CTO Coach: Why Tech Companies are Really Laying Off Developers (It’s Not Just AI)

Podcast: Tech Lead Journal · Henry Suryawirawan

Opublikowano: 2026-01-12

Why are tech companies really laying off developers? The uncomfortable truth has nothing to do with AI efficiency and everything to do with running out of ideas. In this episode, Stephan Schmidt, CTO coach and author of “The Amazing CTO’s Missing Manual,” shares a perspective on AI adoption that most tech leaders aren’t talking about. Developer layoffs aren’t about AI replacing jobs; they reveal a deeper problem. Product management has become a bottleneck, creating shallow features just to keep developers busy rather than driving meaningful innovation. When AI accelerates development, this bottleneck becomes impossible to ignore...