Barclays and Jaguar want to pick up Meta and Twitter offshoots to strengthen tech departments
If you’re a Twitter software developer and you’re looking to change jobs, it might be time to move into a completely different industry.
From banks to auto companies, other sectors outside of Silicon Valley have finally realized that digitization is revolutionizing every aspect of their business.
Investment bank Barclays, for example, is hoping for talented Twitter employees, according to its chief operating officer.
In a LinkedIn post this week, he wrote that his firm is looking to fill 3,000 open tech positions ranging from engineering and architecture to cyber and innovation.
“We are looking for technologists who are passionate about leaving things better than they found them and excited by the prospect of reinventing financial services for millions of people around the world,” wrote Mark Ashton-Rigby . “If you are turning the page and reading this, take it as a sign that something very exciting could be just around the corner… apply today.”
There’s no better time than now as the tech industry is cleaning up after years of plenty. For example, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is laying off about 11,000 people, while Jeff Bezos’ Amazon is getting rid of 10,000.
The edge In the meantime, more than 1,000 of the 3,000 employees have reported on Twitter reportedly resigned rather than accepting Elon Musk’s offer to work on “Twitter 2.0,” which could one day become something of a WeChat rival if the serial entrepreneur succeeds.
If true, only about 2,000 employees would remain at the company – a number of whom are reportedly foreigners who need work visas to stay in the country. At the beginning of the month, 7,500 people were still on Twitter.
Distance to Tesla
One of those who says they have resigned is Peter Clowes, a senior software engineer at the company.
After enduring that month’s mass layoffs, he decided to leave after only three members of his 75-strong team remained. He wrote the idea of putting out fires all day just to keep critical services running offered little point or meaning in exchange for the grueling hours that lie ahead.
“I didn’t know what I was staying for anymore,” he wrote in a lengthy thread explaining his reasons. “Would you give up time with your kids over the holiday season for vague reassurances and the chance to make a rich person richer, or would you forgo it?”
One group desperate for software developers are automakers, who are struggling to attract IT staff capable of bridging the skills gap with Musk’s Tesla.
In 2019, Volkswagen announced plans to create its own internal IT unit called Cariad just to create a more agile and advanced work environment free from stifling corporate bureaucracy.
“Every company is a software company,” said Tom George, IT manager at VW Group, at the time. “Some just haven’t realized it yet.”
This is precisely why Jaguar Land Rover is hoping that the likes of ex-Twitter developer Clowes can be lured to the Tata Motors subsidiary and bolster their software expertise, which is so crucial to delivering the modern experience that luxury car buyers demand today expected.
On Friday, it announced a new global effort to fill over 800 new jobs with those fired from Twitter, Meta and many others.
“Following news of large-scale job losses at tech companies, Jaguar Land Rover is launching a new job portal for laid-off tech workers to explore career opportunities,” it wrote.
Meanwhile, Musk accepted the deviations, even if they meant a vote against his vision of a better future for Twitter. “The best people stay, so I’m not too worried,” he said noted on Thursday.
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