**Teresa Lim**, one of Australia's most recognizable voices with 23 years in radio and TV ads, fears being replaced by AI. Companies can now create an AI-generated dupe of her voice from just a 15-second clip, highlighting the **terrifying lack of legislation** to protect voice actors and the public.

### Tech Layoffs and AI Blame
More than **1,000 Australian tech jobs** have been cut recently, with companies like Atlassian, Block, and Wisetech citing AI productivity gains. Atlassian announced 500 job cuts in Australia as part of a global reduction of 1,600, while Block cut 4,000 workers worldwide, including 700 Australians, and Wisetech let go of 2,000 employees.

Atlassian CEO **Mike Cannon-Brookes** stated, "It would be disingenuous to pretend AI doesn’t change the mix of skills we need or the number of roles required in certain areas." WiseTech's CEO, Zubin Appoo, made it explicit: "the era of manually writing code as a core act of engineering is over."

### Is AI Just an Excuse?
Some analysts argue that **AI is being used as cover** for other financial pressures. Neal Woolrich from Gartner says, "I think there’s a lot of use of AI as cover for other things that are going on in the organisation." Economic modeling suggests only **1% of job cuts** result from AI productivity gains, with companies often facing market fears and investor pressure.

For example, Block's share price dropped 35% since October, and Wisetech's halved over six months, both rebounding after layoffs. Lochlan Halloway from Morningstar notes, "Companies are very keen to talk up the benefits of AI because it is the buzzword … but it’s not a lot of concrete evidence yet."

### AI Adoption and Workforce Anxiety
Despite the hype, AI adoption is widespread. Almost **one in three Australian businesses** use AI for advanced tasks like predicting demand, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia. Similarly, nearly one in three Australians fear their job will disappear due to AI, per Randstad research.

In the U.S., sectors like finance and computing are hiring fewer entry-level workers, a trend mirrored in Australia. Taylor Nugent from NAB notes that demand for technical and professional jobs has weakened, though AI's role isn't clear yet.

### Impact on Graduates and Entry-Level Roles
Undergraduates continue enrolling in fields like finance and computer science, but job prospects are tightening. Camilla Clarke from Give a Grad a Go says smaller firms are using AI for tasks previously done by interns, reducing junior hires. Alisdair Barr from Striver adds that finance graduates are shifting to human-facing roles like financial advice to avoid AI disruption.

### The Future of Work
While AI may not be ready to replace all jobs, its integration is changing skill demands. Businesses still need humans, but the focus is shifting towards roles that involve human interaction and oversight. As AI technology evolves, ongoing legislation and workforce adaptation will be crucial to navigate these changes.

More than 1,000 Australian tech jobs have recently been cut, with companies citing AI productivity gains. But that’s not the full story, experts say

AI Job Cuts in Australia: Are Tech Layoffs Just Corporate Restructuring in Disguise?

## The AI Disruption: A New Grad's Reality Check

A few Fridays ago, I was feeling smug. I'd just sent another Tech Memo edition telling subscribers to stop worrying about **AI eating tech jobs** because Anthropic, the leading AI company pushing this narrative, is hiring so many engineers.

So clever! Until I got an email from a reader, **Kiran Maya Sheikh**. She has a computer science degree from the University of California, Irvine. It's a great school, and she graduated with an impressive GPA. And yet, she's struggling to land that all-important first full-time software engineering job.

"It's bad advice to 'not worry,'" she wrote. "**AI is causing disruption in this job market**. Employers are prioritizing hiring experienced workers, but not new graduates."

![Software engineer Kiran Maya Sheikh](https://i.insider.com/69b42edea7a4f9df67ba4c84?width=700)

*Software engineer Kiran Maya Sheikh*

This week, I interviewed Kiran for Tech Memo. It was an eye-opening view into the realities of the new AI economy. Here are the highlights from our chat, edited for clarity and length.

### The Computer Science Dream vs. AI Reality

**Alistair: What did you think you were signing up for when you first chose computer science as a degree?**

Kiran: After getting into UC Irvine in 2020, I took my first coding class and I really enjoyed it. The prospects at this time were that people were going into this major to get great jobs and it was very rewarding and I ended up liking the work.

**What did you believe a career in computer science would give you financially, socially, and emotionally?**

The dream at the time was definitely everyone was saying, "Let's go work for Google and the **FAANG companies** and get a six-figure salary." My motivation was just getting a stable job, getting enough money to take care of my family — what everyone wants. I expected that computer science would put me in a position to grow as a software engineer, first and foremost, and then maybe take me to more of the strategic side, the management side. The main thing that I did figure out was that I wanted **financial stability** and maybe financial independence as well.

### The ChatGPT Wake-Up Call

**Fast forward to late 2022, when ChatGPT launched. Did you see that as a tool at the time or a threat?**

I was a hater at the beginning. Then, friends of mine started using ChatGPT and they're like, "Oh, you can just use it like Google. You can just text it and it'll give you the answer." And honestly, my first thought was like, "That's a bit lazy. You can get more learning out of doing the work yourself." But the more time went on, the more that people were using it, and they started using it for class. Suddenly, I was ahead in class. I was doing the assignments well and understanding more.

**Was there a moment when you thought generative AI might reduce the need for junior engineers, or do you even believe that?**

We all know the current job market. It's not too hot and a lot of companies are citing **AI as part of the reason for layoffs** — but maybe that they were going to cut those jobs anyway. At the time though, while I was in school and using ChatGPT, I honestly didn't think it would get this far. I expected AI would be integrated into software engineers' work and companies would start integrating it, but I didn't realize there would be potential for it to take over jobs that I was looking for.

I don't think I was very attentive to the job market situation at the time, and I wasn't really thinking that far ahead. More of my worries at the time were just getting that first **entry-level position**. And I just thought it would be simple: I just get my degree and I would find a company that's hiring. Looking back, it was my mistake to not really research the current job market and maybe what some people were predicting about AI.

### The Job Market Bloodbath

**I didn't see it coming either. Few people did. Anyway, describe the moment when you realized the job market had changed?**

I was already graduating, so this was after June 2025. I was getting into the reality of having to find my first job, and that's when I definitely started noticing something was wrong. A lot of my classmates, I haven't really heard of them getting any opportunities. Everyone's submitting so many resumes and there's a race to use AI to enhance resumes and send them out as fast as you can. And it seemed a lot more intense than I was prepared for.

A lot of my classmates and even students I know who are still in school are not even landing internships right now. It's not looking great. It's a very tough battle right now. So many people are quitting or getting fired or pivoting and there's new grads. Everyone is bracing, and it's a **bloodbath right now**.

**Do you feel like you're competing against AI or laid-off senior engineers or both, or something else?**

My fight is definitely with AI and all the competition with entry-level graduates — especially because AI is known to take over more junior roles. So it's important that we stay more relevant and offer something that AI can't. Scrolling through LinkedIn and on my job portals, I see more offers for **mid-level positions**, but I don't see as many for entry-level roles. So it's like I'm fighting AI and all these other graduates for roles that don't exist yet.

### Coping with the Crisis

**This job search so far, what has it done to your confidence?**

I try to be optimistic. I am lucky to have a better situation than some other people do. I'm living at home with family, so I don't have to worry as much about expenses. Still, if I weren't doing anything about my situation, I would feel pretty bummed. I'd feel kind of trapped.

But I've been trying to work on building my network, finding people I know and learning from other people, just finding communities to be involved with. That's really helped my confidence because I find professionals that are trying to help — they are aware of the job market and they know how hard it is to get that first job. The one saving grace in this tough situation is definitely the **community I've found** and the people I know who are helping me through it.

**Did you ever question your decision to study computer science?**

Yes, I did question it. But I remember that I do like computer science and I did like what I learned. I really enjoyed my classes and programming. And instead of turning to a new discipline, I think I prefer to just specialize and find out new information and stay ahead of the news. And like I said, offer something that AI can't.

### The Education Gap

**Do you feel like you were trained for a version of the tech industry that no longer exists?**

I am a little salty, about this, if that's the right word. During my time at school, a lot of what the degree was about was learning the basics of software engineering. You learn programming languages and you learn how to set up your development and deployment. But right now there are so many more tools and I think that's the constant thing with the software engineering and the tech industry. There's always new technology and there's a lot of learning you have to keep up with.

But with AI in particular, I felt like I graduated a bit too early. Because now AI will probably be more integrated into learning. I had so many professors that were more welcoming towards AI. I remember a really cool professor who shared a website that would let you make your own LLM. And it's really useful stuff, but it wasn't part of the curriculum. It will be now, but I won't be there to see that change.

What I'm doing to help with that, and make the amends, is volunteering and doing more work on the side that involves newer technologies to just stay fresh and relevant and use all these new AI tools and see how I can leverage it.

### Advice for Future Students

**If a high school senior asked you today whether they should major in computer science, what would you tell them?**

It depends on what interests them about computer science. If it's absolutely something they're interested, they love learning about the technology and they want to code, I would still say go for it, but I would recommend how to position yourself for after college.

You need to start much earlier now, **networking** and knowing how to speak with people and how to apply, how to write a resume. And those all are also much more important now at the start of college, especially getting internships, if at all possible.

So, I would definitely recommend studying computer science, but being realistic about the opportunities available and keeping up with the news and the job market.

**What would you say to potential employers out there?**

The focus should still be in hiring **entry-level talent** if possible. I know it's tough with the current market and the economy and what's going on in the world right now. But entry-level talent is still important because you need to build this generation of professionals so that the future will have people to rely on. AI is still uncertain right now. People are still figuring out how it is impactful and it doesn't help to just force it upon your company.

Despite a degree and skills, a new grad faces hiring challenges in tech due to AI's influence on entry-level job availability.

AI's Hidden Job Crisis: A Computer Science Grad's Struggle for Entry-Level Tech Roles

## The Rise of Forward Deployed Engineers in AI

A once-rare engineering role has taken over Silicon Valley, promising to bridge the gap between cutting-edge artificial intelligence and the less tech-savvy customers who want to deploy it. But not everyone is excited about it.

Tech companies are **gaga for the idea of “forward deployed engineers” (FDEs)**, who play a critical role in ensuring customers can actually use their sometimes complex AI offerings.

### Explosive Growth in Demand

Job postings on Indeed grew **more than 10-fold in 2025 compared with 2024**. The number of public company transcripts mentioning the role jumped to 50 from eight over the same period, according to data from AlphaSense.

The only problem? **Few engineers want the job**, which has historically been seen as demanding, undesirable and less prestigious than product-focused engineering roles.

“Everyone wants them and there’s only maybe 10% of the market that wants that role,” said Patrick Kellenberger, president and chief operating officer at Betts Recruiting.

### What Do Forward Deployed Engineers Actually Do?

Forward deployed engineers work on-site with a specific customer for a certain length of time, helping to customize and deploy the company’s technology based on the customer’s needs.

The **nuanced customization that AI agents and other tools require** has fueled the recent trendiness of the job title, which was popularized by data-analysis firm Palantir.

### The Reality Behind the Role

“It means spending a lot of time on planes, sleeping in three-star hotels, somewhere in middle America, and working out of a dimly lit windowless conference room where there’s not enough charging ports,” said Barry McCardel, who worked as an FDE at Palantir for about five years before founding AI analytics platform Hex. “**It’s not glamorous**,” he said.

Beyond bare-bones accommodations, the job itself is also tough. Small teams with limited resources are under a time crunch to solve a problem that has never been solved before. Often, customers don’t use the projects they spend time building, McCardel added.

“The extreme pace and heightened expectations and intensity of the forward deployed motion is not for everyone,” he said.

### The Perception Problem

Others say the role’s undesirability cuts straight to the very heart of what it means to be a “real engineer.”

“In a software company, engineers usually want to be working on building the product itself versus having to support it with customers,” said Phillip Merrick, chairman and chief product officer of pgEdge, a provider of databases and tools for agentic AI.

Lucas Mendes, founder and CEO of tech talent and AI training platform Revelo, calls this phenomenon **“proximity to the machine.”** Building products that scale out to millions of people is seen as the “real engineering” work, and client support roles are, well, not.

“We don’t believe that it’s less noble, but that’s what the prevailing culture believes,” he said.

### A Grind with Purpose

Joe Henke, who worked as a forward deployed engineer for Palantir for years, including several overseas trips, remembers it as quite a grind compared with the experience of his product counterparts.

“In the California office, it’s like beautiful weather all the time, the office is stacked, and has all this great food lying around. It’s not that people aren’t working hard there, but like it’s a very cushy environment to enable people to work hard. But when you’re out in the field, particularly overseas, just living conditions are harder,” he said.

That said, for the right people, it can be a dream job. Henke said that the work felt incredibly meaningful because he could see how it was making a difference in the real world.

Keith Ballinger, a vice president and general manager at Google Cloud, who has worked hands-on with clients over his developer career, albeit not in a formally titled “FDE” role, agreed. “**You’re in on the action. It’s not an Ivory Tower, it’s not theoretical**,” he said.

### The Future of FDE Roles

Betts Recruiting’s Kellenberger said it would take time and a gradual shift in perception for more engineers to consider throwing themselves out into the trenches.

The fact that companies are offering **sky high salaries for FDE roles** could help, as could the threat AI poses to many traditional software engineering jobs.

“This is a big opportunity,” he said. “Yes, there are components to it that can be more stressful, but there’s a lot more upside.”

Job postings for ‘forward deployed engineers’ are surging among tech companies. But engineers aren’t exactly clamoring for the role.

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