The notification lit up phones across India at ungodly hours. TCS, the fortress of Indian IT, the company that parents still mention with reverence when discussing their children’s career prospects, just announced 12,000 job cuts. Not a gentle trimming or a seasonal adjustment. Twelve thousand people.
In living rooms across the country, engineering students probably felt their stomachs drop while scrolling through the news. Meanwhile, their parents continued planning elaborate celebrations for placements that suddenly seemed less permanent than anyone imagined.
Welcome to 2025, where even the titans are trembling.
When the Fortress Falls
TCS, the very company that once hoarded freshers like precious collectibles, letting them warm benches for months while they figured out what to do with them, are cutting 12,000 jobs. The move comes amid growing macroeconomic uncertainty and increasing AI-led disruptions impacting technology demand, affecting approximately 2% of its global workforce.
This is not another corporate restructuring announcement buried in business pages, but the sound of the last supposedly recession-proof industry discovering it is not immune to the great reshuffling that is coming for us all. The same company that once promised job security to lakhs of Indian families just admitted that even they cannot predict what skills will matter tomorrow.
For young Indians stepping into the workforce or those about to, this is a glimpse into their future reality.
The Great Rewrite
Consider the curious case of modern Indian youth. They speak fluent meme, navigate dating apps with the strategic precision of war generals, and master viral trends before they hit mainstream. They are more connected, more informed, and theoretically more prepared than any generation before them.
Yet they are also living a carefully curated double life that would make a spy novel jealous.
At family gatherings, they still nod politely when uncles suggest studying hard as the solution to all career anxieties. They smile when aunties ask about their settled friends while swiping through potential matches on their phones under the dinner table. They live in shared apartments that their parents have never seen, pursue passions their families do not understand, and now face a job market that is being rewritten by algorithms faster than they can adapt.
Their adulthood is being edited in real-time, both by them and by forces completely beyond their control.
The Algorithm Ate My Job
Here is where it gets interesting (and terrifying). TCS CEO K Krithivasan said that the firings are not due to AI but a skill mismatch. Let that sink in for a moment. The largest IT company in India just admitted that thousands of their employees, people who were hired, trained, and paid by them, somehow ended up with the wrong skills.
How does that happen? Simple. The rules changed while they were playing the game.
AI is rewriting the entire job description of what it means to work in tech. Tasks that once required teams of junior developers can now be handled by a single person with the right AI prompts. Code that took weeks to write can be generated in minutes. Client presentations that required armies of consultants can be automated.
The bitter irony is that young Indians are incredibly adaptable to new technology. They learned viral dances during a global pandemic, mastered online classes without proper WiFi, and built thriving businesses from their bedroom floors. They should be the first to ride the AI wave, not get crushed by it.
Instead, they are caught in a perfect storm of timing, expectations, and systemic failures.
The Boomer Advice Bankruptcy
Just study hard and get a good job worked when jobs had predictable trajectories and skills had longer shelf lives. Today’s 22-year-old is entering a workforce where the hot skill of 2025 might be obsolete by 2027. They are being asked to choose career paths when entire industries are being automated out of existence.
“Put your phone away and focus” makes little sense when that phone is literally their primary tool for learning, networking, and building the skills that traditional education systems are failing to provide. “Be patient, your time will come” sounds hollow when AI productivity gains mean companies need fewer people to do the same work. Patience is not a virtue when the conveyor belt is speeding up and the seats are disappearing.
The Negotiation Generation
Yet here is what makes this generation remarkable – they are masters of negotiation. They have been editing their truth and living lives of careful balance since they first created social media profiles ingeniously hidden from their parents. They know how to present different versions of themselves to different audiences, how to code-switch between expectations and reality.
This skill, this ability to live authentically within constraints, to find creative solutions to impossible situations, might be exactly what they need for the AI age.
Making it in today’s job market is about being antifragile and, like a famous song once said, getting stronger because of the things that does not kill you. You have to build careers that can pivot, adapt, and evolve faster than any algorithm can replace them.
Prayers and Pragmatism
So yes, if you have cousins, nephews, or nieces graduating this year or in the next few, maybe say a prayer for them and also, talk to them. Ask them what they are building that cannot be easily replicated. Find out how they are positioning themselves beyond “just an employee”, to being creators, problem-solvers, and innovators.
The safety net that previous generations relied on, study hard, get a job, retire with a pension, has gaping holes in it now. The young ones entering the workforce now are dealing with so much more than typical career challenges. They are navigating a fundamental transformation of what work itself means.
However, the thing about the smartphone generation that their critics miss is that they have never known a world where you could not rebuild, restart, or reinvent yourself with the tap of a screen. They have been adapting to constant change since they were teenagers. They might just be better equipped for this new reality than anyone gives them credit for.
Remember, we still get to decide how the story ends.