Introduction
Ever-strategic, shrewd, and entrepreneurial at heart, tech professionals are paying close attention to the opportunities in front of them, weighing risk and gain with every step. Even facing uncomfortable headwinds, trust this group to navigate their career decisions with an eye on their future. Pairing our understanding of this with our awareness of a cautious job market, we surveyed this group to understand what moves they will make this year, how they feel about their current prospects, and what could be driving them to make a change.
As HR professionals tasked with sourcing and recruiting tech talent, it is crucial to recognize the evolving sentiment among tech professionals as they navigate and strategize their own careers, even during a year when tech professionals feel they have lost some control of the job market. This year’s declining confidence in securing favorable roles, coupled with increased job-seeking activity, presents both challenges and opportunities for those sourcing for roles. By addressing the key drivers of dissatisfaction and understanding the profiles of those most likely to switch, HR professionals can better navigate the complexities of the current economic landscape, ensuring that their recruitment efforts are both strategic and responsive to the needs of today's tech workforce. Let’s look into the sentiments uncovered in our survey.
The Current Sentiment Among Tech Professionals
The perception of a negative job market is taking hold, and confidence among tech professionals in securing favorable new positions has dipped. In fact, only four in ten tech professionals express confidence in finding a new role that meets their expectations. This marks a significant decline from previous years and underscores the sense of uncertainty they may be feeling.
Despite the dip in confidence, our survey highlights a surprising paradox: while fewer tech professionals feel confident about finding a new role, an increasing number are still actively pursuing new job opportunities. In 2024, 39% of tech professionals are engaged in job searches, up seven percentage points from 32% in 2023. Additionally, the desire to switch employers has grown, with 67% considering a change this year, compared to 60% last year. This disconnect between confidence and action suggests a complex dynamic where professionals may be driven by dissatisfaction and a need for better prospects, even in the face of perceived economic challenges.
Tech professionals actively job seeking has increased 21% since last year.
67% of tech professionals are considering a role change this year.
What Tech Professionals Want in Their Next Role
In one aspect, tech professionals are clear about what they seek in their next role, with nearly all job seekers (94%) targeting full-time positions. Other primary motivations for considering a switch include higher compensation (65%), greater responsibility (42%), and improved benefits (36%). These factors highlight a workforce that is not only financially motivated but also seeking career growth and stability.
Dissatisfaction appears to be a strong driver for those looking to change employers. Tech professionals likely to switch are significantly more dissatisfied with their overall career, current job, and the management over them. They are 11 times more dissatisfied with their current job than those who are not considering a change. This dissatisfaction is also compounded by a higher rate of burnout, which is 3.3 times more common among those planning to switch employers. In fact, the leading cause of burnout cited by these professionals is a "toxic work environment," reported by 28% of those likely to switch— followed by unfair pay, which was mentioned by 21% of the tech professionals in this group.
Working in the tech industry is the clear preference of most tech professionals. Most tech professionals can find roles in industries outside of tech that still utilize their specialized tech skills; however, working within tech is the clear preference. In fact, nearly 7 in 10 tech professionals would most like to work for a tech company, and 21% prefer to work for Big Tech companies specifically. Open-ended responses told us that the preference for big tech companies is driven by a combination of career advancement opportunities, financial incentives, innovative work environments, and the prestige associated with leading industry players.
Interested in working at Big Tech
(such as Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet)
Age 55+ is least interested in working at a big tech company
Who is Most Likely to Switch Employers?
We looked in our survey data for indicators of who is most likely to seek an employer change in the next year:
Gender
Women in tech are more likely to consider a job change.
Age
Professionals aged 35-44 are the most common age demographic looking to switch.
Experience
Those with 11-20 years of experience in the tech field are particularly likely to be considering a move.
Company Size
Employees at smaller companies (fewer than 250 employees) are more likely to seek new opportunities.
Tenure
Tech professionals who have been in their current role for either 1-2 years or 10-19 years show a higher propensity to switch.
Work Arrangement
Those not allowed to work remotely and expected to be in the office five days a week are most likely to seek change.
Work-Life Balance
Those who noted a worse work-life balance compared to a year ago is a strong indicator of a desire to switch.
Career Concerns
Professionals worried about finding a new job that matches their skill set, or who are concerned about discrimination based on age, gender, or race, are more likely to be seeking new roles.
Lackluster DEI Efforts
Dissatisfaction with their company's diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts indicates a group of tech professionals more likely to seek a new role.
Job Security
Concerns about potential layoffs at their current company is an indicator of tech professionals interested in a new role.
Hear From An Industry Expert
Teresa Colquitt, Senior Tech Recruiter, Narwal Search
Accelerated Hiring Timelines and Increased Attrition
The hiring landscape is likely to see the impact of growing dissatisfaction and interest in new roles by tech professionals. In fact, some of these impacts are already being seen. Both tech and HR professionals report that hiring timelines have accelerated, with a three percentage point increase year-over-year. Notably, the timelines for hiring tech professionals are significantly faster compared to those for other employees, at 71% compared to 64% for employees outside of tech roles. This acceleration is likely a result of the larger pool of tech professionals actively seeking new opportunities and the increased attrition rates reported by 60% of HR professionals.
This trend emphasizes the urgency for HR professionals to adapt their recruitment strategies, balancing the need for quick hires with the imperative to address the underlying factors driving tech professionals to seek new roles. In particular, understanding the dissatisfaction and burnout experienced by these professionals can inform more effective retention strategies and improve overall job satisfaction within tech teams.
60% of HR professionals report an increased attrition rate in 2024.
The Bottom Line
Many tech professionals are dissatisfied with current positions and wish to leave, but are not optimistic about their ability to find a new role: Significantly more tech professionals indicated that they are likely to change roles this year compared to last year. Tech professionals considering a role change are most likely to cite higher compensation, greater responsibility, and benefits as the reasons for desiring to switch. They are drawn to big tech companies for career growth, compensation, and reputation/prestige. Nearly all job seekers (94%) are looking for a full-time role.
Significantly more tech professionals are actively searching for a job than last year: More tech professionals are likely to switch employers in the next year. Among those likely to switch, burnout is over three times higher, with “toxic work environment” selected as the most common reason why.
HR professionals report accelerated hiring timelines: This is possibly because there are more tech professionals actively searching in the job market. HR professionals also report a slightly higher attrition rate this year compared to last year.