Name: 為什麼軟件工程不再是夢寐以求的工作 (Why software engineering is no longer a dream job)
Uploaded: 2025-06-29T19:54:19.000Z
Duration: 13 min 25 s

Remember when working as a software engineer felt like striking gold?

還記得當軟件工程師的感覺嗎？

Free meals, extravagant off-sites, crazy stock rants, a $2,000 vacation stipend.

免費工作餐、奢華的辦公場所、瘋狂的股票侃侃而談、2000 美元的假期津貼。

程度副詞

This is just a small portion of the perks offered by some of the biggest tech companies.

這只是一些最大的科技公司提供的福利中的一小部分。

In a few short years, a software engineer went from being the rock stars of the job market to being seen as next on the chopping block, about to be replaced by artificial intelligence or cheaper overseas labor.

短短几年間，軟件工程師就從就業市場上的搖滾明星變成了砧板上的魚肉，即將被人工智能或更廉價的海外勞動力所取代。

Despite record profits, the layoffs continue to this day.

儘管利潤創下新高，但裁員仍持續至今。

Block based in Oakland, laying off 240 remote California employees.

總部位於奧克蘭的 Block 公司裁掉了 240 名加州遠程員工。

Meta will begin layoffs this week. 5% of its global workforce.

Meta 將於本週開始裁員。佔全球員工總數的 5%。

The tech giant has announced it will cut nearly 3% of its workforce.

這家科技巨頭宣佈將裁員近 3%。

How did this happen and where do we go from here?

這是怎麼發生的，我們該何去何從？

Whether it was the lavish perks or the useful optimism, tech companies just felt different from other soulless mega-national corporations.

無論是奢華的福利還是有用的樂觀主義，科技公司給人的感覺就是與其他沒有靈魂的大型跨國公司不同。

After the 2008 financial crisis basically turned bankers and finance guys into villains, tech took the place of where you could actually earn a great salary while making a positive impact.

2008 年的金融危機基本上把銀行家和金融家變成了惡棍，技術取代了你可以真正賺取高薪同時產生積極影響的地方。

Like many of you, I also watched the movie The Social Network and was inspired by the idea that a couple of dropouts who could code created a billion dollar startup without anyone's permission.

和你們中的許多人一樣，我也看過電影《社交網絡》，幾個會寫代碼的輟學生在未經任何人允許的情況下創建了價值十億美元的初創公司，這個想法給了我很大啟發。

Back then, it seemed like there was a never ending demand for engineers and everyone and their grandma was told to just learn to code.

那時，對工程師的需求似乎永無止境，每個人和他們的祖母都被告知學習代碼就可以了。

The education system decided to sell shovels during this gold rush and from 2015 to 2022, comp sci graduates doubled.

教育系統決定在這場淘金熱中出售鏟子，從 2015 年到 2022 年，理科畢業生人數翻了一番。

Coding boot camps started popping up in every major city and the number of coding boot camp grads went from 18k in 2016 to 60k in 2023.

編碼訓練營開始在各大城市湧現，編碼訓練營的畢業生人數從 2016 年的 1.8 萬人增加到 2023 年的 6 萬人。

For a really long time, we as software engineers enjoyed the power that we had in the job market.

在很長一段時間裡，我們軟件工程師在就業市場上享有特權。

An ex-meta employee captures what some of us started to feel at that time.

一位前美達員工捕捉到了我們中一些人當時的感受。

And maybe it's because of this pampering and talk of being a family that I started to subconsciously believe that I was more than just an employee.

也許正是因為這種呵護和家庭氛圍，我開始下意識地認為自己不僅僅是一名員工。

I thought that the fun, laid-back environment and wellness benefits meant that they cared about us as people and not just headcounts on a spreadsheet.

我認為，有趣、悠閒的環境和健康福利意味著他們關心我們這些人，而不僅僅是電子表格上的人數。

I really internalized the company's grandiose mission statements and the idea that I was part of something that would change the world.

我真正理解了公司宏偉的使命宣言，以及我是改變世界的一份子的想法。

我不僅僅是在開發一款資訊應用。

I was changing the way the world communicates.

When you see your other youthful co-workers as friends and you guys are part of this team working towards this amazing mission, you don't question working longer hours for lower pay.

當你把其他年輕的同事視為朋友，而你們又是這個團隊的一部分，共同完成這項了不起的任務時，你就不會質疑工作時間長而工資低的問題了。

And as I'll learn later, this becomes a recipe for exploitation.

正如我後來所瞭解到的，這就成了剝削的祕訣。

The 2021 post-pandemic period marked the start of the latest tech jobs bubble, and it wasn't like anything I've ever seen before.

大流行後的 2021 年標誌著最近一次科技就業保麗龍的開始，這是我從未見過的。

What I've noticed is that tech companies are some of the strongest examples of herd mentality.

我注意到，科技公司是從眾心理最強烈的例子。

When Google does something like hire a ton of people, other tech companies tend to follow suit, driving the demand further.

當谷歌招聘大量員工時，其他科技公司也會紛紛效仿，從而進一步拉動需求。

It's like this reinforcing cycle where behavior is contagious.

這就像一個強化循環，行為會傳染。

Tech executives will make decisions based on nothing more than the fact that Google's doing it.

科技高管們做出決策的依據，無非是谷歌正在這樣做。

And, you know, Google must know what they're doing, so we should do it too.

而且，你知道，谷歌肯定知道他們在做什麼，所以我們也應該這樣做。

And the hiring frenzy became so intense that Meta hired a bunch of people to do absolutely nothing because they wanted to hoard the talent for themselves.

招聘狂潮變得如此激烈，以至於 Meta 僱用了一大批人，但他們什麼也不做，因為他們想把人才囤積起來。

It's like when there's a ton of hype surrounding a certain product that you don't even necessarily want, but you buy anyways because you see everyone else doing it.

這就好比，當某件產品被大肆炒作時，你甚至不一定想要，但你還是買了，因為你看到其他人都在這麼做。

There wasn't a lot of rhyme or reason for these decisions, and it was only a matter of time before employees would have to pay for mistakes they didn't make.

這些決定沒有太多的理由和依據，員工遲早要為自己沒有犯下的錯誤付出代價。

I was teaching at a coding bootcamp during this time, and I personally witnessed nearly every student in the cohort land a job right before or right after graduating from a 12-week bootcamp.

在此期間，我在一個編碼訓練營任教，我親眼目睹了幾乎所有學生在 12 周的訓練營畢業前或畢業後都找到了工作。

Everyone was saying learn to code because at that time, it was genuinely good advice.

每個人都在說學習編程，因為在當時，這確實是個不錯的建議。

People were literally doubling their salaries after a three-month bootcamp, and you don't get that kind of ROI anywhere else.

經過三個月的訓練營後，人們的薪水翻了一番，而這種投資回報率在其他地方是無法實現的。

Myself and everyone I knew in my network were getting recruiter calls and emails on a daily basis, and everyone was leaving their current role for a massive salary bump.

我自己和我網絡中認識的每個人每天都會接到招聘人員的電話和電子郵件，每個人都在為大幅提高薪水而離開目前的職位。

But little did we know that this bubble was about to burst. 2023 was the worst year for Silicon Valley since the dot-com crash, with over 260,000 jobs disappearing seemingly overnight.

但我們不知道，這個保麗龍即將破滅。2023 年是硅谷自互聯網崩潰以來最糟糕的一年，超過 26 萬個工作崗位似乎在一夜之間消失了。

As pandemic-era restrictions started to lift and people rushed to go outside again, tech execs suddenly realized that they had massively overhired.

隨著大流行病時期的限制開始解除，人們又急於走出戶外，科技公司的高管們突然意識到，他們的員工人數已經嚴重超額。

Peloton's stock dropped faster than most people ditched their New Year's resolutions.

Peloton 股價下跌的速度比大多數人放棄新年計劃的速度還快。

Amazon hired at really elevated levels during the pandemic era, and they're still learning that they're having to unwind that level of hiring because the economy they find themselves in now has changed.

在大流行病時期，亞馬遜的招聘水準非常高，而現在他們仍在瞭解，由於現在所處的經濟環境已經發生了變化，他們不得不取消這種招聘水準。

Because of the high interest rates, companies and investors were no longer interested in putting money into moonshot ideas.

由於利率高企，公司和投資者不再有興趣把資金投入 "登月計劃"。

They wanted a return on investment, and they wanted it fast.

他們想要投資回報，而且要快。

In the division I worked for, we stopped working on experimental projects that cost money in the short term but had the potential to grow into something big in the future.

在我供職的部門，我們停止了那些短期內需要花錢，但未來有可能發展成大項目的實驗性項目。

We went back to maintaining the legacy systems, which was boring but at least it was a safe revenue generator.

我們又回到了維護傳統系統的工作中，雖然枯燥乏味，但至少可以安全地創收。

And because the cost of borrowing was so high, investors wanted a short-term, surefire return on their investment.

由於借貸成本太高，投資者希望獲得短期、可靠的投資回報。

And what's one of the fastest ways to do that?

They started in 2023, and as we all know, they're still happening today.

它們始於 2023 年，眾所周知，它們至今仍在發生。

Each layoff made it easier for the next company to do layoffs because, hey, everyone else was doing it.

每次裁員都讓下一家公司更容易裁員，因為其他人都在這麼做。

And like I mentioned before, there is that herd mentality that comes into play.

就像我之前提到的，從眾心理在起作用。

And while it sucks for the affected employees, Wall Street continues to reward them for doing this.

雖然這對受影響的員工來說很糟糕，但華爾街卻繼續獎勵他們這樣做。

In 2023, Meta's stock price shot up 194%, making them the fifth-largest tech company at the same time they laid off 21,000 people.

2023 年，Meta 的股價飆升了 194%，成為第五大科技公司，與此同時，他們還裁員 21000 人。

It's 2025, and the vibe has completely shifted.

現在是 2025 年，氛圍完全改變了。

Gone are the days of extravagant off-site retreats, free laundry, and flexible work-from-home arrangements.

奢侈的異地療養、免費洗衣和靈活的在家工作安排已經一去不復返了。

They're instead replaced by the threat of ongoing layoffs, return-to-work mandates, and mounting responsibilities.

取而代之的是持續的裁員威脅、重返工作崗位的任務以及不斷增加的責任。

Among the tech giants, Apple, Meta, TikTok, and Google have mandated a three-day return-to-work policy, and Amazon has even required their employees to return to the office full-time.

在科技巨頭中，蘋果、Meta、TikTok 和谷歌都規定了三天返崗政策，亞馬遜甚至要求員工全職返回辦公室。

Netflix and Google are even cutting back on free company swag, which kind of surprised me because I didn't even realize people wanted those things.

Netflix 和谷歌甚至減少了公司免費贈送的禮品，這讓我有點吃驚，因為我甚至沒有意識到人們想要這些東西。

But I guess if you're in Silicon Valley, you have got to fit in somehow.

但我想，如果你在硅谷，你總得融入其中。

Meta also cut 5% of its staff earlier this year, and publicly called it a performance-based layoff in a move that displayed a shocking lack of empathy.

Meta 也在今年早些時候裁員 5%，並公開稱這是基於績效的裁員，其缺乏同情心的做法令人震驚。

Not to mention, a lot of the people that they let go apparently received glowing performance reviews.

更不用說，他們解僱的很多人顯然都得到了很好的業績評價。

Meta not only took away people's jobs, but also destroyed their ability to find another one just so they could put the blame on someone else.

梅塔不僅奪走了人們的工作，還破壞了他們再找工作的能力，這樣他們就可以把責任推到別人身上。

Google, who understandably is feeling the heat of the competition from generative AI, is also putting pressure on their employees to get back into the office.

可以理解的是，谷歌感受到了來自生成式人工智能的競爭壓力，也在向員工施壓，要求他們重返辦公室。

Sergey Brin, its founder, even mentioned that a 60-hour week is the sweet spot for productivity in an internal memo.

公司創始人謝爾蓋-布林（Sergey Brin）甚至在一份內部備忘錄中提到，每週工作 60 小時是生產力的甜蜜點。

On top of all of this, AI is also being shoved down our throats from executives who assume they know how to do your job better than you do.

除此之外，高管們還把人工智能塞進我們的喉嚨，他們認為自己比你更瞭解如何做好你的工作。

Shopify's CEO, for example, recently released an internal memo saying that employees are now required to use AI as part of their jobs, and their AI use will even be a factor in their performance reviews.

例如，Shopify 的首席執行官最近發佈了一份內部備忘錄，稱現在要求員工將使用人工智能作為其工作的一部分，他們使用人工智能的情況甚至將成為績效考核的一個因素。

AI tools are incredible, and I've advocated for their use in countless times in prior videos.

人工智能工具令人難以置信，我在以前的視頻中無數次倡導使用它們。

But I think that making this a job requirement, to me, feels like overreach.

但我認為，把這作為一項工作要求，對我來說，感覺有點過分了。

It signals that you don't trust your employees to use their own judgment and discern when it's appropriate to use AI and when it's not.

這表明你不相信員工能夠運用自己的判斷力，分辨出什麼時候適合使用人工智能，什麼時候不適合。

A blanket requirement like this is very big brother to me, but I'm curious what you guys think, so let me know in the comments down below.

在我看來，這樣的一攬子要求非常 "大哥大"，但我很好奇你們的想法，請在下面的評論中告訴我。

If you're being asked to learn AI skills for your current role, or you're a beginner who's just curious about what neural networks are, you should take a look at Brilliant.

如果你目前的職位要求你學習人工智能技能，或者你只是一個對神經網絡感到好奇的初學者，那麼你應該看看 Brilliant。

I've personally gone through their course on how LLMs work and Introduction to Neural Networks when I wanted to learn AI fundamentals.

當我想學習人工智能基礎知識時，我曾親自參加過他們的 "法律碩士如何工作 "和 "神經網絡入門 "課程。

At first, I was intimidated by these seemingly complex topics, but Brilliant made them easy to understand and approachable even for beginners.

起初，我被這些看似複雜的話題嚇到了，但 Brilliant 讓它們變得通俗易懂，即使是初學者也能輕鬆上手。

And if you're not looking to learn AI right now, no problem.

如果你現在不想學習人工智能，也沒問題。

They have a comprehensive catalog of courses that will help you build a solid foundation in math and programming, from computer science fundamentals to introduction to probability.

他們擁有全面的課程目錄，從計算機科學基礎到概率論入門，將幫助您打下堅實的數學和編程基礎。

Brilliant offers interactive, bite-sized lessons that you can squeeze in during your commute or while you're on your lunch break.

Brilliant 提供互動式、一口式課程，您可以在上下班途中或午休時擠出時間學習。

Best of all, you're not just passively watching videos, but you're actively solving problems and building real understanding.

最重要的是，你不是在被動地觀看視頻，而是在積極地解決問題，建立真正的理解。

To try everything Brilliant has to offer for free for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org slash katherinelee or scan the QR code on screen, or you can click on the link in the description.

要在 30 天內免費試用《輝煌》提供的所有內容，請訪問 brilliant.org slash katherinelee 或掃描螢幕上的二維碼，也可以點擊說明中的鏈接。

You'll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription.

您還可以享受年度高級訂閱 8 折優惠。

Thank you so much, Brilliant, for sponsoring this video.

非常感謝 Brilliant 贊助本視頻。

Only a few short years ago, tech companies were one of the first ones to launch these flashy diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

就在短短几年前，科技公司還是首批推出這些華而不實的多元化、公平和包容性舉措的公司之一。

These companies proudly announced donations to fight racism and wrote lengthy newsletters on how they're going to address injustice, taking advantage of the positive PR that they were generating.

這些公司自豪地宣佈捐款打擊種族主義，並撰寫了長篇通訊，介紹他們將如何解決不公正問題，利用他們所產生的正面公關效應。

But recently, companies including Walmart, Meta, and Google have all quietly rolled back these programs, caving in to the fear of the current administration.

但最近，包括沃爾瑪、Meta 和谷歌在內的公司都悄悄撤回了這些計劃，向現任政府的恐懼妥協。

Whether or not these DEI programs were effective or necessary are beyond the scope of this video, but for me, at least, it's sobering to so clearly see that these programs were driven by profit and nothing else.

至於這些 DEI 計劃是否有效或有必要，這不在本視頻的討論範圍之內，但至少對我來說，清楚地看到這些計劃是受利益驅動而非其他原因，是令人清醒的。

Companies not only didn't really care in the first place, but they actively chose to financially and reputationally benefit from virtue signaling during these tragedies and injustices.

在這些悲劇和不公正事件中，公司不僅一開始並不真正關心，而且還主動選擇從美德信號中獲得經濟和聲譽上的好處。

So what is the future for software engineers?

那麼，軟件工程師的未來會怎樣？

Is it still a dream job with a certain aura, or has it lost its prestige and is now just another white-collar job?

它是否仍然是一份具有某種光環的夢想工作，還是已經失去了它的聲望，現在只是另一份白領工作？

I think a lot of us, myself included, have nostalgia for the glory days of 2021.

我認為，包括我在內的很多人都懷念 2021 年的光輝歲月。

Tech industry seeing huge success despite the pandemic.

儘管大流行病肆虐，但科技產業仍取得了巨大成功。

So the tech field, also known as STEM, is booming right now, and it might be just what you're looking to pivot into.

是以，科技領域（也被稱為 STEM）目前正在蓬勃發展，而這可能正是你想進入的領域。

There's a hiring pandemic that is the opposite of what we just lived through in 2020.

與我們剛剛經歷的 2020 年恰恰相反，招聘大流行。

There is a lot of power that comes from knowing if your boss screws you over, you can just walk down the street and get a new gig that pays more than what you're currently making.

如果你的老闆把你耍得團團轉，你只需走到街上，就能找到一份新的工作，而且薪水比你現在的薪水還高，這就是一種力量。

Now we're all getting whiplash from this shift in power.

現在，我們都被這種權力的轉移弄得頭昏眼花。

But you gotta remember that layoffs, deadlines, and working in the office aren't exactly unique to software engineers.

但你要記住，裁員、最後期限和在辦公室工作並不是軟件工程師所獨有的。

In fact, they're the norm at every other job, and on top of that, we're generally paid more as well.

事實上，這是其他所有工作的常態，除此之外，我們的薪酬通常也更高。

I've worked in the service industry where your bathroom breaks were timed to the minute, and you couldn't take any time off during the holidays.

我曾在服務行業工作過，上廁所的時間要精確到分鐘，節假日也不能請假。

And to be honest, the downsides of working in tech doesn't really compare.

老實說，在科技領域工作的弊端還真沒得比。