Whew, it’s November! How did you celebrate Halloween and All Saint’s Day?

A lot of people in the Tech industry just got by. They’re still having trouble getting a job because even if there are listings, most of them are ghost jobs. 

I wrote about spotting and dodging fake listings back in June and OMG it’s absolutely relevant as of today. Share it with a friend who needs it.

Trivia Time: “Remember, remember the 5th of November.” In the UK, this day is well-celebrated with fireworks and bonfires. Find out other events that happened on November 5.

Inside:

Curated Tech Reads For You

Industry News

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Curated Tech Reads For You

Becoming a Better Writer

tl;dr “Writing is an increasingly important skill for engineering leaders. Poor writing can hamper career progression, above a certain level. Tactics for more clear, more frequent and more confident writing.” – Read more on The Pragmatic Engineer

Q: I’ve observed that my writing is not up to par with my peers. How can I improve my professional writing, as someone working in tech?

• The importance of writing

• The process of writing well

• Improve how you write 

How tech workers are feeling in 2026: a workforce splitting in two

tl;dr: “One half feels amplified by AI—more capable, more confident, more excited than they’ve been in their entire career.

The other half feels shaken by it—less sure of their value and whether there’s still a place for them. Which side of that line people fall on predicts how they feel about their career more than anything else, including their current role, seniority, company size, or any other measure we collected. The workforce is bifurcating into two realities.” – Read more on Lenny’s Newsletter

• The workforce is splitting into two

• Burnout is surging, optimism is fading

• Tech workers won’t recommend their own field

• Productivity is up, quality is questionable

• The underlying fear is of being overworked

• Almost everyone is ambivalent about AI

• Designers and researchers are most worried

• Founders are still the happiest people in tech, and small companies are still the best places to work.

• Managers are still the biggest lever for happiness.

• The industry, in tech workers’ own words, is “chaotic.”

Don’t you think this is happening in SE Asia as well?

Cybersecurity Career Pathways

Cybersecurity might be one of the in-demand jobs in the future according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).  If you’re keen to pursue a career in cybersecurity but not sure about the different paths, check this interactive career pathway by Cyberseek. 

Explore the key jobs within cybersecurity, common transition opportunities between them, and detailed information about the salaries, credentials, and skillsets associated with each role.

Defensive Driving For Your Career

tl;dr “To have a positive career you need to be appropriately recognized and rewarded for your work.

But there are a lot of ways that credit and/or rewards can get missed. Often it’s something unintentional, like your boss or some other executive simply didn’t realize what you accomplished, or didn’t understand the right way to compensate you for the value you’re adding.

Sometimes it’s more nefarious, and someone is trying to take credit for your work or otherwise keep you down. Either way you need to drive defensively - taking actions that allow you to make forward progress even if people around you are negligent or malicious.” –Read more on Stay SaaSy

• Take public credit

• Don’t let anyone lie about you

• Beware of people who think you got lucky

• Maintain leverage

• How to handle this as a leader 

Industry News

ChatGPT for Teens Carries ‘Unacceptable Risk’ for Teens, Report Claims: 

tl;dr “OpenAI's teen-focused chatbot fails to notify parents when the user talks about self-harm. 

OpenAI rolled out a teen-friendly version of its chatbot in August, following months of reports that ChatGPT lacked adequate safeguards for younger users. Now, a report from the nonprofit Common Sense Media claims the model designed specifically for teens still poses an “unacceptable risk.”

The researchers are now asking OpenAI to block ChatGPT access for teen users, that is, any account that isn’t a verified adult, until it addresses the safety risks.”  – Read more on Gizmodo

It Would Take Decades Before Robots Take Humans’ Jobs

A cause for celebration… Yay? 

tl;dr “Anthropic found that robots can perform about three-quarters of physical job tasks in the US, making up 34% of all working hours. At the same time, however, there are ‘significant barriers to adoption: most robots require highly structured environments, and are cost-competitive with people for just 0.3% of work.’

Robot prices have fallen about 3% a year since the 1990s. If that pace holds, the study estimates, it would take 40 years for robots to become cost-competitive for even 10% of US work.” – Read more on YahooFinance

Coursera’s Global Skills Report 2026

Coursera and Udemy have worked together to come up with the Global Skills Report 2026 and  their new AI-human synergy index. 

The report says that while there’s a surge in AI learning demand such as GenAI and Agentic AI, there’s been a surge of human skills enrollments, too. Courses on critical thinking skills are having a massive uptick yearly. Skills like judgment, complex problem solving, and figuring AI hallucinations are becoming core competencies according to the report. 

However, an independent body named  Skills Intelligence rebuts that platform activity cannot prove employer demand or workplace capability. Makes a lot of sense, especially when Coursera is out there advertising for themselves.

What did you like or not like in this issue? We love feedback so let us know by sending us a message!