Tech professionals are moving between jobs more frequently, but with less confidence that those moves will lead to better outcomes.
What was once a signal of career momentum is increasingly becoming a response to uncertainty, as tighter hiring conditions, ongoing layoffs and shifting role expectations reshape the market.
The traditional path to career growth has broken down, leaving many professionals scrambling to adapt. Job changes are no longer driven primarily by opportunity, but by risk management—an effort to avoid stagnation in a volatile environment where standing still can feel more dangerous than moving.
Nikhil Mungel, head of AI R&D at Cribl, says tech workers used to expect steady upward movement through promotions, expanded ownership and recruiter demand.
“These days careers feel more cyclical and interrupted, with periods of consolidation, lateral moves and even strategic downgrades becoming more common,” he says.
He notes it is common for someone working at the five most prominent American technology companies—Meta (Facebook), Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google parent company Alphabet (FAANG)-to move into a smaller role at a leading AI lab.
“A recent example is how the CTO of Workday transitioned into an individual contributor role at Anthropic,” Mungel says.
Entry-Level Hiring Collapses
Jourdan Hathaway, chief business officer at General Assembly, says entry-level tech hiring has collapsed, and employers have become extremely selective.
“In years past, you could take a 12-week tech bootcamp and land a highly paid software engineering role,” she says. “That’s no longer the case.”
Hathaway says to survive in the current job market, employees need to be incredibly well-rounded, continuously learning new skills as technology advances while simultaneously maintaining a strong network and fostering the soft, human skills that AI cannot replicate.
Abhinav Shrivastava, IDC research manager, talent acquisition and strategy, explains job mobility is being propelled by a convergence of structural and psychological factors.
“As organizations accelerate investments in AI and automation, entry-level roles, particularly in North America, are being compressed, while mid-level and senior leadership positions remain stable or even expand,” he says.
This dynamic is forcing early-career professionals, especially those with only a few years of experience, to seek alternative career paths as traditional advancement ladders erode.
Simultaneously, heightened employer expectations around AI fluency, critical thinking and business acumen are intensifying both voluntary and involuntary churn.
Shrivastava notes the increase in job mobility is driven by the proliferation of AI-powered job search tools that enable candidates to mass-apply with highly tailored resumes.
“While this increases application volumes, it dilutes the skill signal quality for employers and weakens the downstream talent pipeline,” he says.
Assessing Risk in a Tighter Hiring Market
Mungel says most tech workers still evaluate offers on best-case scenarios: bigger title, hotter logo, maybe a compensation bump.
“In this market, that’s backwards,” he says. “You should be asking, ‘What happens here if growth stalls, leadership changes, or the company goes through a hiring freeze?’”
From his perspective, the smart move is to compare downside cases: Which role survives a reorganization, which team still ships when budgets tighten, which manager has a track record of protecting their people?
“The ‘safer’ job on paper can be the riskiest if your scope evaporates the moment the music slows,” he says.
Hathaway says instead of making bold career moves, workers are prioritizing stability–in many cases, making tradeoffs around salary and flexibility to do so.
“I’ve seen a number of people apply to roles significantly below their skill level or expected salary just to secure employment,” she says.
Shrivastava adds with the shelf life of skills shortening, workers must continuously assess how demand is evolving in their domain to stay aligned with in-demand and future-proof skills.
“Leveraging GenAI to simply inflate resumes is no longer effective, as employers are deploying advanced tools to filter and validate applications,” he says.
Instead, GenAI should be used to stress-test authentic resumes against job requirements and employer needs.
“Candidates who can demonstrate genuine learning agility, relevant skill sets, and growth intent will be better positioned compared to those who use GenAI to augment resumes and conversations,” Shrivastava says.
Spotting Career-Advancing Roles
Hathaway recommends IT pros look for opportunities where they’ll have the chance to build AI-adjacent skills–and for employers who have clearly and publicly invested in upskilling.
“Those with AI skills face a significant advantage as the workforce restructures,” she says.
She explains newly formed teams established to implement, govern or experiment with new technologies tend to be incredible opportunities.
“So are roles where you’ll have increased opportunity for facetime with customers or other teams,” she adds, noting the days of someone sitting alone at home, writing code are gone.
“Today’s tech professionals should seek roles that will help them build the uniquely human skills the AI era demands, like judgement, strategic problem solving and collaboration,” Hathaway says.
Shrivastava advises IT pros to seek both structural and psychological clarity when evaluating new opportunities.
Key signals include the presence of personalized skill development plans, exposure to emerging tech, transparent career progression framework, and opportunities for adjacent or lateral career moves within the organization.
“Asking targeted questions about these dimensions can help determine whether a new role represents a true upgrade in terms of growth, stability, and long-term value,” he says.
Mungel says real upgrades give professionals more influence, clearer scope, and stronger visibility into outcomes.
“A new title without decision-making power, resourcing, or executive support may feel bigger on paper while leaving the person more constrained in practice,” he cautions.
