What Happened to Tech Hiring in 2022? (+ Who's Still Hiring)

As the global economy shows signs of slowing down, many tech companies feel the pinch.

Fears of a recession in 2023 have led to some tough decisions to keep businesses running.

One of the most common steps being taken is reducing the workforce through layoffs and restructuring. This year, dozens of tech companies announced layoffs and plans to freeze hiring indefinitely.

80,000 tech workers have lost their jobs and have had to negotiate severance packages in 2022 already.

With such a rocky year for tech workers, we wanted to provide some clarity on what's actually happening.

Below, we tried to give a transparent and complete picture of where candidates focus their attention and how tech hiring looks for 2023.

Companies Still Hiring

Below are a select list of companies still hiring right now.

• Amplitude: Dozens of open positions across product, engineering, and business roles.
• Asana: Hiring remotely and in-office in San Francisco/New York for dozens of technical positions.
• Figma: Hiring remotely for the entire company.
• Grammarly: Hiring across EPD for hybrid positions (work from home and in-office).
• Signal: A small team hiring completely remotely.

The Big Takeaways

• Hiring freezes and layoffs reduced candidate interest in FAANG companies in 2022
• Financial services like Stripe and Coinbase saw significant layoffs and restructuring, while other FinTech saw little movement and even some growth.
• Some startups are accelerating hiring but Big Tech remains cautious.

How Did We Collect This Data?

Exponent helps tech candidates do better in their interviews with courses and coaching.

When new users sign up at Exponent, we ask them if they're currently interviewing and where. We use this info to personalize the user experience by highlighting relevant interview questions and guides.

For our analysis, we randomly selected 150,000 job seekers' profile data.

This randomized sample is from February 1, 2022, to September 30, 2022, unless otherwise specified.

We look at which companies experienced the most significant slow downs and which ones are still hiring as though nothing changed.

FAANG and Big Tech

Apple

During August, approximately one hundred independent recruiter contractors were laid off at Apple. Apple relies on third-party consultants for certain aspects of its hiring and operations processes.

Apple is one of many tech giants to slow hiring in 2023.

Bloomberg reports that some teams will lose staff and positions next year. Apple is also preparing to launch its long-rumored mixed reality headset in 2023.

As of today, interest in Apple jobs is down 4% since its peak in March 2022. But hiring seems to remain steady.

Amazon

Amazon has frozen corporate hiring in its retail business for the rest of 2022.

Amazon's stores business, which includes its physical and online retail and logistics operations, halted global hiring for all corporate roles, including technology roles.

Last year, Amazon announced a 55,000-person hiring spree. Amazon was also offering extra stock to retain employees through the second quarter of 2022.

As of today, interest in Amazon jobs is down 18.8% since its peak in March 2022.

Facebook/Meta

Employees at Meta were warned of potential layoffs after Facebook's parent company announced that it would freeze hiring and "further restructure."

Meta intends to cut budgets across the board, including teams in which it has recently invested. Meta has thrown a lot of weight behind VR and creating its own metaverse, while also working to build out short-form video products like Reels that can compete with TikTok.

Meta expects to have a lower headcount at the end of 2023 than they do today.

As of today, interest in Meta jobs is down 27% since its peak in March 2022.

Google

Google reported in October that its profits were 27% lower than expected this quarter.

However, according to an internal Google memo, Google Cloud will lift its hiring freeze, which was implemented several months ago in a few areas.

Google Cloud intends to "complete" the unfreezing of employee hiring in some areas by October, following the implementation in July.

Right now, it looks like Google is no longer on a hiring freeze. A freeze, by definition, means that no new offers are being extended.

Exponent has seen offers generated since at least August.

As of today, interest in Google jobs is down 19% since its peak in March 2022.

Microsoft

In July, Microsoft closed job openings due to economic uncertainty. Hiring cuts affected the company's cloud and security units, two growth areas.

Microsoft's Windows and Office divisions were hiring more cautiously in May.

In October, Microsoft is rumored to have laid off about 1,000 more workers.

Cuts affected multiple teams, levels, and regions.

Twitter, Blind, and other online forums were used by laid-off workers to announce their dismissal.

As of today, interest in Microsoft jobs is down 5.2% since its peak in March 2022.

Netflix

Netflix, which pioneered TV streaming, grew unstoppably for years. This year, Netflix lost subscribers and revenue. In May, the company confirmed it would cut 150 employees, or 1.3% of its workforce.

Then, Netflix cut 300 workers, or 4% of its workforce, a month after its initial layoffs.

However, Netflix earnings and subscriber numbers bounced back higher than projections.

As of today, interest in Netflix jobs is down 28% since its peak in March 2022.

Tesla

Tesla layoffs were first reported in June 2022. Elon Musk's email to employees about a hiring pause and reorganization prompted this.

But despite signs of economic slow downs, the US electric automaker is hiring again.

As of today, interest in Tesla jobs is down 26% since its peak in March 2022.

Twitter

Twitter's head of consumer affairs, Kayvon Beykpour, and revenue product chief Bruce Falck left in May, prompting a hiring freeze.

Over the past 90 days, 530 Twitter employees have left—60% more than in the previous quarter.

As the odds of Musk buying the company rose, nearly 50 more left in October.

It's now confirmed that Elon Musk will direct Twitter to lay off another 25% of its staff.

As of today, interest in Twitter jobs is down 88% since its peak in March 2022.

Uber

In May, Uber said it was slowing hiring and tightening its belt, but it did not freeze hiring.

Uber and Lyft both slowed hiring in May.

As of today, interest in Uber jobs is down 8.5% since its peak in March 2022.

Financial Services

It's been a rocky year for financial services and payment processors. Uncertainty about the economy has many pulling back their spending and preparing for a recession.

Visa and Mastercard have held relatively firm, if not improved since earlier this year.

Stripe

Current and former employees of Stripe have asked managers to start giving lower performance reviews.

At a time when payments and e-commerce brands are struggling, that move could lead to more firings or resignations.

As of today, interest in Stripe jobs is down 59% since its peak in March 2022 but trends are expected to level out in the new year.

Indian Tech Companies

Fears of a recession aren't just in the Bay-Area. Decreasing consumer spending as the economy tightens has impacted companies like Razorpay and Flipkart.

And tech startups in India lost over 12,000 jobs in 2022.

Byju's and Unacademy even laid off employees recently.

Because of increased competition for top talent, some Indian companies are spending as much as 60% of their revenues on salary packages.

As talented employees jump around, many companies are ramping up hiring again quickly to try and stay on top.

Flipkart

Flipkart acquired, invested, and started several businesses since late last year. It acquired healthcare startup Sastasundar in November 2021. It and Walmart invested $145 million in Ninjacart in December.

Last month, Flipkart group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said that rising inflation and other macroeconomic headwinds had slowed online shopping, but sales had picked up in the weeks before the holidays.

As of today, interest in Flipkart jobs is down 45% since its peak in April 2022 but hiring trends are stabilizing.

Blockchain/Crypto

2022 was bumpy for Blockchain and crypto technologies.

Coinbase fired 1,100 workers after freezing hiring and rescinding job offers.

Crypto.com cut 260 employees, Gemini cut 100. And BlockFi cut 170. Bitso, Buenbit, and Mercado Bitcoin, major cryptocurrency exchange platforms outside the U.S., each laid off 80 employees.

However, the outlook for blockchain-related jobs in July remained steady. After initial layoffs, many Web3 companies kept looking for applicants.

Coinbase

Coinbase announced in June that it laid off 18% of its workforce, or 1,100 people.

Coinbase CEO and cofounder Brian Armstrong blamed an impending U.S. recession and a "crypto winter" for these drastic cuts.

The first major cryptocurrency company, Coinbase, went public last year.

As of today, interest in Coinbase jobs is down 88% since its peak in March 2022.

IBM

IBM's senior vice president of transformation and culture, Obed Louissaint, says that the company won't fire or freeze employees.

As of today, interest in IBM jobs is up 131% since its peak in March 2022.

Infosys

As of today, interest in Infosys jobs is up 10% since its peak in March 2022.

What Does Hiring Look Like in 2023?

With all of these layoffs and abrupt changes to hiring in 2022, what does next year look like?

Well, we're not sure! But there are signs to be optimistic about.

Tech spending is strong going into 2023.

In the 2023 State of IT report, which examines IT budgets and tech trends. it found that tech spending in North America and Europe is expected to grow 13% year-over-year (YoY).

51% of businesses plan to increase their IT budgets in 2023, despite 83% worrying about a recession. Only 6% plan to cut tech spending.

But by contrast, advertising dollars are slowing down. And for some companies like Meta or Google that rely on ad spend to drive their core businesses, that may delay plans for expansion.