Meta Just Froze These IT Jobs — And They Might Never Come Back
In a bold move that has sent ripples through the tech industry, Meta (f.ka. Facebook) has initiated a hiring freeze targeting mid-level IT positions. This strategic decision underscores a determining shift in the technology space, where advancements in artificial intelligence and automation are redefining the roles of IT professionals. But what does this mean for the future of IT jobs? And could it signal a renaissance for tradespeople whose skills, at present, remain beyond the reach of machines?
The Rise of AI and the Decline of Mid-Level IT Roles
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has been vocal about the company's direction towards integrating AI into its operations. He envisions a future where AI systems function as software engineers, capable of writing code and performing tasks traditionally handled by employees of the Homo sapien kind. Zuckerberg stated that by 2025, Meta aims to have AI that can effectively act as a mid-level engineer within the company.
This vision is not unique to Meta. Other tech giants are also exploring and implementing the potential of AI to enhance productivity. Salesforce, for instance, reported a 30% productivity boost in its engineering teams due to AI tools, leading to a halt in hiring software engineers. Developments such as this suggest a broader industry trend where AI is not just an assistant but a replacement for certain human roles.
Implications for the Future of IT Jobs
The integration of AI into software development raises critical questions about the future of IT employment. While AI can handle routine coding tasks with incredible speed and accuracy, the creative and strategic aspects of programming still require human oversight …at least for now.
Microsoft's CTO, Kevin Scott, predicts that within the next five years, 95% of code will be generated by AI, yet he emphasises that human software engineers remain indispensable for overseeing and guiding these systems. This is where the IT job market begins to split.
Junior IT roles are evolving into what’s increasingly being referred to as “prompt engineers” - individuals trained to interact with AI systems by crafting effective, targeted prompts. These professionals are less about writing code from scratch and more about knowing how to tell the machines what to do. Their strength lies in understanding the logic of programming, combined with the nuance of machine communication and task design.
At the other end of the spectrum are senior IT professionals, who are being elevated into roles that resemble AI supervisors or frontier-level engineers. They’re no longer debugging someone else’s API call, they’re working on next-gen technologies: autonomous vehicles, spatial computing, space exploration, and the bleeding edge of what machines can’t do without human intuition and strategy.
The middle, however, is fading away. Mid-level engineers, once seen as the backbone of development teams, are being squeezed out. Not because they lack skill, but because the skills they offer are increasingly replicable by machines. The kind of code they write, the tests they run, the maintenance they do… AI can now do it faster, cheaper, and in some cases, better.
The Resilience of Tradespeople in the Age of Automation
During the meteoric rise of the IT industry, tradespeople were often overlooked or undervalued. Society became enamoured with tech jobs: high-paying, flexible, and seemingly future-proof. A generation was steered towards coding bootcamps and computer science degrees, and away from apprenticeships and toolsheds.
But as AI continues to replace many white-collar, desk-bound roles, manual labour is having a moment. Skilled trades require a level of spatial awareness, dexterity, and improvisational problem-solving that machines still can’t touch.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are over 8 million job openings in the trades, with many offering decent salaries but also, long-term stability. You can’t automate a leaky pipe repair. You can’t download a house extension. For now and for the foreseeable future, manual labour is simply beyond the reach of code.
In a strange twist, the trades that were once dismissed as “non-technical” are now looking like some of the most future-proof careers on the planet.
Preparing for an Automated Future
The evolving job landscape necessitates a proactive approach from both individuals and educational institutions. For IT professionals, survival may hinge on upskilling in areas that AI cannot easily replicate: strategy, system architecture, human-AI interaction, ethics, and creative problem-solving.
Junior IT professionals will need to lean into communication, context awareness, and speed. - Understanding what AI can do, and how to make it do it well. These are the new “entry-level” skills: not loops and functions, but interface with intelligence.
Senior professionals, meanwhile, will need to lead the charge into the unexplored territories. Designing systems no AI has yet imagined, solving problems machines still can’t conceptualise, and navigating the ethical and infrastructural implications of a world increasingly run by algorithms.
For those outside the IT industry, especially young people considering their futures, the message is becoming clearer: trades are not a fallback. They are the forward of job security. As automation eats the middle out of the tech world, the hands-on work of trades is becoming the rarest kind of labour. Irreplaceable.
Meta's hiring freeze on mid-level IT positions serves as a harbinger of the transformative impact AI is poised to have on the job market. While automation may displace certain roles, it also highlights the enduring value of skills that machines cannot emulate.
This serves as a signal that the IT ladder is being redefined. No longer a steady climb from junior to mid to senior, it’s now a leap from novice to overseer, skipping the middle entirely for many companies.
As we navigate this shift, adaptability and a willingness to embrace new opportunities will be crucial for professionals across all sectors. The future of work is not solely in the hands of machines; it belongs to those who can work alongside them, leveraging their capabilities while bringing uniquely human skills to the forefront.
