The IT market in transition - challenges and opportunities in a new era
Downsizing, artificial intelligence, rising interest rates, economic crisis. The IT market is changing, and not just since 2024. The next few years will be exciting and the market will streamline. IT projects, service providers, start-up investments, personnel service providers, nothing will be spared and, in addition to the healthy shrinkage and reluctance to invest, the big question is how software projects in particular will be implemented in the future, as the great miracle cure artificial intelligence is creating many and probably also false expectations among managers and investors.
The fat years are over
The world of tech and IT has already changed significantly in 2022, ahead of some other sectors. According to Crunchbase (https://news.crunchbase.com/startups/tech-layoffs/), 93,000 jobs have already been cut in 2022, followed by 191,000 in 2023 and around 86,000 by August 2024. We are only talking about the USA, but it is the USA that sets the pace in IT and software and the trend has spread worldwide. Rising interest rates have made borrowed capital and therefore financing more expensive or impossible. Companies are cutting back and projects are being discontinued.
Oversupply of IT specialists
Suddenly the tide has turned.Where previously averagely qualified software developers dusted off top salaries and recruitment agencies raked in 25-50% commission, we now see a large number of applications and almost desperate requests on LinkedIn from IT freelancers from Eastern Europe and Asia offering their services.The dev nearshoring market seems to be in a near panic and recruiters are calling non-stop.
What are the benefits of artificial intelligence?
How will we develop software in the future, how many people will we need for this and how much money will it cost?Questions upon questions and only time will tell what will come true.Big announcements like “software developers will be useless in the future” should be put into context with the breadth of the profession and also the bold statements about other trends in the past. The average developer who just works through their tickets and is a number in the project will have a harder time. At esveo, however, we don't believe that software developers will suddenly be out of work. We see how “precisely” customers specify their challenges and solution approaches and artificial intelligence will not conjure up finished software that meets the customer's actual needs any time soon. Rather, it will need more thinkers, architects, people who develop and formulate solutions. AI will certainly make implementation much faster and more efficient, but someone has to tell the AI exactly what needs to be done. And in the end, software is more than just what you see in the front end. There are specific business and technical requirements that need to be taken into account in the architecture and the technical solution, at least in demanding projects, is not off the shelf.
Survival of the fittest
It will be more difficult for IT craftsmen and code monkeys in the future, but for innovators, thinkers and architects the world will continue to look good during the current crisis and in the future. The difference will be made, as in many other industries, by competence, curiosity, thirst for knowledge and passion.This is exactly how we approach our customers and projects - because we don't just play along, we make the difference.
