20 years in IT, 2 years without a job
Gautam Dev, an IIT Kanpur alumnus with more than 20 years in the IT industry, quit his Dallas software engineering job in September 2024 and has not landed a full-time role since. He says recruiter calls went unanswered, several companies told him hiring was frozen, and the openings he did see were in AI — a skill set he does not have. He has since driven for Uber, DoorDash and Walmart Spark, drained savings, run up credit card debt, and raised over $9,000 (₹8.71 lakh) through GoFundMe. He is now weighing a return to India. His own diagnosis: age, a two-year employment gap, and an IT industry being reshaped by AI. Key signal: A 61-year-old IIT Kanpur alumnus with over two decades in IT spent two years without a full-time role in the US, raised over $9,000 (₹8.71 lakh) via GoFundMe, and says he lacked the AI expertise employers now demand. For hiring leaders, this matters because this is not a sob story; it is a demand-side signal. The US tech market is not short of experienced engineers — it is short of experienced engineers whose skills map to AI-era work. That has two consequences for Indian hiring leaders. First, the 'returning NRI' talent pool is about to get deeper and more senior, and it will include people with real delivery experience but dated stacks. Second, the same reset is coming for India's own mid-career bench. Firms that treat reskilling as a CSR line item rather than a capacity plan will be carrying the same problem in 24 months, at scale. Teksands view: Treat this as a demand signal, not a human-interest story. The US market is not rejecting experience — it is rejecting experience that does not map to AI-era work. Indian IT services and GCCs are sitting on the same cohort, still billing, still un-reskilled. You have a window to convert 15-to-25-year veterans into AI-adjacent delivery capacity before the bench forces the decision for you. Also audit your screening: a two-year gap now disqualifies faster than a missing degree, and that filter will eventually catch your own people.
Key fact
A 61-year-old IIT Kanpur alumnus with over two decades in IT spent two years without a full-time role in the US, raised over $9,000 (₹8.71 lakh) via GoFundMe, and says he lacked the AI expertise employers now demand.
Why it matters
This is not a sob story; it is a demand-side signal. The US tech market is not short of experienced engineers — it is short of experienced engineers whose skills map to AI-era work. That has two consequences for Indian hiring leaders. First, the 'returning NRI' talent pool is about to get deeper and more senior, and it will include people with real delivery experience but dated stacks. Second, the same reset is coming for India's own mid-career bench. Firms that treat reskilling as a CSR line item rather than a capacity plan will be carrying the same problem in 24 months, at scale.
The Teksands point of view
Treat this as a demand signal, not a human-interest story. The US market is not rejecting experience — it is rejecting experience that does not map to AI-era work. Indian IT services and GCCs are sitting on the same cohort, still billing, still un-reskilled. You have a window to convert 15-to-25-year veterans into AI-adjacent delivery capacity before the bench forces the decision for you. Also audit your screening: a two-year gap now disqualifies faster than a missing degree, and that filter will eventually catch your own people.
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