Engineering Jobs Prove Most Resilient Despite AI Displacement Fears
Original: AI was supposed to kill engineering jobs, but new data suggests they’re the most resilient
Why This Matters
Challenges prevailing assumptions about AI job displacement and indicates strong demand for engineering talent amid automation expansion.
Contrary to predictions that AI would eliminate engineering positions, new data from venture firm SignalFire shows engineering roles saw only 11% hiring decline in 2025 versus 25% across tech overall, with engineers comprising 55% of new hires at major tech companies.
SignalFire's analysis of millions of employee careers across 80+ million companies challenges the narrative that AI-powered coding tools are replacing software engineers. The firm's State of Talent Report examined hiring trends rather than layoffs, citing greater accuracy in tracking real-time workforce dynamics. At 12 major tech companies (Alphabet, Meta, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, Nvidia, Tesla, Uber, Airbnb, Block, Stripe), engineering hiring remained substantially more resilient than other job functions. Engineers represented 55% of all new hires in 2025, up significantly from 46% in 2019. Early-stage startups showed even stronger hiring momentum, bringing on 7% more engineers in 2025 than 2019. SignalFire head of research Asher Bantock stated the ground reality contradicts widespread layoff rationales citing AI and coding automation. He argued that if AI truly substituted for engineering talent, engineering hiring would decline first during tech contractions. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei previously warned that AI could eliminate half of entry-level white-collar jobs within five years, but the company's head of economics Peter McCrory told TechCrunch in March that no significant AI-driven workforce effects had materialized yet, with no material differences in unemployment rates for workers using AI tools in central job tasks.