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submitted 10 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

After ChatGPT disruption, Stack Overflow lays off 28 percent of staff::The popular developer forum is still hunting for a "path to profitability."

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[-] bassomitron@lemmy.world 33 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It's a result of the cheap (and during the pandemic, literally "free") borrowing hayday of the last few years being over (they ended around 2022, when the Fed started jacking up interest rates and banks had to also increase rates in order to cover their loaned to liquidity ratios as required by law). As such, investors and businesses can't just borrow a shitload of money cheaply, so what they choose to invest in is much more conservative and/or the ROI tantalizing.

Also, in my opinion, the frenzy to dump millions into tech is mostly kind of over. The big dogs have gobbled up all the promising start-ups and potential disruptors and then some. AI is the "new" hotness, but all the companies that really have immediately viable products/services are already heavily invested in. There isn't really anything that's poised to come in and become the next OpenAI that's not already owned by the bigger companies.

Lastly, due to the first thing I mentioned, many folks believe we're A) already in a recession or B) about to enter one in earnest. In either scenarios, investors tend to pull their funds into safer pots while they ride out bumpy economic waters.

[-] sirboozebum@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Unemployment is low, wages are finally outstripping inflation, inflation is falling and there is huge investment in factories and infrastructure.

It doesn't appear that a recession is on it's way but rather the free money that was flowing into the IT sector is causing all these companies to become profitable fast.

Thus the lay-offs.

[-] bassomitron@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

It's not always as simple as that, though.

https://fortune.com/2023/10/01/recession-still-likely-and-coming-soon-6-reasons-why/

And one that agrees with you:

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/with-gallic-shrug-fed-bids-adieu-recession-that-wasnt-2023-08-16/

The truth of the matter? No one really knows. Large economies are very difficult to forecast reliably and consistently. I hope you're right and it's all continual growth for the next couple of years, at the very least. But, like the first article I linked mentions, fed hikes can have a 18-24 month lag time to see real world impacts on various industries and we're soon approaching the first of that timeframe.

this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023
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