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Hey everyone,
Monday.com just laid off around 630 people, about 20% of the company, and called it a strategic pivot to AI.
The stock didn't buy it. Monday.com is down more than half its value in 2026, and roughly 75% off its 52-week high. Market cap: from a $7.6 billion IPO valuation down to about $3 billion.
This week: why "we cut jobs for AI" stopped being a story Wall Street rewards, and what that actually means for the CS student trying to get hired into whatever's left of the SaaS industry.
Roles of the Week
Google — Software Engineering Intern (Summer 2027, BS/MS) — application window opened this month, reviewed on a rolling basis. Earlier is always better here.
Amazon — Software Development Engineer Intern (2027) — recruiting trackers expect Amazon's general SDE intern posting to open within weeks. Get the resume ready now, not the week it drops.
Anthropic — New-grad software engineering roles — their own careers page says a PhD isn't required. Shipped something real, even a side project? Put it at the top of your resume.
Monday.com fired 630 people "for AI." Wall Street called BS.
wall street rn
On July 22, Monday.com's co-founders told employees they were cutting about 630 jobs, a fifth of the company, with roughly 350 of them in Israel, to go all in on what they're calling an AI Work Platform. Leadership was clear it wasn't meant as a cost-cutting move. It's a bet that people and AI agents will run the company together going forward.
Investors didn't read it that way.
Monday.com's stock has lost more than half its value in 2026, and is down roughly 75% from its 52-week high. Market cap has fallen from a $7.6 billion IPO valuation to around $3 billion.
And it's not just one company's story. A Financial Times analysis found that companies citing AI as a factor in layoffs have underperformed the Nasdaq by close to 10% in the 30 trading days after the announcement. The market isn't rewarding "we did this for AI" the way it did a year ago. It's starting to read it as a warning sign.
What "AI-first restructuring" meant in 2024: efficient, forward-thinking, buy the stock.
What it's starting to mean in 2026: this team is under real pressure to prove the strategy actually works, and the market isn't sure it can.
Zoom out and the pattern is everywhere. US tech companies have cut nearly 140,000 jobs so far in 2026 citing AI as a factor. Amazon, Oracle, Meta, and Microsoft alone account for about 50,000 of those. GitLab cut 14% of its staff in June to fund AI infrastructure. Oracle disclosed a 21,000-person reduction over the past year, partly attributed to AI adoption.
Here's the part that actually matters for your job search:
Your move:
Stop saying "I use AI tools" in interviews. Every candidate says that now. Show something an AI agent alone couldn't have shipped: a judgment call, a messy integration, a decision with no clean right answer.
Target the team that survived the cut, not the press release. The engineers still there are the ones leadership just bet the entire company on. That's who you want to learn from and get hired next to.
Watch how a company frames its own layoffs. "AI-first restructuring" plus a cratering stock means the bar for the next hire isn't headcount-filling. It's proving the story right. Come in with proof, not vibes.
The companies NOT getting wrecked are doing one thing differently
Monday.com's 630 layoffs were concentrated in two places: Tel Aviv and its US HQ. That's the old playbook. Build one big team in one building. Hope the market stays kind to you.
The companies actually holding up through this reshuffle skipped that step entirely. No flagship office to gut when things get tight. No local entity required in every country they hire from. Just the best person for the job, wherever that person happens to be, from day one.
Turns out "distributed by design" survives a downturn a lot better than "concentrated and praying." Here's the infrastructure making that possible:
Thinking about hiring globally? Start with an EOR.
The best person for your next role might not live near your office—or even in the same country.
More companies are realizing they don't need to open entities everywhere just to access global talent. Instead, they're using EOR to hire internationally faster, stay compliant, and avoid building local infrastructure before they're ready.
Oyster's EOR helps companies hire, pay, and support employees in 180+ countries while Oyster handles payroll, compliance, taxes, and local employment requirements.
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Until next time,
– Team Jobless
