I am a system analyst, just wondering are we safe.
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Yes, there are layoffs in IT and system analysts — and let's be honest about how they actually work.
Performance metrics exist on paper, but they are not constant. They vary by manager and by department, which means "performance" at Q is partly a function of which org chart you happen to sit under. HR has a team of good data analysts and AI tools to identify "low performers", and it recommends layoffs off that list. Management, in turn, knows how to play the game: keep HR happy, follow the list, let people go — and quietly bring some of them back later, maybe for another task, maybe as consultants. So to survive the list, what actually matters is being liked by your manager and your manager's boss. The data is the justification; the relationship is the decision.
And the industry context makes this worse, not better.the cuts are concentrated in mid-career generalist roles, while AI-specialist roles are largely spared.
Now, specifically about IT: it is the most disorganized and sprawling department in Q. Job titles and hour expectations are not aligned across teams. What counts as "fast" in one department would be considered slow in another. It's as if management wants to deliver a baby in 5 months and celebrate the delivery — without being mindful of the risks of prematurity, or the cost of all the iterations that follow.
I can tell you plainly: a systems analyst in IT often knows more than some of the AI and data engineers here. Yet the systems analyst is more likely to be laid off — because of the title, and how the organization imagines future demand. This is despite the obvious economics: in California, AI/data engineers cost roughly 40–50% more. The company pays a premium for the title, may cuts the cheaper person who may be doing equivalent work.
So stay composed. Be ready to accept what comes your way and navigate from there. IT has not truly transformed in years. And if you ever feel burdened, talk to the data team — especially a systems analyst on it. I feel no difference between my skill set and theirs: the smartness in crunching, structuring, and mapping data, and in creating workflows, is the same. The honest difference is that they are unfairly compensated for it, purely because of their job title, when I compare their contribution against mine.
Not all systems analyst roles carry the same expectations or the same demand. If the CIO still hasn't understood that, you can imagine what happens downstream: how data gets presented, how it gets processed, how it gets justified — and where it can all go wrong. A layoff process is only as good as the data underneath it, and this is where it breaks.
So don't stress. No matter how hard you have worked at Q, the uncomfortable truth is that Q does not have good enough data to reliably know whether you are a good performer or a bad one. Stay chill, accept that it's close to a 50% probability of landing on either side of the decision, stay motivated in your life — and keep working on your financials.
IT is always hit during layoffs. Systems Analyst should be fine. They are going for top earners: anyone who has been there 10+ years, is over 40, and females go first.
Qualcomm routinely sheds its best and brightest because they are too expensive. No wonder a new product was sent for benchmarking without knowing exactly how it would perform. Now the industry is looking at Qualcomm with new eyes. Samsung has a faster and better performing SoC. The company that gave the world 5G got handed its behind by Samsung!
@aj Yep. Security isn't hard if you follow industry best practices, but companies are still incompetent at it, even with AI. Therefore they are overspending on security staff and software.
Because of security vulnerabilities of late, IT and security jobs are more safe as executives fear security the most and see it as a critical risk. Thus, I’d think relatively you are in a better place.
You are useless as AI can do a much better job than you. Once you get laid off from Qualcomm, you will not find a job anywhere else so maybe brush up your resume for a job at your local mcdonalds or ststbucks!