The Twin Pressures: Silent Layoffs and AI
The job market in India's technology sector is undergoing a profound transformation. Unlike previous downturns marked by large, public announcements, 2026 is defined by "silent layoffs" or "quiet cutting". Companies are reducing their workforce not through
mass firings, but by eliminating roles, restructuring teams, and not replacing employees who leave. This is often done through performance reviews or by identifying skill gaps, making the process feel individual rather than part of a broad company action. Staffing firms estimate that tens of thousands of roles could be eliminated this year using these quieter methods. Compounding this is the intense pressure from artificial intelligence. The focus is no longer just on weak business demand; it's about fundamental changes driven by AI and automation. While this is leading to a surge in hiring for specialised AI roles, it is also reducing the need for larger teams to handle routine tasks in coding, testing, and support. Employees are now expected to leverage AI tools to boost their own productivity, creating a new benchmark for performance.
Your Best Defence: Make Your Work Visible
In an environment where your role could become redundant or your skills automated, relying on your current job title is a risky strategy. The most effective countermeasure is to build a public body of work. This means shifting from being a private employee to a public professional. It’s about creating tangible, visible proof of your skills that exists outside your company’s firewalls. This could be contributing to an open-source project, building a small application to solve a personal problem, or writing detailed articles about a technical challenge you overcame. The goal is to create a portfolio that demonstrates not just what you know, but how you think, solve problems, and execute. In a market where recruiters are overwhelmed with similar-looking resumes, a link to a live project or a well-documented GitHub repository becomes a powerful differentiator.
The Career-Proofing Power of a Public Portfolio
A public project is more than just a line on a CV; it is a living demonstration of your capabilities. Firstly, it validates your skills in the most direct way possible. Claiming proficiency in a programming language is one thing; showing a clean, functional, and well-documented project built with it is another entirely. Secondly, it showcases initiative and a passion for technology that goes beyond a 9-to-5 job—a quality highly valued by employers. Thirdly, it provides concrete talking points for interviews. Instead of answering hypothetical questions, you can walk a hiring manager through a real project, explaining the challenges you faced and the solutions you implemented. This is especially crucial as hiring becomes more selective, focusing on specialised and senior talent. Contributing to open-source software, for example, is increasingly seen as a direct indicator of skill, with some IT leaders more likely to select vendors—and by extension, hire talent—who contribute to the community.
How to Start Building in Public
Getting started doesn't require a monumental effort. The key is to begin small and remain consistent. A great first step is to create a professional GitHub profile and ensure it is linked on your resume and professional networking sites. Identify a small, achievable project. It could be a simple script that automates a tedious task, a basic mobile app, or a personal website. The scope is less important than the act of building and documenting it. As you build, document your journey. Write a README file that explains what the project does and how to run it. You can also write short blog posts or social media threads about your progress, the problems you're solving, and what you're learning. For those looking to collaborate, many established open-source projects have lists of beginner-friendly bugs or features that need attention. Contributing even a small fix can be an excellent way to learn a new codebase and demonstrate your ability to work within a team.
