UX Job Market Crisis: Layoffs, AWS Failures, and Why Tech Workers Need Unions

UX Murder Mystery

The UX job market isn't just "tough"—it's forcing designers to leave the country, abandon expensive cities, and consider completely different careers. Brian and Eve get real about what's happening in tech right now: the inhumane way companies handle layoffs, why AWS outages reveal deeper problems with cost-cutting, and whether forming tech unions could actually protect workers. This episode covers: - Real stories: Designers leaving the US because they can't afford to stay, people abandoning LA and Chicago, colleagues surviving war zones while staying employed - How Q4 budget planning locks you out of 2026 roles if you're not already approved - Why the AWS outage (affecting 85% of the internet) might be the result of firing critical staff - The inhumane reality of tech layoffs: Google's weekend lockouts, no severance, predatory COBRA healthcare costs - Could tech unions work? Discussion of Ethan Marcott's "You Deserve a Tech Union" - Why you CAN legally discuss wages at work (and why companies try to stop you) - Dark UX patterns destroying our bodies and minds through social media addiction - What we lost when the internet became pure consumerism Plus: Why Brian misses when the internet was fun, Eve's Gen Z kids refusing social media, and what fascia damage tells us about smartphone addiction. Content note: This episode discusses economic anxiety, deportation fears (ICE raids in Chicago), job loss trauma, and the mental health toll of job insecurity. We don't sugarcoat how bad it is, but we also discuss collective action and ways forward. Sources: AWS outage reports, tech layoff data, labor organizing research, personal testimonies Perfect for: UX designers job searching, laid-off tech workers, anyone considering unionizing, design managers, tech workers feeling burned out, people questioning whether tech is worth it anymore