Amazon, for example, hired about 18,000 interns this year, and paid some computer science students nearly $30,000 for the summer, not counting housing allowances. The company is now considering cutting the number of interns by more than half before 2023, said a person with knowledge of the program who was not authorized to speak publicly.
More about Big Tech
- Microsoft: The company’s $69 billion deal with Activision Blizzard, which rests on winning the approval of 16 governments, has become a test of whether tech giants can buy companies amid a backlash.
- Apple: Apple’s largest iPhone factory, in the city of Zhengzhou, China, is facing labor shortages. Now that factory is getting help from an unlikely source: the Chinese government.
- Amazon: The company appears to be planning to lay off about 10,000 people in business and technology jobs, in what would be the largest cuts in the company’s history.
- meta: Facebook’s parent company said it laid off more than 11,000 people, or about 13 percent of its workforce
Brad Glasser, an Amazon spokesperson, said the company was committed to its internship program and the real-world experience it provided. A Meta spokeswoman referred to a letter to employees from Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s CEO, announcing the company’s layoffs last month.
Recruitment plans are also changing at smaller technology companies. Roblox, the popular gaming platform, said it planned to hire 300 interns this summer — nearly twice as many as this year — and expected more than 50,000 applications for those spots. Redfin, which employed 38 interns this summer, said it had canceled the program for next year.
There are still good jobs for computer students and the field is growing. Between 2021 and 2031, employment for software developers and testers is expected to grow by 25 percent, representing more than 411,000 new jobs, according to projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But many of those jobs are in fields like finance and the auto industry.
“Students are still getting multiple job offers,” said Brent Winkelman, chief of staff of the computer science department at the University of Texas at Austin. “They may not come from Meta, or from Twitter, or from Amazon. They come from places like GM, Toyota or Lockheed.”
College Career Centers have become sounding boards for anxious students about to enter the tech job market. In the offices of career counselors, the search for a plan B has increased.
Some students apply for jobs at lesser-known technology companies. Others seek tech jobs outside the industry, at retailers like Walmart or at government agencies and non-profit organizations. High school is also an option.
