AI was supposed to kill engineering jobs, but new data suggests they’re the most resilient
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New data from venture firm SignalFire challenges the narrative that AI is eliminating engineering jobs. While total hiring at large tech companies dropped 25% compared to 2019 levels, engineering roles declined only 11%. Engineers now make up 55% of new hires at major tech companies in 2025, up from 46% in 2019, and early-stage startups hired 7% more engineers in 2025 than in 2019. SignalFire's head of research argues this is inconsistent with the AI-replacement narrative. Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Anthropic's own head of economics both echo the finding — AI appears to be making engineers more productive and expanding the scope of work rather than substituting for engineering talent, a dynamic consistent with the Jevons paradox.
