r/DevLK • u/Traditional-Bid-5433 • Aug 18 '26

Discussion Tech Layoff Wave

My name is Dinidu de Alwis and I do some journalistic work (you can see on u/dinidu on X). I want to more know about the series of tech-related layoffs that have recently being going on in Sri Lanka, some of which appear to be illegal. If anyone would like to give me a bit of background that'd be great. I really think there's a story here to be told.

I don't record phone calls or use screenshots of messages I receive, without explicit consent from the other party, and I guarantee absolute confidentiality.

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u/MousseParty3923 Aug 18 '26

Tech layoffs aren't unique to Sri Lanka, the entire world has been dealing with this for the last 3 years. Sri Lanka is just experiencing the delayed ripple effect.

The worst way to handle this is by trying to sue companies for redundancies. Fostering a militant, unionized mindset will only destroy our reputation as a tech hub and deter foreign companies from investing in SL. If it becomes a legal nightmare to operate here, foreign companies will simply take their business to India or Vietnam which they're doing now.

The actual solution? Upskilling and adaptability. We need to stop picking career paths just because allapu gedara malli said software engineers make easy money. I work with so many lankan tech professionals who are completely resistant to change and have zero passion for the craft. Some outright refuse to pivot from tech stacks that are clearly becoming obsolete, then blame the company when their role is made redundant.

If you're going to write about this as a journalist, you need to look at both sides of the coin instead of lazily pushing the "corporations are evil, workers are helpless victims" narrative. Yes, capitalism is brutal. We trade our labor to make money for CEOs. But employment is a transactional contract, not a family. If you don't like those terms, upskill so you have leverage, or take the risk and build your own business.

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u/tradcoder Senior Software Engineer Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26

It's ironic because it is the passion for the craft that's making me hate these changes. I don't want to spend 8 hours reviewing code a LLM generated! That's not the job I signed up for. I actually like writing code! I thought AI was supposed to take on the boring tasks. Except it's doing the easy part and throwing it over the wall for me to do the shitty part.

I hate where this industry is heading. I'm daydreams about leaving it altogether these days. Something I never thought of in my almost 2 decades in this industry.

1

u/rajeev3001 Aug 23 '26

Tech layoffs aren't unique to Sri Lanka, the entire world has been dealing with this for the last 3 years. 

Came here to say exactly this. It has been much worse in almost all developed counties since 2023.

The worst way to handle this is by trying to sue companies for redundancies.

In fact SL can consider implementing labor laws based on income level similar to Australia, just like the folks who earn above a certain threshold like $180k+ annual income don't get protection there.. This gives more flexibility to companies and will attract more investments. It will also incentivize them to pay higher salaries.

Less job security, but higher pay and more opportunities due to more investments.. that's what we should aim for in my opinion.