Vancouver's carefully crafted image as Canada's emerging technology hub is facing a harsh reality check as thousands of tech workers struggle to find employment in an industry increasingly transformed by artificial intelligence. What was once promised as the city's economic future has become a battlefield for job seekers, with many highly educated professionals turning to service industry work simply to pay their bills.
The Networking Circuit: Desperation in Downtown Vancouver
At a recent October brunch networking event hosted by KPMG in downtown Vancouver, the scene was telling. Dozens of young professionals in business casual attire armed with paper resumes crowded senior tech leaders, seeking any advantage in their prolonged job searches. This event was just one of many technology-focused gatherings—from AI workshops to mentorship walks—that have drawn sold-out crowds of recent graduates and early-career workers desperate to break into an industry that seems to be shrinking before their eyes.
The contrast between Vancouver's marketing as a future tech hub and the current employment reality has never been starker. Workers report that securing decently paid tech positions in a city known for high living costs and limited capital access has become increasingly difficult, despite the continued presence of major tech companies.
The Statistical Paradox: Growth Amidst Crisis
Official numbers present a confusing picture of Vancouver's tech landscape. According to CBRE Group Inc.'s Scoring Tech Talent 2025 report, the city employed 125,100 highly skilled tech workers in 2024, representing a 5.2% increase from 2021. Average annual salaries jumped impressively by 21% over the same period to $114,192, while total tech roles in the city grew 31% from 2018 to 2023.
Yet these optimistic figures mask a troubling trend. Tech hiring across Canada has been frozen since 2023, with tech job postings plunging 19% country-wide since 2020, according to job search platform Indeed Inc. The decline has been particularly severe in Vancouver, where tech job postings have dropped 43% compared to 21% in Montreal and 10% in Toronto.
"It's definitely not the strong market it was before," said Brendon Bernard, senior economist at Indeed. "British Columbia's tech industry has been more volatile compared to the rest of Canada. It's grown more and had a bigger boom, but its cooldown has been much sharper."
Personal Stories: From Cybersecurity to Dog Walking
Ece Eskikurt's experience exemplifies the struggle facing many tech workers. The 29-year-old Simon Fraser University graduate has been searching for a tech-related role for approximately a year while attending five to ten tech events monthly. Her meticulous approach to job hunting—tailoring each application and contacting recruiters directly—has yielded little success despite applying for at least 60 positions since January.
"For each job, I reached out to the recruiters and the companies. They weren't cold applications," Eskikurt explained. "I took all the steps that I could."
Like many others, she has turned to what workers call "survival jobs"—previously working as a restaurant hostess, administrative assistant, and clothing store sales associate before quitting to focus on her tech job search. She now walks dogs part-time through pet-sitting platform Rover Group Inc. to make ends meet.
The emotional toll is significant. "That's the part that hurts the most," she said about the silence that follows most of her applications, even when she requests feedback from hiring managers.
Industry Perspective: An Employer's Market
Technology recruiters confirm that experiences like Eskikurt's have become commonplace. "It's an employer's market right now. There's no question about that," said Lucas Drury-Godden, vice-president for Western Canada at Procom Consultants Group Ltd., a tech recruiter.
The shift began around May 2022, according to Rachel Shen, founder and managing director of Vancouver-based SIGnature Recruiting Inc. "The Big Tech companies started mass layoffs and other tech companies followed suit," she explained, noting that companies continue to correct pandemic-era overhiring while adapting to AI-driven changes.
The impact has been felt across the industry. Major players with Vancouver presence—including Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp., and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM)—have all conducted significant layoffs since 2022. Amazon has cut 41,000 jobs globally since 2022, while Microsoft has laid off more than 15,000 employees this year alone.
One anonymous software developer captured the sentiment of many: "It's a bloodbath out there. Companies are replacing us left and right with AI." Despite holding bachelor's and master's degrees from top Canadian universities and having several years of experience, his job search approaches the one-year mark, forcing him to consider leaving the industry entirely.
The AI Divide: Specialization Becomes Essential
The transformation isn't uniform across all tech roles. While entry-level and junior positions have dwindled, workers with specialized AI-related skills are in high demand. Positions requiring expertise in machine learning, cloud computing, and AI development continue to see strong hiring activity and command premium salaries.
"Vancouver employers are all fighting over the same very small pool of highly skilled workers for specialized roles," said Nathan Wawruck, director for technology in Vancouver at recruiter Robert Half Inc.
The data supports this divergence. Across Canada, AI-related tech roles have remained resilient, with job postings for AI architects and developers more than doubling from their 2020 levels. Machine learning engineers command median posted annual salaries of $213,000 in Canada, among the highest-paid common tech positions.
Bibiana Souza, a software developer who leads the Vancouver chapter of Women in Tech, has experienced both sides of this divide. Laid off twice "because of AI," she managed to find new positions within one to two months each time by quickly reskilling in AI technologies, leveraging her professional network, and accepting significant pay cuts. "If you don't adapt to the times, you don't get a job, so that's what I did," she stated.
Structural Challenges and Silver Linings
Despite the current struggles, Vancouver maintains several advantages in the tech landscape. The city ranks 10th worldwide for tech talent in CBRE's latest report and boasts North America's 12th-largest tech talent pool. With nearly 10,000 AI workers, Vancouver also places second in Canada and 13th in North America for AI talent concentration.
This talent pool continues to attract investment. Recent months have seen companies like Databricks Inc., AgentHub Inc., and Royal Bank of Canada establishing or expanding Vancouver operations, particularly in AI-focused areas.
However, structural challenges remain. Vancouver's high cost of living presents what recruiters describe as the "number one challenge for employers and employees." The city's rent-to-tech salary ratio approaches 20%, making it the most expensive Canadian city for tech workers and the ninth-most unaffordable in North America.
Industry advocates have called for policy changes to strengthen Vancouver's tech ecosystem, including improved tax credits for small-to-medium-sized tech companies, greater investment in tech reskilling programs, and initiatives to help founders scale their businesses.
Camden Hutchison, director of the University of British Columbia's Centre for Business Law, identifies deeper issues: "Businesses have been unable to scale in Vancouver due to a lack of access to financing, a dearth of established tech networks akin to Silicon Valley's and the ongoing brain drain to the U.S."
Looking ahead, economists predict continued challenges for Vancouver's tech job market until the broader Canadian economy strengthens. As Indeed's Brendon Bernard notes, "Layoffs generate headlines, but the major issue is the Canadian labour market. Unemployment is up because it's been a tougher environment for job seekers overall."
The human impact of this transformation continues to unfold across Vancouver, where the promise of a tech-driven future confronts the reality of an industry in rapid evolution, leaving many highly skilled workers navigating an uncertain path between their professional aspirations and economic survival.
