While the idea that university will always lead directly to a job seems exaggerated these days, students leaving higher education over the next few years might find themselves in a difficult market, especially those with a background in technology. 

Is there hope around the corner?

A Predictable Dip

Sometimes, the solution to career strife hinges on learning new skills. The GOV.UK website recommends the National Careers Service as a starting point for advice but many organisations provide free adult training. For instance, the University of Leeds has 30 courses under its Click Start program, all geared toward careers in technology.

The heart of tech is software and it's easy to find free alternatives to cornerstones like Photoshop online. Inkscape offers a riff on Adobe's Illustrator, while Krita is an art program with YouTube tutorials. Finding free software does come with pitfalls, especially for the security-conscious, but CyberGhost's free trial secures connections and blocks trackers on both desktop and mobile. 

Statista recorded a predictable dip in open tech roles in 2020, down to 328,000, followed by an equally predictable surge to 1.3 million by May 2022. 

The UK Government claims that 87.7% of all graduates found work quickly in 2023, with that figure dropping by almost a third to 67% for “high-skilled” degrees. The latter includes people at the management level and professionals in health and science roles. It doesn't include post-grads.

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Still, job vacancies have been in steep decline ever since May 2022 but it’s not the call of alarm it might seem. The number of available jobs is resetting to pre-2020 levels following a short period of uncertainty. Put another way, things are returning to normal. 

18 Months of Turmoil

The technology industry has been in disarray recently, meaning it doesn’t slot neatly into the general data above. The Layoffs.fyi tracker claims that 397 companies have cut 130,482 jobs in 2024, roughly half the 165,269 positions lost in 2023. There were significantly more companies involved last year - 1,064. 

That’s worldwide. In the UK, 5,390 jobs have gone in 2024.

Numbers-wise, things are looking a little better for job seekers. Sentiment in the tech industry seems to confirm this. Bloomberg UK claimed in April that the “drought” in tech and finance careers was “ending” after 18 months of turmoil, largely produced by soaring interest rates and a need to cut costs. A Forbes interview with US staffer Ger Doyle mentioned a Q4 2024 turnaround in job availability. 

Source: Pexels.

In August 2023, bank rates hit 5.25, the highest level since December 2007. It fell to 5.00 on August 1, the first decline since the beginning of the decade.

As employment is (normally) determined by a company’s performance, low customer spending could unmake the first green shoots of recovery. In 2023, the money spent on high-tech goods didn’t falter. Still, it only grew by 2.6%.

Cloud Services

The good news is that advisory firm Forrester expects tech spending to increase by an average of 5.3% this year, again, suggesting a reset for a beleaguered industry. Most of the growth will come in the Asia-Pacific region (5.7%) but growth in Europe will climb from 2.3% in 2023 to 5.1% in 2024.

Software remains a hardy sector as revenue from cloud services climbed 27% at Microsoft and 26% at Google. AI looks to retain its position as a contradiction, as both a toy for the public and a magnet for research and development.

A newfound interest in eco-friendly technologies from governments could benefit job seekers, too. Innovations in transport and energy generation offer brand-new positions, even as AI makes some traditional roles obsolete. 

There's still plenty of life left in the technology industry yet.