The good times in tech are over

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Perks, entitlement, and who captures value

  • Many recall Bay Area “golden age” perks: gourmet food, snacks, lavish offices, minimal pressure. Some saw this as fake care; others miss it.
  • Several argue these perks were trivial relative to the billions in market value engineers helped create; others say that overstates any individual’s contribution.
  • There’s debate whether calling workers “entitled” just serves executives while they keep bonuses and normalize rolling layoffs.

Compensation, value, and fairness

  • One side: per-employee revenue at companies like Google shows engineers are underpaid and not entitled.
  • Counter: the system (brand, scale, ad machine) generates that revenue; most individuals are replaceable and don’t themselves “bring in” $1.5M+/year.
  • Some note huge CEO pay as the exception where an individual might plausibly influence the whole system.
  • Others emphasize labor markets: pay is set by supply/demand and available capital, not moral desert.

Perks as management tool

  • Food/coffee are described as cheap productivity multipliers and ways to keep people on campus, not charity.
  • Cutting small perks can signal bean-counter dominance and trigger departures disproportionate to the savings.
  • Some never valued “free food/ping pong” and would prefer higher cash, autonomy, and good tools.

From ZIRP to profitability and control

  • Many agree zero/low interest rates and cheap money enabled overhiring, side projects, “career startup founders,” and jobs detached from real business value.
  • With higher rates and tighter liquidity, companies are:
    • Killing side projects,
    • Demanding clear KPIs and profit,
    • Offshoring more roles, enforcing RTO, and using layoffs to reset bargaining power.
  • Some see this as a healthy reattachment to reality; others say it has not increased respect for engineering quality.

Job market, cost of living, and geography

  • Stories of ex–big-tech staff dropping from ~$500k to struggling to find $150–200k roles spark arguments: in US coastal metros this feels tight; Europeans and non‑US posters say those numbers remain elite.
  • Frugality and avoiding lifestyle inflation are repeatedly recommended hedges against cyclic downturns.

AI, outsourcing, and role of engineers

  • Many see engineers as “digital plumbers”; LLMs and offshoring can increasingly handle routine work.
  • Some predict more contracting/consulting and small “skeleton crews” in-house; others insist big tech and systems work will still need high-end specialists.
  • Concern is widespread that AI is eroding junior roles and long-term bargaining power.

Craft, quality, and generational change

  • Older engineers lament decline in performance, attention to detail, and pride in craft, blaming half‑implemented Scrum, KPI pressure, and “vibe coding.”
  • Others push back on trade romanticization and note physical trades have their own burnout and precarity.

Hiring, skills, and misaligned incentives

  • There’s frustration that hiring still overweights LeetCode/buzzwords while what’s needed now is business-centric problem solvers who can deliver profitable systems.
  • Some argue tech is still one of the best careers, just no longer fantastical; others think there are simply too many engineers chasing fewer “good times” jobs.

Cycles and broader impact

  • Multiple veterans compare this to post‑2000 and post‑2008 slumps: boom, overhiring, bust, then eventual recovery with new technologies and new bubbles.
  • Several note that the “good times” mostly benefited a narrow slice of SV; many regions and non‑FAANG jobs were always closer to today’s lean reality.
  • There’s growing skepticism about tech’s “make the world better” story, with some arguing the ZIRP era produced significant societal harm via adtech, surveillance, and dopamine‑driven products.