“Tech Connects,” Dice’s podcast, digs into tech hiring, recruiting, and career topics that matter to you. It's available on Spotify, Acast, and (soon) other platforms!  

The first episode of the Tech Connects podcast is here! Every month, we’ll have great guests who will share their expertise about the current state of the tech careers world, from the hottest tech skills to the state of the tech hiring market to what companies are doing to retain and attract top talent. 

Our first Tech Connects guest is Art Zeile, the CEO of DHI Group, Inc. (the parent company of Dice) and an expert when it comes to the tech careers landscape. Art is a technologist himself, which is one of the reasons why he’s so passionate about both advocating for technologists, and about helping organizations build the right environments and hire the tech professionals who will power their growth.  

After leaving the Air Force at the rank of captain, Art founded tech companies, scaled tech companies, ran tech companies—basically, if it involves tech and a company, he’s done it. Which puts him in the best possible position, frankly, to talk about the state of the tech industry at the moment. We hope you’ll give it a listen, as there is some great information here. I especially like Art’s key takeaways at the very end of the discussion. 

As you’ll hear during this podcast, the tech unemployment rate is notably low, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The “Great Resignation” has spiked demand for tech skills and compelled millions of technologists to go out—and often find—better offers for their skills. At the same time, though, some organizations, economists and technologists are beginning to get nervous about what’s going on in the industry.  

What are they nervous about? Some prominent companies (including Coinbase, Meta, Twitter, Google, Apple, and Snap) have all reported either hiring slowdowns or outright hiring freezes in recent months. More than 30,000 tech employees have lost their jobs as of July [let’s source this], with many of these layoffs coming from tech-focused organizations. If you’re running a startup, you’re probably worried about whether you can secure funding going forward, or if there will be a market for your products. In a potential worst-case scenario, are we headed for something catastrophic, like a repeat of the Dot-Com crash of 2000? 

As Art will discuss, almost regardless of what’s happening in the economy, organizations everywhere still need technologists for a variety of important tasks, from building websites to analyzing data to ensuring that a mobile app stays running. Those companies will need to keep hiring technologists, no matter what might be happening in certain sectors of the economy. So, take all of the doomsday articles with a grain of salt, as there seems to be an equal number of positive signals for the overall tech careers market. 

Thank you for tuning into Tech Connects; we’ll be back with new podcast episodes each month. And as always, if you have suggestions for what we cover on the show or you’d like to be a future guest, send us a note.