Predicted Demise of Engineering Jobs Due to AI: New Data Reveals Surprising Resilience
The potential impact of AI on job displacement is a hot topic of discussion.
In May, tech companies experienced their highest number of layoffs in recent years, with AI being frequently cited as a primary factor, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement firm.
Software engineering is often perceived as the sector most at risk from automation, particularly with the swift rise of AI-driven coding tools. However, insights from venture capital firm SignalFire suggest a different scenario regarding job security in this field.
Asher Bantock, the head of research at SignalFire, noted, “Many layoffs are attributed to AI, specifically in coding roles; they suggest that one engineer could accomplish what several engineers used to handle.” Yet, Bantock claims that real-world hiring patterns tell a different tale.
SignalFire’s analysis, which looks at the careers of millions across over 80 million companies, indicates that engineering emerged as one of the most stable job functions in 2025. Rather than relying on the harder-to-track layoffs, the firm chose to study hiring data as a more immediate reflection of workforce trends.
Despite hiring at major tech firms declining by 25% from 2019, the number of engineering positions dipped only 11%, according to SignalFire’s recent “State of Talent Report.”
Interestingly, engineers accounted for 55% of all new hires in 2025 among the 12 companies recognized as “Tech Majors”—which include Alphabet, Meta, Apple, Amazon, and others. This marks a notable increase from 46% in 2019, according to the report.
The persistent demand for engineers is even clearer in early-stage startups, which collectively increased their hiring of engineers by 7% between 2019 and 2025, as reported by SignalFire.
If AI were genuinely replacing engineers, Bantock argued, we would see a significant decline in engineering job recruitment during this period of tech hiring slowdowns. Yet, data from SignalFire reveals that engineering staffing is expanding faster than many other technological roles.
Last year, Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei warned that AI could potentially eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar positions and lead to unemployment rates as high as 20% in five years. Nonetheless, Anthropic’s head of economics, Peter McCrory, noted that he has yet to observe marked AI-related changes in the job market.
McCrory stated, “There’s no significant difference in unemployment rates” between those who use AI tools like Claude for core job functions—such as technical writing or data entry—and those in roles less impacted by AI, which involve more physical interactions.
Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang took a strong stance against the notion that AI will replace engineering jobs. He stated in an April interview at Stanford, “Somebody once claimed that AI will annihilate all software engineering positions,” but he presented a contrary view. With all Nvidia engineers utilizing AI tools, he claimed, “software engineers are busier than ever.”
Huang also highlighted that while AI can rapidly generate code, it encourages engineers to generate “the next big idea.”
At this moment, AI seems to enhance, rather than replace, engineering roles, exemplifying the Jevons paradox—greater efficiency tends to raise demand instead of reducing it, as more work fills the available capacity. Bantock remarked on engineering talent, saying, “They’ve become significantly more productive, and there’s no shortage of work to be done.”
