The past few months have been foreboding for those in the IT industry with massive layoffs at big tech firms. Earlier this year, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) sent the industry reeling when it announced that 12,000 of its employees will be laid off. The actual number that lost their jobs were likely much higher. Recently, Oracle let go of more than 3,000 employees. No doubt, the scenario is grim. But what is behind this churn?
Though the companies have been using their usual jargon — ‘restructuring and efficiency’ — as the instigator for these changes, the role the advent of AI played cannot be discounted. What else could be the factors? TNIE speaks to those in the industry to assess the situation.
As per one explanation, the layoffs are an after-effect of the economy in the West being in a downturn. “In India, most of the companies, including TCS, are heavily focused on delivering IT services and consulting for other businesses in the US and other foreign countries. So what happens when economic downturns hit these countries? The projects, for which the IT service companies in India are contracted, also dry up. And this, in turn, makes many teams turn into excess manpower. So, the companies decide to do away with the excess manpower,” says Jayakrishnan Kurup, director, Xtend Technologies, based in Kochi.
AI has, no doubt, played its part, but not to the extent that these big companies project it to be, he points out. “Maybe they are leaning on that for the optics. By blaming the layoffs as a result of AI integration, they save their image,” Jayakrishnan adds.
However, the techie is not dismissive of AI as a true disruptor of the industry. But he says AI taking over IT jobs is a long way away. “It might happen in the distant future. Not now.”
When it was pointed out the recent layoffs are a result of retrenchment that’s happening at the senior level in the IT sector, S R Nair, an expert in the startup sector, says, “That might be due to a combination of various factors. The influence of AI, the saturation of jobs, etc. The layoffs happening in senior positions are mostly because of complacency that has set in among the staff, their inability to learn, assimilate, and apply the hi-tech competency of data science or AI.”
Jayakrishnan concurs. “If we are to take the case of a senior-level person who has upskilled themselves in AI and a fresher who has the same efficiency with AI, whom do you think the finance department of the company would prefer recruiting? Of course, the fresher.”
Lisa Mathew (name changed), a senior programmer at an IT company in Kerala, however, disagrees. Experience matters in every industry, she says. “All the middle and the senior level personnel need to do is to upskill themselves. Be on par with the changes happening in technology,” she says.
Raju B, a techie from Thiruvananthapuram, says, “The arrival of AI is an inevitability that we must all face. In fact, it is already here, shaping all our industries, not just tech. But it needn’t be the ‘takeover’ as it is often depicted. Instead, it could be seen as a lever to further uplift the industry, expand the horizons on what’s possible.”
“Sure, this change, like any other, wouldn’t be without a major upheaval, and this would also encompass job losses. But as they say, one should never stop learning or upskilling, especially when it comes to tech,” he adds.
Besides, the blanket laying off of senior staff, as Jayakrishnan puts it, might signal to the juniors that it is perhaps time to jump ship. “So, I don’t think big companies would want to let go of experienced hands,” he says.
Jayakrishnan, too, stresses the need to upskill oneself. “Technology changes every five years. If you recall, AI was never in the picture until half a decade ago. Maybe it was there in specialised areas, but was certainly not as widespread as it is today. Count back five more years and it was the era of cloud services. Five years before that, Android, and before, .NET. Technology is always upgrading,” he says.
Sarika T S, another techie at Infopark, says, “Only earlier, new tools and programmes used to surface all the time, and we had to stay updated. This emergence of AI is simply the latest in that string of events, and certainly not the last.”
Currently on her maternity leave, Sarika is well aware of the difficulties in getting back into the industry that’s being shaped by AI. “But I’m up for the challenge. This change is indeed a part and parcel of a career in tech,” she adds.
But to the question of whether AI will eventually take over our jobs and replace us, both Lisa and Jayakrishnan say that it might happen in the case of basic-level programming. “However, for niche programming, AI won’t be able to give a flawless product. At least, not yet,” they say.
Lakshmi Priya, a techie who works in Infopark, Kochi, however, dismisses the need to fear. “To say AI will replace the human would be to dismiss the faculties the latter brings to the table. Maybe years down the line, coding would indeed be completely driven by AI. But for the time being, it is not. So, embrace it, level up your capabilities, and stay optimistic about the future,” she says.
She further adds, “I don’t think it is fair to antagonise AI. It is, if anything, a friend, a tool. If you use it well, it can greatly augment your work, hasten the process.”
“AI, like other technologies in the past, won’t take your jobs or replace you. In fact, it is the people who can truly leverage the power of AI who eventually will,” clarifies Clarence Tomson, who works for a foreign company based in Infopark, Kochi.
“Job losses are common in the field of tech. There are many factors for this, and this news of ‘AI takeover’ is simply one of them. Staying updated in this fast-paced industry is crucial. You do that, and you are never redundant,” he concludes.
— with inputs from Supriya