Over 126,000 Tech Jobs Gone in 2025 — Here’s Exactly Which Skills Are Now Untouchable

Backed by layoffs.fyi data: The 7 roles exploding while others vanish

Over 126,000 tech jobs didn’t quietly “transition” in 2025. They were cut. Hard.
Whole teams erased between calendar invites. Senior engineers refreshing LinkedIn like it’s a slot machine. Recruiters ghosting people they begged to hire two years ago.

And no — this isn’t another “AI changed everything” think-piece written from a distance.

This is about something uglier and more useful.

Because while tens of thousands were laid off, a smaller group barely felt it. Some got raises. Some got counteroffers within days. Some were never even at risk.

Same companies. Same economy. Wildly different outcomes.

The difference wasn’t talent.
It wasn’t effort.
It wasn’t even experience.

It was skill positioning.

The layoffs weren’t random. They were precise.

If you zoom out and look at the data from layoffs.fyi and Crunchbase, a pattern jumps out once you stop reading headlines and start…