Companies' investment in AI has boomed over the last five years. As AI has become ubiquitous across nearly every industry and as LLMs have improved at lightning speed, the tech sector has seen massive layoffs. California and Washington, two states where technology startups and innovation have boosted the economy, have seen tens of thousands of layoffs. California has led the charge with over 73,000 tech job layoffs in 2025 alone.

Tech workers whose jobs were displaced amid the radical adoption of AI ask, “Where can I get hired now?”, but perhaps the better question is, “Who would pay for the knowledge I possess?”

Let’s Consider The Nuance In The Tech Layoffs First

While some vulnerable jobs have been lost to AI, we should be careful not to blame its adoption as the primary cause of the massive layoffs. The state of California has launched an AI-Unemployment tracker to monitor how many jobs are being displaced by AI. Ben Hyman, Senior Researcher at California’s policy lab says: “Right now, we are not seeing evidence of large-scale AI-related layoffs in California’s labor market, but we do see patterns in certain regions like the Bay Area, in certain tech-heavy sectors and highly AI-exposed college-educated workers.”

So while there are attributable job losses at this point, it would be a sweeping generalization to claim most tech layoffs are due to AI-related adoption; nevertheless, tens of thousands of tech layoffs are happening across the US, and employees are trying to figure out next steps.

For the last few years there have been some confouding complications to highly educated, talented white collar tech workers when it comes to reestablishing employment.

Somthing Unusual is Happening To Out of Work Tech Workers

This cohort has traditionally been able to find work relatively easily. However, an August 3rd San Francisco Fed Economics letter found that prospects for prime-aged workers to find employment have dramatically decreased in recent years; most noticeably, college-educated workers experienced a 30% decline in job-finding rates from January 2023 to January 2026.

That study also found that structural forces could explain why prime-age working adults are having a hard time finding jobs right now.

When we consider structural changes, we have to look at how shifts in operating models are affecting traditionally qualified tech workers. According to a 2026 trend report by Deloitte Insights, only 1% of IT leaders surveyed by Deloitte reported that no major operating model changes were underway, while 78% of tech leaders anticipate broad, targeted, or transformational integration of AI agents into architecture workflows over the next five years.

This suggests that most tech organizations are counting on AI to build leaner teams with some form of agentic support. This could leave experienced tech workers needing to find work elsewhere.

Transferable Skills From Tech May Resemble Entrepreneurship Skills

Being an Entrepreneur is a challenge for even the most savvy businessperson; however, many of the skills required to enjoy a successful tech career are required to become an Entrepreneur. Hard skills like coding or knowing LLMs are a plus, but tech employees also need other hard-coded skills to become successful entrepreneurs

For example, data scientists need to analyze, interpret, visualize findings, and show trends. This is the type of effort consistently needed for tracking KPIs and OKRs in small businesses, and many of the required skills to run a successful small firm that many fledgling small business owners lack.

In my business coaching and consulting practice, my most successful clients have three key skills that I believe tech employees could transfer: the ability to diagnose problems, execute a fix, and create key monitoring frameworks to make sure the fix stays in place and works. Fundamentally, being an Entrepreneur is about being a problem solver, and marketing your product or service is about simply demonstrating why using your business to help a customer accomplish a goal is the best solution compared to what else is on the market.

Opportunity Prime For The Taking

According to the US Census Bureau, roughly 20%-25% of firms with 1-99 employees use AI. Many thousands of business owners need expertise to leverage AI to run their business, improve processes, or increase deliverables. This is a massive opportunity for tech workers to apply their skills to smaller firms. Typically, enterprise firms manage large teams to solve problems that small firms simply don’t have the resources to staff.

Small businesses need more affordable technical support than ever, and it’s harder to find, even with AI widely available to businesses of every size.

Don’t Let Your Skills Sit on The Shelf

Labor economists are increasingly considering the possibility that AI could exert near-term pressure on white-collar employment, and all tech employees and employees generally should take note. In an Indeed survey , a small majority of experts said they expect AI to be at least a mild drag on employment over the next year, with 52% expecting AI to be a net negative for the labor market in the near term.

Right now, AI implementation in firms is a bit like the Wild West; however, that doesn’t mean tech leaders don’t have an organizational plan to keep the firm as lean as possible. Whenever a new technology displaces workers, it creates opportunities for more businesses to grow.

While you shouldn’t stop applying to jobs if you are more keen on working for an enterprise firm, I wouldn’t rule out creating your own business that can help leverage useful marketplace skills that are sorely needed more than ever.