Barclays and Jaguar looking to scoop up Meta and Twitter cast-offs to ramp up tech divisions

Whether its banks or car companies, other sectors outside of Silicon Valley have finally realized digitization is revolutionizing every aspect of their business.

Investment bank Barclays for example is hoping to scoop up talented Twitter personnel according to its chief operating officer.

In a LinkedIn post this week, he wrote his firm was looking to fill 3,000 open tech roles ranging from engineering and architecture to cyber and innovation.

“We’re looking for technologists who are passionate about leaving things better than they found them and are excited at the prospect of reimagining financial services for millions of people around the world,” wrote Mark Ashton-Rigby. “If you’re embarking on a new chapter and are reading this, take it as a sign that there could be something very exciting for you just around the corner… apply today.” 

There’s no time better than now given the tech industry at large is cleaning house after years of excess. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is sacking some 11,000 people, for example, while Jeff Bezos’ Amazon is getting rid of 10,000. 

The Verge meanwhile reported over 1,000 of the 3,000 employees still at Twitter are believed to have resigned rather than accept Elon Musk’s offer to work on “Twitter 2.0”, which eventually could resemble something of a WeChat rival one day if the serial entrepreneur succeeds. 

If true, that would leave just about 2,000 people still employed at the company—a number of whom reportedly are foreign nationals that require a work visa to remain in the country. At the start of the month, there were still 7,500 people at Twitter.

Gap to Tesla

One of those that resigned by his own admission is Peter Clowes, a senior software engineer with the company.

After surviving this month’s mass layoffs, he decided to leave after only 3 members of his team of 75 remained. He wrote the idea of putting out fires all day just to keep critical services running offered little purpose or meaning in exchange for the grueling hours ahead. 

“I no longer knew what I was staying for,” he posted in a long thread explaining his reasons. “Would you sacrifice time with your kids over the holidays for vague assurances and the opportunity to make a rich person richer, or would you take the out?”

One group desperate for software developers is carmakers, which have struggled to attract IT workers capable of narrowing the skills gap with Musk’s Tesla.

In 2019, Volkswagen announced plans to found its own in-house IT unit, now called Cariad, just to create a more agile and progressive working environment free of stifling corporate bureaucracy. 

“Every company is a software company,” said VW Group IT manager Tom George at the time. “Some just haven’t realized it yet.”

It’s precisely for this reason that Jaguar Land Rover is hoping people like ex-Twitter developer Clowes can be lured to the Tata Motors subsidiary and bolster its software expertise that is so crucial for delivering a modern experience today’s luxury car buyer expects.

On Friday, it announced a new global drive to fill over 800 new vacancies with those let go by Twitter, Meta and many others.

“Following the news of large-scale job losses from technology firms, Jaguar Land Rover is opening a new jobs portal for displaced workers from the tech industry to explore career opportunities,” it wrote.

Musk meanwhile took the defections in stride, even if they meant a vote against his vision of a better future for Twitter. “The best people are staying, so I’m not super worried,” he remarked on Thursday.

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