As UX consultants, we're witnessing something unprecedented: experienced design professionals are leaving not just their jobs, but the country entirely. Others are abandoning the tech industry altogether after decades of expertise.
This isn't just another article about layoff statistics. This is about the human cost of corporate decision-making—and why the way companies treat people during layoffs is causing systemic damage to the tech industry, our cities, and the products we all depend on.
Warning: This is a raw, honest discussion about job insecurity, mental health, and the current state of the tech industry. It's October 2025, and things are not okay.
We know someone—a talented data analyst we've worked with for years—who recently left the United States entirely.
The reason? It's simply too expensive to come back.
They left to travel, to decompress from the stress of the tech industry. But returning to LA, Chicago, or any major tech hub has become financially impossible. The cost of living, the job insecurity, the stress—it's not worth it anymore.
They're not coming back.
This isn't an isolated case. We're hearing similar stories across our networks:
As UX design agencies working with clients across markets, we're seeing the geographic migration firsthand. The talent that built Silicon Valley, that made tech hubs thrive, is dispersing—not by choice, but by economic necessity.
Here in Nashville, there's a bubble. It feels different from Chicago, LA, or San Francisco.
Why Nashville feels different:
But even here, we feel the tremors. We know people gambling on the stock market—literally gambling, not investing—and developing medical problems from the stress.
UX consultants in Nashville are watching friends and colleagues struggle with:
The bubble feels comfortable, but we know it's still a bubble. And bubbles burst.
It's October 2025. For companies with fiscal year planning, this is crucial:
What's happening right now:
If you're not included in these plans—as an employee or an approved vendor—you won't exist in 2026.
This is the reality product design consultants and fractional design officers face: You need to be in the conversation now, or you won't get work next year.
For full-time employees, this creates anxiety spirals:
The psychological toll is immense.
In Chicago, something has changed dramatically in recent months. For the first time in 20 years of living here, there's a pervasive sense of fear.
What's happening:
How this affects workplaces:
As UX consultants in Chicago working with diverse teams, we're seeing the impact firsthand: It's hard to focus on design sprints when you're worried about your neighbors' safety.
This isn't political commentary—it's human reality. When people in your community are afraid, when your colleagues are stressed about their families, when fear permeates daily life, it affects everything. Including the products we build.
One of our former colleagues lived in Ukraine when the war started. He was a man of military age, required to stay while his wife and child fled to Poland.
We didn't know if we'd hear from him again.
But something remarkable happened: Despite living in a war zone, despite uncertainty about survival, he was the most resilient, positive person we worked with.
He was:
The lesson: Suffering and struggle can paradoxically create profound gratitude for small things, for work, for connection, for simply being alive.
The contrast: Meanwhile, in relatively safe America, we're destroying our own well-being through corporate dysfunction, job insecurity, and treating humans as disposable resources.
Remember when Ukraine's invasion began? There was an outpouring of corporate support and empathy for Ukrainian employees and citizens.
Now, that empathy has vanished.
We're not seeing companies speak up about:
Instead, we're seeing:
UX design agencies in Detroit and across the country work with companies that used to prioritize human-centered values. Now those values seem to vanish the moment revenue projections dip.
Where is the leadership? Where are the executives who remember that "human-centered design" should extend to how we treat the humans designing our products?
Talk to UX professionals currently employed, and you'll hear two contradictory truths:
Reality 1: Gratitude
Reality 2: Misery
This is not healthy. This is not sustainable. This is a workforce on the edge of breakdown.
As fractional UX experts working with multiple companies, we see the same pattern everywhere:
The problem: Companies are operating on fear-based retention, not value-based retention. People stay because they're afraid, not because they want to be there.
For those trying to escape corporate dysfunction by starting businesses, the reality is equally bleak.
What we're hearing from entrepreneurs:
Why this is happening:
If consumers aren't buying products/services, companies don't make money. If companies don't make money, they don't hire consultants or buy services.
Instead of hiring UX design agencies or consultants, companies are:
The AI bubble appears to be bursting. Venture capital firms are in holding patterns, afraid to invest because:
What people don't discuss: Government funds massive amounts of innovation.
Recent cuts:
Historical context: The internet itself was a DARPA (government) project. GPS was military technology. Many foundational technologies came from government-funded research.
When government stops funding innovation, the entire ecosystem suffers.
Here in Nashville, there's a bubble. It feels different from Chicago, LA, or San Francisco.
Why Nashville feels different:
But even here, we feel the tremors. We know people gambling on the stock market—literally gambling, not investing—and developing medical problems from the stress.
UX consultants in Nashville are watching friends and colleagues struggle with:
The bubble feels comfortable, but we know it's still a bubble. And bubbles burst.
It's October 2025. For companies with fiscal year planning, this is crucial:
What's happening right now:
If you're not included in these plans—as an employee or an approved vendor—you won't exist in 2026.
This is the reality product design consultants and fractional design officers face: You need to be in the conversation now, or you won't get work next year.
For full-time employees, this creates anxiety spirals:
The psychological toll is immense.
In Chicago, something has changed dramatically in recent months. For the first time in 20 years of living here, there's a pervasive sense of fear.
What's happening:
How this affects workplaces:
As UX consultants in Chicago working with diverse teams, we're seeing the impact firsthand: It's hard to focus on design sprints when you're worried about your neighbors' safety.
This isn't political commentary—it's human reality. When people in your community are afraid, when your colleagues are stressed about their families, when fear permeates daily life, it affects everything. Including the products we build.
One of our former colleagues lived in Ukraine when the war started. He was a man of military age, required to stay while his wife and child fled to Poland.
We didn't know if we'd hear from him again.
But something remarkable happened: Despite living in a war zone, despite uncertainty about survival, he was the most resilient, positive person we worked with.
He was:
The lesson: Suffering and struggle can paradoxically create profound gratitude for small things, for work, for connection, for simply being alive.
The contrast: Meanwhile, in relatively safe America, we're destroying our own well-being through corporate dysfunction, job insecurity, and treating humans as disposable resources.
Remember when Ukraine's invasion began? There was an outpouring of corporate support and empathy for Ukrainian employees and citizens.
Now, that empathy has vanished.
We're not seeing companies speak up about:
Instead, we're seeing:
UX design agencies in Detroit and across the country work with companies that used to prioritize human-centered values. Now those values seem to vanish the moment revenue projections dip.
Where is the leadership? Where are the executives who remember that "human-centered design" should extend to how we treat the humans designing our products?
Talk to UX professionals currently employed, and you'll hear two contradictory truths:
Reality 1: Gratitude
Reality 2: Misery
This is not healthy. This is not sustainable. This is a workforce on the edge of breakdown.
As fractional UX experts working with multiple companies, we see the same pattern everywhere:
The problem: Companies are operating on fear-based retention, not value-based retention. People stay because they're afraid, not because they want to be there.
For those trying to escape corporate dysfunction by starting businesses, the reality is equally bleak.
What we're hearing from entrepreneurs:
Why this is happening:
If consumers aren't buying products/services, companies don't make money. If companies don't make money, they don't hire consultants or buy services.
Instead of hiring UX design agencies or consultants, companies are:
The AI bubble appears to be bursting. Venture capital firms are in holding patterns, afraid to invest because:
What people don't discuss: Government funds massive amounts of innovation.
Recent cuts:
Historical context: The internet itself was a DARPA (government) project. GPS was military technology. Many foundational technologies came from government-funded research.
When government stops funding innovation, the entire ecosystem suffers.
Yesterday, AWS had a major outage affecting approximately 85% of websites and apps globally.
The official explanation: "Underlying subsystem that monitors the health of network load balancers" in EC2 internal network.
Translation: We have no idea what that means. It sounds like corporate jargon designed to avoid admitting the real cause.
Our theory as UX consultants: This is the direct result of cutting critical personnel.
What probably happened:
This is the CrowdStrike pattern repeating: Cut corners, fire experts, critical systems fail.
We're seeing evidence everywhere:
The connection: These are not random technical failures. These are consequences of treating technical and design expertise as expendable.
For those who haven't experienced a tech layoff, here's how they typically work in 2025:
The Process:
This is happening at major tech companies. This is considered normal now.
A product leader at Google worked there for five years. She dedicated herself to excellence, built relationships, delivered results.
How Google laid her off:
What this does to people:
UX consulting firms working with these companies need to ask: If this is how you treat employees, how can we trust you'll treat users with respect?
Here's an extra kick when you're down: COBRA health insurance.
The scenario:
The insult: "We're laying you off because we need to cut costs. Also, pay us dramatically more money for health insurance or lose coverage entirely."
Where is the money supposed to come from? You just lost your income. How are you supposed to afford insurance that costs more than your mortgage?
The humane alternative: Companies should provide health insurance coverage (fully paid) for at least 3-6 months post-layoff as part of standard severance.
Why they don't: Because they can get away with not doing it. There's no requirement. Workers have no collective bargaining power.
There's a book called "You Deserve a Tech Union" by Ethan Marcotte that's worth reading.
The question: Could forming tech unions prevent some of these disasters?
What unions could do:
Example scenario with a union:
Without union:
With union:
The power dynamic shifts when workers can collectively say "no."
Many people think discussing wages is prohibited. It's not. In fact, in many states (including Illinois), it's illegal for employers to prevent wage discussions.
Employers want you to think it's taboo because:
The cultural component: In Midwest culture particularly, discussing money is considered "rude." This cultural norm serves employer interests, not worker interests.
We encourage transparency: Know what your colleagues make. Know what market rate is. Know your worth.
Companies have cut design teams, research teams, entire product divisions. Are we actually critical?
The answer: Yes, but companies don't realize it until things break.
What happens after layoffs:
But this happens slowly. Quarterly earnings might look good for a year or two while the foundation crumbles.
The AWS outage is a preview: This is what happens when you cut the people who keep systems running and products functional.
The expertise we provide—as UX consultants, product designers, researchers—isn't optional decoration. It's structural integrity.
When we're gone, things break. It just takes time for leadership to notice.
Yesterday, AWS had a major outage affecting approximately 85% of websites and apps globally.
The official explanation: "Underlying subsystem that monitors the health of network load balancers" in EC2 internal network.
Translation: We have no idea what that means. It sounds like corporate jargon designed to avoid admitting the real cause.
Our theory as UX consultants: This is the direct result of cutting critical personnel.
What probably happened:
This is the CrowdStrike pattern repeating: Cut corners, fire experts, critical systems fail.
We're seeing evidence everywhere:
The connection: These are not random technical failures. These are consequences of treating technical and design expertise as expendable.
For those who haven't experienced a tech layoff, here's how they typically work in 2025:
The Process:
This is happening at major tech companies. This is considered normal now.
A product leader at Google worked there for five years. She dedicated herself to excellence, built relationships, delivered results.
How Google laid her off:
What this does to people:
UX consulting firms working with these companies need to ask: If this is how you treat employees, how can we trust you'll treat users with respect?
Here's an extra kick when you're down: COBRA health insurance.
The scenario:
The insult: "We're laying you off because we need to cut costs. Also, pay us dramatically more money for health insurance or lose coverage entirely."
Where is the money supposed to come from? You just lost your income. How are you supposed to afford insurance that costs more than your mortgage?
The humane alternative: Companies should provide health insurance coverage (fully paid) for at least 3-6 months post-layoff as part of standard severance.
Why they don't: Because they can get away with not doing it. There's no requirement. Workers have no collective bargaining power.
There's a book called "You Deserve a Tech Union" by Ethan Marcotte that's worth reading.
The question: Could forming tech unions prevent some of these disasters?
What unions could do:
Example scenario with a union:
Without union:
With union:
The power dynamic shifts when workers can collectively say "no."
Many people think discussing wages is prohibited. It's not. In fact, in many states (including Illinois), it's illegal for employers to prevent wage discussions.
Employers want you to think it's taboo because:
The cultural component: In Midwest culture particularly, discussing money is considered "rude." This cultural norm serves employer interests, not worker interests.
We encourage transparency: Know what your colleagues make. Know what market rate is. Know your worth.
Companies have cut design teams, research teams, entire product divisions. Are we actually critical?
The answer: Yes, but companies don't realize it until things break.
What happens after layoffs:
But this happens slowly. Quarterly earnings might look good for a year or two while the foundation crumbles.
The AWS outage is a preview: This is what happens when you cut the people who keep systems running and products functional.
The expertise we provide—as UX consultants, product designers, researchers—isn't optional decoration. It's structural integrity.
When we're gone, things break. It just takes time for leadership to notice.
Since he personally has no time or social media experience to curate an online presence for it, EVE has helped to start the foundation for an online following onInstagram and Facebook to reach customers Faraj would previously have missed out on.
It is important to recognize that social media marketing is becoming the new norm. While the start up of a social media strategy can be overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be.
While you focus on your passion of running your business, EVE is here to focus on our passion of helping you navigate the social media world and digital business.
Since he personally has no time or social media experience to curate an online presence for it, EVE has helped to start the foundation for an online following onInstagram and Facebook to reach customers Faraj would previously have missed out on.
It is important to recognize that social media marketing is becoming the new norm. While the start up of a social media strategy can be overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be.
While you focus on your passion of running your business, EVE is here to focus on our passion of helping you navigate the social media world and digital business.
It's October 2025. The year is almost over. Many of us are just trying to survive until 2026.
What we're hoping for:
What we're realistic about:
What we're working toward:
Here's something we've been reflecting on: The internet used to be fun.
What it used to be:
What it's become:
The loss: That blank canvas. That boredom. That wandering creativity. That time to think and reflect.
Now: AI generates content on command. Algorithms curate everything. Ads interrupt constantly. Nothing feels organic or real.
We miss the internet that was human-created, human-scaled, and human-focused.
UX consultants across the industry need to reckon with what we've created:
Dark patterns that harm users:
The physical consequences:
We've literally changed how human bodies hold themselves. Fashion is evolving to accommodate our hunched, phone-staring posture. This is not normal. This is not healthy.
We need to talk about our complicity in building systems that harm users—even when we were trying to help.
Here's a ray of hope: Gen Z is checking out.
What we're hearing from young people:
The oldest of my children (now an adult) hates social media. She'd rather sit and stare at the ceiling, listen to music, and exist in physical space.
This is what we used to do. Sit. Stare at ceiling. Listen to music. Let our minds wander. Get bored. Create something from boredom.
Gen Z recognizes something we're still in denial about: These platforms aren't serving us. They're using us.
The wisdom of youth: Rejecting what previous generations accepted. Setting better boundaries. Choosing presence over performance.
As product design consultants and fractional design officers, here's what we'd recommend if companies actually wanted to treat people humanely:
None of this is radical. This is basic human decency.
We're at a crossroads. The tech industry can continue down its current path:
Or we can collectively demand something better:
As UX design agencies and consultants, we have some power to influence this:
But we need collective action. We need community. We need to stop accepting the unacceptable.
If you're employed:
If you're laid off:
If you're a leader:
If you're starting a business:
Next week, we're diving back into LinkedIn—this time with a special guest recruiter who will share their perspective on how the platform has evolved (or devolved).
Questions we'll explore:
Send us your questions: questions@uxmurdermystery.com
We want to hear:
We want to leave you with this:
There is beauty in the blank page. Beauty in boredom. Beauty in reflection.
The internet—and technology generally—used to enable creativity. Now it often replaces it.
We need:
We used to have this. We can have it again. But it requires conscious choice to step away from the algorithms, the engagement loops, the constant stimulation.
As UX professionals, we should be designing for human flourishing, not human exploitation.
That starts with how we treat ourselves and each other.
Struggling with job insecurity, career transitions, or building a consulting practice? As fractional design officers, we've navigated these challenges ourselves and help others do the same.
Whether you need strategic career guidance, help transitioning to fractional UX work, or consultation on building sustainable design practices, we bring decades of experience and genuine understanding of what you're facing.
Looking for a UX design agency that understands the human cost of tech industry dysfunction—and works to build something better? Let's talk about creating sustainable, humane design practices together.
This article is based on content from the UX MURDER MYSTERY podcast.
HOSTED BY: Brian J. Crowley & Eve Eden
EDITED BY: Kelsey Smith
INTRO ANIMATION & LOGO DESIGN: Brian J. Crowley
MUSIC BY: Nicolas Lee
A JOINT PRODUCTION OF EVE | User Experience Design Agency and CrowleyUX | Where Systems Meet Stories ©2025 Brian J. Crowley and Eve Eden
Email us at: questions@UXmurdermystery.com
EVE will be going to Ferndale, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan (MI) to work with Pathway |x| Events, (or PXE for short), a workforce development and event design business committed to connecting companies, schools and families to industries in Michigan facing a talent and skills gap.
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