Should cloud beginners be afraid of tech layoffs?

You’ve seen the scary headlines:

If you’re at the beginning of your cloud journey, you might be asking yourself, if it's still worth getting into the cloud industry? Are all the opportunities gone? Will you ever get a job?

Honestly, I don’t think you should be worried at all, I am going to give you 3 reasons why you should not be scared of the tech layoffs, as well as what you can do to give yourself the best chance of securing that entry-level cloud role

By understanding these reasons, you will be able to continue your cloud journey with confidence because you will realise that you really have nothing to fear

Getting Laid Off Sucks

Getting laid off sucks, and I want to send sympathy to those who have been laid off. As someone who has been laid off before, I understand how devastating it can be. I experienced a knock on my self-confidence, but it helped me grow.

There is more to the economy than FANG, and there are a lot more companies than FANG that need cloud skills, e.g., accountancy firms, energy companies, consultancies, schools, and hospitals (get stats on how many large and medium-sized companies there are in the UK and US). There are more durable industries that you can apply to.

According to the US Chamber of Commerce, there are 33.2 million small businesses in America, which combined account for 99.9% of all U.S. businesses. (https://www.uschamber.com/small-business/state-of-small-business-now). That doesn't include the medium and large companies that's just the small ones

In the UK, there are over 2 million businesses. The question you should ask is:

Do you think the cloud is going anywhere? No
Are these skills going to be more important? Yes

According to research, over the next five years, the cloud computing market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.3%. Cloud-based services are becoming increasingly popular with businesses of all sizes, contributing to the growth of this market.

Even if the layoffs were real, my best advice is to always play the long game. The economy will recover, and when it does, you better be ready because a lot of people would have dropped out and given up. If you hang in there, build up your skills, build up your projects, improve your communication skills, and keep applying for jobs, you will be ready. Remember, you have to stay ready so you never need to get ready

So while everyone else is panicking about tech layoffs, the only advice I have for you is to drown out all the noise, focus on your process, and get to work.

Cloud Ain’t Going Nowhere

Hopefully I’ve been able to put your mind at ease, but to really drive home my point there is an important question I’d like you to ask yourself.

Do you think the cloud industry is growing or shrinking?

I ask this because I recently read a study that said that over the next five years, the cloud computing market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.3%.

For some context it is estimated that in 2024 the cloud industry is worth $679 billion bit in 2028, the global cloud computing market will surpass $1 trillion

This means that more and more companies are adopting the cloud and this growth means that there will be increasing demand for people with cloud skills so if anything, now is the time to accelerate you cloud learning so you can take advantage of these coming opportunities

Long Term Thinking

Let’s assume that I’m wrong, let’s assume that the market is really bad right now and that no one is hiring.

So what?

A career in the cloud is a long term play and if you approach it with short term thinking you will never be successful

Just because things are bad today does not mean that they will be bad in 3 months or 6 months time

Ask yourself this, in the future, once the news changes and the headlines are focused on how everyone is now hiring, who would you rather be?

The person who gave up and failed to achieve their goal?

Or would you rather be the person who keeps improving their skills, completing high quality cloud projects, and getting your hands dirty, so that when the right opportunity comes knocking, you are ready to take advantage of it!