Major companies are laying off top talent in critical roles
Big firms are cutting their best engineers and technicians despite their critical role. Automation, outsourcing, or short-termism?
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Mass layoffs of key profiles: the modern company no longer needs its best
In a move that no longer surprises anyone in the sector, giants like Amazon have cut entire teams of high-level engineers, even those maintaining critical services like AWS. It's not an isolated case. In cybersecurity, consulting, automotive: the decision is always the same. First outsource, then replace with AI, and finally fire those who cost the most. The maxim is clear: it doesn't matter if you're the head of a team of 50 people with seven years of seniority. The company is not an NGO. It's a cost-optimizing machine.
The symptom: layoffs that ignore merit
The examples pile up. An Italian who managed a department of 50 people at Amazon Barcelona was fired in December 2025 for no apparent reason, except the well-founded suspicion that his position would be filled by staff in India. At another large consultancy, the number of internships dropped to zero after implementing Copilot, and heads are already starting to roll among seniors. In the metallurgical sector, a cosmetics company with 500 permanent employees announced layoffs of permanent staff with years of service, under the premise of "reducing wage mass," while rumors of ERTE had faded. And vacancies are not filled: the rest are squeezed.
But some argue that all this is just trimming the fat. An auditor of large companies describes the "charico circle": departments that generate work for other departments in a loop without adding value to the end customer. In that logic, what is eliminated is chaff. The problem is that the axe doesn't distinguish between chaff and grain.
The competition: robots, Indians, and interns
The debate about automation has become existential. For some, mid-level keyboard pounders will fall first, but senior architects who understand the business will hold on. For others, it's just a matter of months. AI doesn't understand contradictory requirements or legacy, but managers don't either: they only look at the bottom line. Outsourcing to low-cost countries (Romania, India, Poland) is the step before full automation. Meanwhile, mass immigration squeezes wages in trades like plumbing or security, where robotization hasn't arrived yet but downward pressure is constant.
The horizon: Basic Income or destitution?
Those who until recently despised Universal Basic Income are now starting to see it with different eyes. Some point out that big capital needs to maintain mass consumption, and UBI would be the final solution to compensate for job destruction. Others are more skeptical: no rich person will allow their money to lose value by giving away payments. What lies ahead, they say, is US-style destitution. The discussion is open, but the data is stubborn: in Spain, vacancies are not filled, positions remain empty, and more and more talented people are left out.
The scenario recalls the scene from Interstellar: "The world doesn't need engineers, it needs farmers." But today's farmers are the regularized immigrants who, according to the Government, will allow 70,000 new self-employed registrations. Meanwhile, engineers are looking for work. The question no one answers is how long a system can be sustained where those who keep services running are fired, while labor is imported for those that cannot be automated.
Related debates on the forum
In a move that no longer surprises anyone in the sector, giants like Amazon have cut entire teams of high-level engineers, even those maintaining critical services like AWS. It's not an isolated case. In cybersecurity, consulting, automotive: the decision is always the same. First outsource, then replace with AI, and finally fire those who cost the most. The maxim is clear: it doesn't matter if you're the head of a team of 50 people with seven years of seniority. The company is not an NGO. It's a cost-optimizing machine.
The symptom: layoffs that ignore merit
The examples pile up. An Italian who managed a department of 50 people at Amazon Barcelona was fired in December 2025 for no apparent reason, except the well-founded suspicion that his position would be filled by staff in India. At another large consultancy, the number of internships dropped to zero after implementing Copilot, and heads are already starting to roll among seniors. In the metallurgical sector, a cosmetics company with 500 permanent employees announced layoffs of permanent staff with years of service, under the premise of "reducing wage mass," while rumors of ERTE had faded. And vacancies are not filled: the rest are squeezed.
But some argue that all this is just trimming the fat. An auditor of large companies describes the "charico circle": departments that generate work for other departments in a loop without adding value to the end customer. In that logic, what is eliminated is chaff. The problem is that the axe doesn't distinguish between chaff and grain.
The competition: robots, Indians, and interns
The debate about automation has become existential. For some, mid-level keyboard pounders will fall first, but senior architects who understand the business will hold on. For others, it's just a matter of months. AI doesn't understand contradictory requirements or legacy, but managers don't either: they only look at the bottom line. Outsourcing to low-cost countries (Romania, India, Poland) is the step before full automation. Meanwhile, mass immigration squeezes wages in trades like plumbing or security, where robotization hasn't arrived yet but downward pressure is constant.
The horizon: Basic Income or destitution?
Those who until recently despised Universal Basic Income are now starting to see it with different eyes. Some point out that big capital needs to maintain mass consumption, and UBI would be the final solution to compensate for job destruction. Others are more skeptical: no rich person will allow their money to lose value by giving away payments. What lies ahead, they say, is US-style destitution. The discussion is open, but the data is stubborn: in Spain, vacancies are not filled, positions remain empty, and more and more talented people are left out.
The scenario recalls the scene from Interstellar: "The world doesn't need engineers, it needs farmers." But today's farmers are the regularized immigrants who, according to the Government, will allow 70,000 new self-employed registrations. Meanwhile, engineers are looking for work. The question no one answers is how long a system can be sustained where those who keep services running are fired, while labor is imported for those that cannot be automated.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (238 replies).
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