If Tech Fails, These Five Industries Will Attract High-Earners

It’s no secret — 2023 has been a bad year to be employed in tech. Most of the biggest employers in the field have laid off workers: Meta, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta (again)… and the list keeps growing.

This might be a surprise to some people because these tech giants don’t seem to be hurting. While layoffs happen for a number of reasons, in many cases, tech companies hired too many people and they didn’t need to keep paying them. It’s no surprise that many people wanted to work for tech companies because they have some great perks, including high pay.

These benefits mean nothing if people can’t secure jobs in the tech industry, and it’s becoming clear that this field isn’t as stable as it was once believed to be. So, people looking for big salaries may need to look at other industries.

While it’s unlikely people are immediately going to abandon tech jobs, it’s also possible a shift is on the horizon. If we were to take tech off the table, and a big salary is the goal, these industries are the ones likely to attract employees who are more passionate about money than the job itself.

What Is a Tech Job?

Before we can look into tech replacements, we need to understand what tech really is. It would be very hard to find an industry in today’s society that doesn’t rely on computers or software at some level.

For the most part, these jobs develop software or the hardware that runs software, then sell the products. Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Adobe, and Netflix are key examples. There are also companies like Amazon that have many tech roles (and layoffs) because they make products like the Echo and software to operate it. Those developers are tech workers, but the guy delivering your package isn’t.

There’s now an idea that all companies are tech companies because of the equipment required for daily operations. While it’s true that McDonald’s couldn’t operate if their credit card system crashed, that doesn’t make McDonald’s a tech company. At the end of the day, it’s in the burger business — not selling McApps or McSmartphones.