How the Tech Industry Responded to Non-Technical Events in 2022

Most "looking back" pieces successful IT publications absorption connected changes to tech trends that person taken spot implicit the past year, oregon which caller exertion tools oregon methodologies debuted.

I'd similar to instrumentality a antithetic tact successful this article. Instead of examining cardinal trends successful 2022 that subordinate to technologies themselves, this portion studies the ways successful which non-technical developments — meaning events oregon trends that are not straight related to the IT manufacture — impacted exertion implicit the past year, and vice versa.

Allow maine to bash that by examining 4 of the overarching non-technical trends of 2022, and however they converged with the exertion industry.

War

2022 was surely not the archetypal twelvemonth to spot a war. But it was the archetypal 1 during which a warfare broke retired that captured the attraction of planetary IT companies successful a large way.

That war, of course, was the Russian penetration of Ukraine that began successful February 2022. From the archetypal days of the struggle (which was arguably truly conscionable an enlargement of an armed conflict that started successful 2014), immoderate tech companies demonstrated an eagerness to participate the fray.

They did that, successful part, by ending operations successful Russia — though that inclination was not unsocial to IT companies; businesses of each types made akin moves toward the commencement of the war. What was much absorbing were efforts by companies similar Microsoft to support, enactment in, oregon — astatine a minimum — study astir cyberwar activities related to the conflict.

To me, this improvement is beauteous fascinating due to the fact that it suggests that, going forward, ample IT companies volition bask the quality to exert power implicit geopolitical affairs successful ways that would person been beauteous unimaginable successful the past. And they whitethorn beryllium capable to bash it independently, without cooperating with governments. In that sense, 2022 acceptable a wholly caller precedent — 1 that has possibly been successful the works for years, but that could beryllium realized lone with the outbreak of a warfare that IT companies really attraction about.

Recession

You tin debate whether a recession really occurred — oregon is inactive occurring — successful 2022. But what you can't truly reason astir is whether fears of a recession loomed. They did, and they person a profound interaction connected tech successful aggregate ways.

One was a abrupt drying up of task superior funding for startups. Startup backing is inactive retired there, but it has go overmuch scarcer than it erstwhile was. Arguably, this is simply a good thing due to the fact that it means that companies with less-than-stellar ideas volition nary longer beryllium led connected by task capitalists who are dying to flip currency astatine anyone with a transportation deck. But it could besides dilatory the gait of innovation wrong the tech manufacture by making it harder for innovative startups to turn and bring their products to market.

Another mode successful which recession and rumors of recession impacted the IT manufacture successful 2022 was by encouraging much concern successful tools designed to cost-optimize IT infrastructure. To beryllium sure, solutions similar unreality cost-optimization tools are thing new, but 2022 saw much involvement successful this domain. It besides saw efforts to physique cost-optimization tools that absorption connected caller types of platforms, similar Kubernetes, that don't payment from accepted IT outgo absorption and spending prediction solutions.

Supply Chain Crises

"Supply chain" remained a starring buzzword implicit the people of 2022, partially but not lone due to the fact that of the tech industry.

Much of the treatment of proviso chains implicit the past twelvemonth progressive worldly proviso chains, meaning those that determination carnal products from producers to consumers. Although worldly proviso concatenation operations improved a spot successful 2022 compared with 2021, they remained rocky, contributing to pervasive shipping delays and astir apt to inflation.

The tech industry, meanwhile, spent 2022 focused connected different benignant of proviso concatenation — the bundle proviso chain, which is the acceptable of bundle resources connected which a concern relies. Due to incidents similar the SolarWinds attack, which highlighted the risks posed by insecure bundle proviso chains, IT companies spent 2022 figuring retired however to support way of which bundle they usage and to find vulnerabilities successful that software.

In general, the crises involving the worldly proviso concatenation and the bundle proviso concatenation are distinct. The worldly proviso concatenation has been beset by proscription problems that originated during the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas the bundle proviso chain's main contented is information vulnerabilities.

Still, I fishy that bundle proviso concatenation information wouldn't beryllium the speech of the IT manufacture contiguous if determination weren't besides truthful overmuch treatment of protecting carnal proviso chains. The challenges surrounding some types of proviso chains person converged to marque stakeholders crossed a assortment of industries acutely alert of the risks inherent successful relying connected products created by 3rd parties, whether those products are carnal materials oregon bundle root code.

Hiring and Recruitment Challenges

Companies continued to conflict to prosecute and clasp workers successful 2022, extending a inclination that originated a twelvemonth oregon 2 earlier.

The hiring situation is not unsocial to the IT oregon tech industry. It affects companies across a assortment of industries.

However, the interaction of the hiring situation is playing retired successful peculiar ways wrong tech. For example, the tech manufacture successful peculiar is present hampered by reports that immoderate workers are "overemployed," meaning they are leveraging work-from-home policies to clasp down aggregate jobs astatine once. Overemployment is not wholly unsocial to tech, but tech jobs lend themselves to the strategy successful ways that astir different roles don't. And fixed the challenges tech companies look successful hiring workers, galore are not peculiarly acrophobic astir employees who clasp aggregate jobs arsenic agelong arsenic the employees are doing each of their jobs.

2022 besides saw a important increase successful pay for jobs successful fields similar bundle development, a inclination that astir apt reflects, successful part, struggles by tech companies to enlistee talented engineers. That's bully quality if you enactment successful tech, wherever salaries were already beauteous good earlier the 2022 wage hikes.

Conclusion

The IT manufacture wasn't liable for trends similar proviso concatenation and hiring crises implicit the past year, but it has reacted to them successful unsocial ways. And successful definite cases — notably the Ukraine-Russia warfare — it has adjacent been an progressive subordinate successful cardinal developments of 2022, mounting large caller precedents that volition impact IT companies for years to come.

About the author

Christopher Tozzi is simply a exertion expert with taxable substance expertise successful unreality computing, exertion development, unfastened root software, virtualization, containers and more. He besides lectures astatine a large assemblage successful the Albany, New York, area. His book, “For Fun and Profit: A History of the Free and Open Source Software Revolution,” was published by MIT Press.