019t an incorrect way for a human to use AI in the workplace right now. All that matters is building a habit of using the technology in these ways to keep your skills and knowledge up-to-date. That\u2019s a skill in and of itself, and it hopefully allows you to improve yourself in meaningful ways without being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available.<\/p>\n Certificates that don\u2019t have legal<\/a>, regulatory<\/a> or compliance<\/a> significance are honestly not worth your time. By all means, learn whatever you can, but you\u2019ll be better served by taking on freelance work or building a portfolio piece demonstrating skills outside those areas. It\u2019s getting easier to fake the knowledge, but showing you can do the work and being able to talk about it thoughtfully in an interview are still things that matter.<\/p>\n For AI<\/a> skills<\/a> themselves, understanding the basics of APIs and MCPs is likely more important than prompt engineering<\/a> right now because integrating with tech is more valuable than orchestrating AI<\/a>. Companies aren\u2019t getting rid of HubSpot, but they do want to integrate more data and use it differently. Using Gemini<\/a> to analyze a spreadsheet is helpful, but using it to build a Python<\/a> script or SQL<\/a> query to build a better, repeatable process for accessing and analyzing that spreadsheet is fantastic.<\/p>\n\n