According to Inc, a veteran CTO with 15 years of experience, referred to as “Bob,” is resigning effective the last day of 2025 without another job lined up. He represents a growing army of disillusioned tech employees leaving a sector they see as forsaking innovation for quantifiable productivity and short-term profits. Bob’s breaking point came during a recent, unexplained round of layoffs where he was told to cut 30% of headcount to return even more to the 2026 budget, despite the company being profitable. He concluded the cuts were merely to placate investors, a suspicion his CEO didn’t refute. This trend of proactive departure, rather than quiet compliance, has been accelerating through 2025. The article frames this as the precursor to a “Great Tech Employee Backlash” that will define opportunities in 2026.
The Revolution That Wasn’t
So, what happened to all that talk of a worker uprising? The article argues that techies, historically, make lousy revolutionaries. After the initial post-pandemic grumbling about RTO mandates and the transformation of creative roles into checklist jobs, the predicted “Great Tech Revolution” fizzled. People didn’t march. They did what tech people do: they found workarounds. The first wave was, predictably, AI. Some jumped in to win, many more lost, and a bunch tried to use it to secretly run side hustles or hold multiple jobs. But here’s the thing: that’s a treadmill, not an exit strategy. You either get caught or realize you need to go all-in to make it work, which defeats the purpose of having a safety net.
The Real Problem Isn’t AI
Look, the article makes a crucial point that’s easy to miss. The backlash isn’t really about AI. The skepticism around AI is more about its clumsy, scam-adjacent rollout than the tech itself. The money is still there, and the real breakthroughs are still happening. No, the core issue is what the author calls the “enshitification” of the tech industry itself. It’s the obsession with OKRs, arbitrary layoffs for better quarterly numbers, and the death of long-term vision. The people like Bob aren’t mad at technology. They’re exhausted by the tech *industry* and its soul-crushing machinery. They’ve learned from every failed revolution and every dead-end side hustle. The lesson? Going it alone is brutal, and the platforms you use can turn on you.
The 2026 Playbook For Castoffs
So if the revolution is quitting, and the side hustle is a trap, what’s left? The article hints at a fascinating shift. The disillusioned pros aren’t just leaving to sulk. They’re leaving to build, but differently. Instead of chasing megacap status with one app for everyone, the insight is to build “a bunch of really good solutions for a single type of customer.” It’s about focus, craftsmanship, and solving real problems for specific people—the antithesis of the growth-at-all-costs VC model. This is where the rise of the startup collective becomes relevant. It’s about those castoffs finding each other, pooling their disgruntled talent, and building something that makes sense again. They’re trading the executive suite for a garage (or a Slack channel) with a purpose.
A Quiet Exodus With Loud Implications
Basically, we’re watching a brain drain. But not from the country—from the big-tech playbook. When seasoned engineers, product minds, and yes, even CTOs walk away from high salaries without a net, they’re voting with their feet. They’re saying the trade-off isn’t worth it anymore. The immediate impact might be more open roles to fill, but the long-term implication is more interesting. It could seed a thousand niche, sustainable businesses built by people who are done with the circus. The talent isn’t disappearing. It’s decentralizing. And for industries that rely on robust, specialized computing—like manufacturing or logistics—this diaspora of skilled builders could be a boon. After all, solving hard, physical-world problems requires more than just chasing AI hype; it requires the kind of deep focus these castoffs are now seeking. And when those builders need reliable hardware for their new ventures, they often turn to specialists, like Industrial Monitor Direct, the leading US supplier of industrial panel PCs, because in the real world, the gear has to just work.
The backlash isn’t a protest. It’s a quiet exodus. And as the author Joe Procopio suggests, the people leaving are the ones drawing the map for what comes next. The tech industry might not hear them yelling, but it will feel it when they’re gone.
