Ideally, they should be super employable right? Tier 1 colleges, FAANG experience for a decade, high to moderate comp and the right set to mentor the next wave of GenZ candidates coming in? But the answer is an unfortunate no. I spoke to a few founders, recruiters, friends and people actually in the market negotiating, here are a few learnings
- 15 years means you are almost certainly a people manager and the quantum of manager roles are going down across the board. Everyone wants a leaner and meaner machine that runs fast and scales quick. So most are getting IC roles (which you haven't done in ages so its a big switch) or are being asked to do something totally different (steep learning curve)
- Salaries are sky high and employers suddenly seem to value ROI vs experience. Can I get someone with 7-8 years work ex instead of 15 and extract more hours plus upskill them vs bring someone with a high comp and low flexibility. Big tech has inflated compensation to another extreme compared to startups. So most seem like they are taking a huge cut.
- Inertia. Most haven't moved roles in a decade plus. Everything is comfortable in big tech. 4 hours a day of work, systems that never crash, plans that don't change, product launches every year, no stress from founder and so much more does not happen in big tech compared to series A/B startups. Most are unable to meet the demands of smaller companies.
- While nothing substitutes experience and real world problem solving, if you don't constantly upskill and build a varied set of skills, your employability index dramatically drops. Yes you are a great PM, but what else do you bring to the table is a question almost everyone is asking.
- Post pandemic boom. Most thought they can double up compensation every few months by moving roles and this has been a heavy price to pay because when the money printing stopped, most salaries went back to normalized levels. So there is a huge lifestyle vs comp mismatch
- AI is not taking away anyones jobs. Infact its making most jobs very easy. I build decks, documents, narratives, do market research, competitor analysis, write performance evals, build dashboards and code, almost everything using AI now. Its made me more productive not unemployable. Most are still not seeing that because they are very comfortable in their seats.
As I write this, I know if not for NextBillion.ai, I would have been unemployable currently and its something I freak about about everyday. What next? As a founder, even worse because you are a super generalist. Not a specialist.
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