Athira Sethu
Kochi, 14 October 2025
In 2025, the world’s technology sector experienced a difficult year, with more than 80,000 layoffs across 176 firms, including big brands such as Microsoft, Intel, and Tata Consultancy Services. While layoffs are considerable, the emergence of new technologies such as AI is opening up new career paths. AI is transforming business models and job profiles, and consequently, many employees who lost jobs transitioned to revive their careers in new areas.
India’s technology industry, especially, is expanding rapidly. The GCCs of India are proliferating and already employ 2.16 million individuals. This figure will increase to 2.8 million by 2030, with several Fortune 500 firms already having GCCs in India. With automation assuming routine tasks, the need for technology professionals with specialized skills, particularly in AI and other emerging technologies, continues to increase.
Instahyre Tech PayCheck Report 2025 identifies the most sought-after skills. In front-end development, HTML and CSS are still favorites, with 24% of professionals working on them, and React.js is found to have a smaller following with 7%. In back-end development, Java, C, and C++ are mostly required, with 27% of workers working on them. DevOps skills for monitoring and deployment are also required, with 23% of professionals working on both.
In databases and data science, 59% of employees are interested in testing databases and 25% are concentrating on Python for data science. Big data and mobile development are also expanding, with the most popular one being Android development (52%) and hybrid app development less frequent (9%).
Cybersecurity is also a high-demand field, yet cloud security is under-explored, with workers specializing in it at only 14%. To be competitive in the contemporary job market, experts can specialize in high-demand fields such as cloud security, React.js, or higher-level AI.
AI-powered job sites are also transforming the way individuals get hired. These sites not only make matches between resumes and jobs but examine skills and recommend emerging fields in which workers can upskill or reskill to improve their prospects of getting employed. Take a case of a network security tester who gets laid off; he can be directed to cloud security, a field that is on the rise and pays more.
For the professionals who have been laid off from technology-related jobs, these three steps are important:
- Analyze your position: Examine what skills are still in demand and where gaps exist.
- Target in-demand skills: Acquire skills such as cloud security or advanced AI that are less competitive.
- Utilize AI-driven job platforms: These platforms can provide career advice, salary estimates, and recommend new career directions, making job searching more informed and streamlined.
In summary, though cutting jobs in tech is tricky, it also presents an opportunity for workers to retrain and pivot into new, high-value sectors defined by emerging technologies such as AI.
