New UW Study Shows Growing 'Angst' Among Tech Workers

According to a new University of Washington study, there's growing unhappiness among tech workers, especially younger ones.

The study followed several dozen laid-off workers

The study researched the opinions and thoughts of numerous workers who were laid off during a one-year stretch beginning in 2022, til now. Researchers examined economic and employment data, and compiled interviews from the workers as well.

According to Geekwire, the tech industry was once full of employees who had feelings of innovation, fulfillment, and what UW called "solutionism," but now the study says the shine has come off the industry.

Tech jobs, for many years, were considered secure, well-paying, and highly-sought occupations. But since 2022, there's been at least 500,000 layoffs nationwide, including many in WA state. Companies ranging from Microsoft, Amazon, Blue Origin, Redfin, and others have all cut dozens to thousands of workers in WA.

According to Geekwire, the layoffs include a wide variety of tech workers:

"Their backgrounds included lower-level and senior roles as software engineers, product designers, data scientists, user experience researcher and other titles."

The general optimism in the industry, according to the UW study has been replaced by feelings of disillusionment and workers feeling alienated. They also believe the tech industry has become relentlessly profit-driven, and needs a return to more worker-oriented and creative approaches.