How many people were laid off
Since 2020, Layoffs.fyi has counted layoffs at tech companies worldwide. That is everyone at those companies, not only developers. Its numbers (checked November 10, 2026):
- 2020: 80,998 people at 599 companies.
- 2021: 15,823 people at 43 companies.
- 2022: 165,269 people at 1,064 companies.
- 2023: 265,660 people at 1,194 companies.
- 2024: 152,922 people at 551 companies.
- 2025: 122,606 people at 278 companies.
- 2026 through November 10: 142,512 people at 350 companies.
- In total, about 946,000 people.
And how many are depressed?
There is no exact number. We looked and found no reliable count of how many laid-off tech workers are depressed, and I am not going to make one up. But this is not the first time I have watched developers on video talk about how hard it is.
What I built on my own
This spring I started building an app for builders, WorkTime CRM. For eight months now I have been developing it alone. I run a construction company in the US, I built the system for it, and I shared it with other builders right away, because I have an audience of builders in the US.
There are about 200 contractors on the platform now. 35 of them subscribe and pay. Many left because it is a complex system: it has to be set up, and you have to learn to work in it. The ones I help get everything set up, and they are happy with it.
The lesson for me is simple: software alone is not enough. People need someone who helps them put it to work. That is the job.
Where the work for developers is now
If you are a developer, self-taught or with years behind you, and you got laid off, I think you need to team up with businesses. Not necessarily with me. With someone who runs a company, leads a crew or simply does something well. It can even be one specialist you set something up for.
I think this is the era of developers as helpers inside a company. Inside the specialist's head, if you can put it that way: working with him on what he wants to build and bring into the world.
Why the old way no longer works
It used to go like this: I, the builder, tell my ideas to a programmer, and he writes the app or the site. That is not how it works anymore. Now I write my ideas to AI myself.
So a developer's value is not in typing code. It is in what AI will not give you on its own: a developer's way of thinking. You know how to set up security, where to dig, what to look at. People have shown me more than once: "Ivan, this is wrong, you just swallowed what the AI gave you." And they were right. I am sure there is a lot I do not know.
It takes an honest partnership
This has to be a sincere, honest partnership with the roles split. You bring the developer's mind; I bring knowledge of my trade and of the people it is built for. And together we move the product.
To be honest: I do not have money, which is why I build it myself. And I do not know how to sell. The product is ready. It needs someone to take it on: support it, help sell it, prove it, improve the design, keep it updated and make it simpler so everyone understands it. You have to be on fire about it and push it together.
What you can do now
- 01Find someone who runs a business in a field you understand: a builder, a tradesman, a small company, even one specialist.
- 02Offer not to "build it from scratch" but to put technology to work and set it up: automation, an app, a CRM. Small businesses need this and often cannot do it themselves.
- 03Own the part AI does not see: security, checking, knowing where to dig.
- 04Agree honestly on who does what and how you share the result.
- 05Help with more than code: simplify, explain it to people, sell it.
Hang in there
So, guys, hang in there. Write, dig, look for the opportunity to get out of this. There is a way out, one hundred percent.
Maybe this is not the end of your career, but the start of something new.
Let's talk
If you are a developer and would like to talk about this, I would like to talk with you. Leave a comment under this article or come to our community. And what do you think: is AI taking developers' jobs, or opening new doors?
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