Leaders and citizens of Switzerland, this is a message from Toronto, Canada.

I'm contacting you about your problem.

Yes, I'm talking about this. It's time you up your game, Switzerland, because

let me tell you, Sweden's got some beautiful PR department in the government.

His Excellency Jacqu Pedulu, the ambassador of Switzerland to the United States of America, did his best.

But that video's got half a million views versus Sweden's.

So, I would like to help you out.

No, you didn't ask for this, but people from your country watch my channel, and I thought it's time to pay you back.

So, today is about you, Switzerland, and specifically about your tech because YouTube doesn't talk enough about your tech.

And let me tell you, of all places, you deserve some love.

I'm open to feedback, but I believe that we need to end this trend of you only being talked in the context of cost of living and billionaires as soon as possible

because you've got tech, Switzerland.

Please watch this excessively data heavy video on what's going on in your tech space and subscribe.

Thank you.

When I think about Swiss tech, I think niche and exclusive, but before this research, I couldn't really pin down exactly what makes Switzerland unique.

You hear UK fintech and cyber, Sweden, unicorns. Germany, industrial tech, but Switzerland.

This was by far the most difficult episode to work with because Switzerland isn't widely discussed on popular tech platforms or social media.

Most resources that I had to go through were either academic publications or technical analysis of semiconductors or government tech reports.

I dove deep into Switzerland's tech market in 2025.

And spoiler, this episode is going to be very detailed and probably long because there is surprisingly little up-to-date information out there.

This is a new episode of my series where to run where I explore where mid to senior tech professionals rebuild their careers in the aftermath of the pandemic and layoffs of the past three years.

And on today's episode, we've got Switzerland.

Please give us a thumbs up. We're working very hard to deliver the most honest and real content on the state of the tech market in the post-pandemic post layoff AI first era.

And as always, starting with tech scene and culture, the Swiss tech market in 2025 is experiencing a cautious recovery after a challenging period marked by the pandemic and the significant layoffs at the end of 2024.

Switzerland's tech sector is more insulated than global hubs like the US, Canada or UK. But nevertheless, it has not escaped the global wave of layoffs that began in late 2022 and accelerated over the past 3 years.

The Swiss market hit its lowest point at the end of 2024 and saw a modest 2% increase in vacancies in Q1 2025.

However, the total number of openings remains 9% below the same period in 2024, meaning their recovery is still very fragile.

The rebound is uneven and the labor market still remains strained due to global economic and geopolitical shifts.

Let's look at the layoff data.

In 2023, Google Zurich, Meta, Microsoft began global cuts which impacted the Swiss offices.

Hundreds were laid off although the exact fang figures are not public.

In 2024, approximately 2 and a half to three and a half thousand people were laid off at SD Micro globally with a significant share in Switzerland and plans to cut more.

On this channel, when I talk about tech, I primarily speak about SAS businesses first because that's what I work and what I know best.

But a lot of people have been asking to expand the scope and talk about hardware as well.

So in this episode and going forward, I will be covering broader tech including hardware, semiconductors, and IoT because the data that I go through covers various aspects of tech.

In 2025, and the data spans January through May, ST Micro cut 3,000 jobs globally, and a lot of them were cut in Geneva.

Swiss stock exchange operator 6 announced up to 150 job cuts.

From the big tech side, there have been further cuts at Microsoft.

I also found this chart and as you can see Switzerland is number two in Europe after Sweden in 2025 layoffs

but as I mentioned before Sweden's layoffs primarily happened at Northfold whereas in Switzerland they're spread across companies.

Now what's driving layoffs in Switzerland?

The first thing is the overhiring correction.

Many layoffs are a correction after aggressive hiring during the pandemic's time especially at multinational tech firms.

As you all know this is not exclusive to Switzerland.

Fang folks in the states are going through a very rough time as well, just like it's pretty difficult in the UK or Ireland.

Reason number two, AI and automation.

Now, there's a lot of data that suggests that the companies are starting to restructure to align with rapid AI and automation advances, reducing rules in software development, support, and some engineering functions.

Now, despite what the big publications are saying, I am of the opinion that we are not fully in the AIdriven layoffs yet.

We're getting there. That I can tell you for sure.

But right now, the layoffs caused purely by AI and full automation are quite rare.

To prove my point that the bold click-bated statements around AI is coming for your jobs are not factual as of yet, here are some AI and automation data on Switzerland.

46.8% of Swiss companies use AI tools to support development processes.

But of those, only 42.7 apply AI to actual workflows.

And of all the workflows that rely on AI assistance, less than 25% are automated with little to no human intervention.

Customer service and IT support are seeing higher automation rates.

But for example, CLA that replaced 700 support agents with AI in 2022 later reversed that decision due to degraded customer experience.

Now, here are some stats on what's really being automated in Switzerland as of now.

As you can see, all of these are improvements, significant improvements to the workflows, but not full replacements.

The effects of AI layoffs are incremental rather than absolute.

So, do not blame layoffs fully on AI just yet.

The second driver of the layoffs in Switzerland are economic headwinds.

Global economic uncertainty and the US China tech war caused a slowdown in tech investment in Europe and led to cost cutting and consolidation particularly in hardware and semiconductor companies.

The broader Swiss tech industry, including mechanical and electrical engineering, continues to face headwinds with sales down 3% in Q1 2025 compared to the previous year, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of decline.

New orders have stagnated, reflecting risks from international trade tensions.

Sectoral impact, semiconductors, ST Micros, China's push for self-reliance and therefore reduced EU semiconductor export to China by 2.1 billion, which is 18% less in 2024.

big tech offices, Google, Zurich, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, cuts throughout the entire sector

and in the fintech space, the Swiss stock exchange and some banking IT divisions.

On the startup front, some smaller tech firms have downsized, but the details are less public.

Again, same story as Germany.

Local talent is very expensive because Switzerland is a very expensive country, the most expensive one in Europe, if not on the planet.

Now, let's talk about the characteristics of the Swiss tech and what makes Switzerland different.

Switzerland is a very niche and a very high value market.

It's small but mighty and really unlike anything else in Europe.

Switzerland invests heavy in highly specialized technology such as hardware, sensors, ultra- low power chips, semiconductors, medical tech, and of course fintech.

Why such a heavy focus on semiconductors?

It's a combo of Swiss academic history, country strategy, and niche market dominance.

ETHZurich and EPFLAN rank among the world's best universities for engineering and technology.

They do top-notch research in semiconductor design and ultra low power systems.

ETHZurich alone produces more than one and a half thousand engineering graduates annually, many entering the semiconductor sector.

Plus, Switzerland has launched a 33.8 million Swiss Franks chip initiative to align with the EU and US semiconductor strategies.

Another area of specialty is medical tech.

ABBA fertility tracker uses Swisses low power chips.

IB doc, the smartphone based rapid test for intestinal diseases which can make a diagnosis in 15 minutes.

AED tracks builds IoT systems that monitor defibrillators using cloud analytics to make sure that they're actually ready when somebody needs them in an emergency.

Sensors using ventilators and insulin pumps for precise fluid and gas control.

Last but not least, the good old Swiss banking and fintech.

Switzerland's reputation as a global banking and wealth management center and a 700year banking heritage gives them deep technical financial expertise and a pool of top tier financial talent.

The Swiss financial market is known for its highly pragmatic and innovationfriendly approach including the introduction of a fintech license in 2019.

Switzerland was among the first to create a legal framework for blockchain and digital assets which made it a magnet for crypto and tokenization projects.

They've got progressive and welcoming approach to open banking and regulatory tech.

Notable companies, all of these Switzerland's famous political neutrality and avoidance of being the EU member and strong intellectual property protections attract multinational giants like Google and Microsoft to establish R&D centers.

And yes, layoffs are happening, but it doesn't mean that it's all over.

The industry is changing, not dying.

And if you think about it, it's no wonder that Switzerland picked this strategy.

They had to differentiate somehow.

They have a small population, 8.89 million as of 2023.

They have four national languages and unique dialects, two of which are not international.

Swiss German is a beast of a dialect in and of itself, and French is the only spoken more or less globally, but it's not the go-to language in the tech industry.

Swiss people are highly educated.

English is commonly spoken in larger cities and tech hubs.

But outside the expat and tech concentration, local languages are highly prioritized and as I have expressed in my previous videos, I think that the prioritization of local languages is a great thing to do.

All of this is to say that Switzerland's tech scene is very different from tech in England, Germany, or even Sweden.

They had to differentiate in a way that will go in line with their political neutrality and being fairly close to foreigners, especially non-EU nationals.

Onto the trends of 2025.

The most sought-after skills in 2025 are artificial intelligence, cyber security, cloud computing, and infrastructure management.

No surprise here.

Employers are also prioritizing integration engineers, security engineers, and cloud engineers.

Cyber security in particular is one of the top concerns for Swiss businesses with 65% of executives identifying it as their number one priority.

I also found some social proof from people who currently live in Switzerland and work in tech, saying that the only feasible way to break into Swiss tech from the EU is through cyber sec jobs.

But I don't have personal experience or data to back this up.

About 92% of tech job postings offer permanent contracts and companies are investing heavily in employee development with 42% funding external learning.

Now, let's look at the open roles in the software sector because I work in software as a service and that's what I know best.

But in the future videos, we will also be covering broader tech roles.

Now, this is filtered down to past week as I want to mimic the experience of someone exploring tech market in Switzerland and potentially applying for jobs

because if you know anything about LinkedIn applications, you'll probably know that there is no point in applying for roles that were posted longer than 2 weeks ago.

Now, this data is on the country level, which is probably not how one would be looking when exploring roles in Switzerland, but I wanted to see what's happening on the national level.

I'm filming this on May 29th, 2025.

All right, so looking at software engineering, the highest number of open jobs and we're at 1,029.

As you can see, the vast majority of openings are in Zurich, fewer in Geneva, and a couple in burn.

There is a bit more variety here with Zurich being number one and some other openings in Loausanne.

But you can see the UAE openings here as well with relocation packages.

Machine learning and data science doesn't look very good to be honest and here's why.

Lastly, looking at cyersack and cloud as those were listed as high demand jobs in various sources and Swiss tech reports that I was able to find.

So despite cyersack and cloud being cited as the most sought-after skills, I can't really make a definite conclusion based on what I'm seeing here.

But then also remember that the job postings vary by season.

Really curious to hear what the people who have experience in the Swiss market think and especially Swiss locals.

I'll be honest, when I started researching this video, I did not expect to see numbers this low.

Thousand openings for software engineering and 107 for product management for the entire country considering a relative recovery.

This kind of led me to research the size of the tech market in Switzerland.

And because it's typically a good metric to assess the overall dynamic of the tech ecosystem in any given country.

So moving on to the tech market size, the overall Swiss information and communications technology market which includes SAS, IoT, system design, hardware, is expected to reach $129 billion in 2029, which is up from $17 billion in 2024.

This represents a compound annual growth rate at 8.96%.

Onto the IT service market, the segment was valued at 2.4 billion in 2024 and is forecasted to grow at 6.6% through 2023.

This growth is driven by cloud adoption, cyber security demand and technical transformation initiatives and the rollouts of the 5G networks.

And lastly, the data center market.

The Swiss data center market was valued at 1.02 billion US in 2024 and is expected to nearly double to 1.99 billion US by 2030, growing at 11.72% annual growth.

Okay, so we've looked at the numbers and yes, it's growing.

Something's happening.

But what does this really mean?

Let's put this into context.

As I started thinking about how I would put this into context, it took me quite a bit of time to settle on the metrics that I thought would be appropriate for this context and find a benchmark to paint the picture.

Switzerland is a small and a highly specialized market.

It's premium and niche.

They double down on hardware.

They double down on fintech and precision industries like medical tech.

So comparing it to the UK or Germany only just because they're all in Europe is not really a fair comparison in my opinion.

They're very different in market dynamics. that are very different in market specializations, the population, the education system, and the imported talent.

So, the countries I picked are comparable in terms of market size dynamics, country size, tech specialization, and the impact on the tech industry overall.

And the table that I compiled describes the nuances of each.

Each of these regions has cultivated a reputation for a strong performance in niche fields, high demand for specialized skills, and a focus on specific technology without having access to massive domestic markets like the US or China.

Additionally, these countries often outperform larger economies and innovation per capita, offer stable and supportive business environments, and are highly connected to the global tech networks, which is why I use them as relevant benchmarks.

Moving on to the outsourcing trends, 35% of Swiss organizations plan to increase their IT outsourcing activities over the next 2 years, while 37% intend to maintain current levels.

Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Ukraine, and Bulgaria are the top nearshoring destinations for Swiss companies due to cost savings, cultural proximity, and time zone alignment.

Remember the Germany video?

Yep, nearshoring is a trend, and it will only continue growing.

IT services, cloud migration, support and data analytics are the most commonly outsourced functions which we can see from the number of job postings.

Customer service is also increasingly outsourced.

Local talent based in Switzerland is typically hired for projects requiring strict data security compliance with the Swiss law or close collaboration.

That was by far the longest tech scene and culture section I've done.

Onto the fun stuff. Quality of talent.

Switzerland is internationally recognized for its exceptional quality of tech talent.

They have a world-class education system.

The country has outstanding STEM universities, notably ETHZurich, which is often referred to as the best university in Europe.

ETHZurich, for example, is ranked seventh in the world in 2025 and is renowned for producing 22 noble laureats, including Albert Einstein.

His education was attributed to Switzerland.

And please don't forget all of these people who have less media presence than Mr. Einstein, but absolutely deserve love and attention.

Also, Federal de loan which consistently ranks among the top institutions globally for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

EPFL is known for its research particularly in computer science and engineering.

These universities graduate thousands of highly skilled STEM professionals each year who are sought after by both Swiss as well as multinational tech giants.

However, despite the robust output of top tier graduates, Switzerland faces a persistent shortage of tech talent, especially in fields like AI, cloud computing, and cyber security, which leads to a strong reliance on imported talent.

Now, how come Switzerland doesn't have enough domestic talent given such a strong educational foundation?

There are a few reasons.

Not enough young talent entering the field.

The number of young people graduating with IT skills is not keeping pace with the rapid growth and demand for tech roles.

Switzerland has a pretty small population after all.

Again, this is not exclusive to Switzerland.

England has the exact same problem with not enough youth entering the system.

Rapid evolution of tech, the pace of technological advancements, especially in deep tech, cloud, and cyber security outstrips the speed at which new talent can be trained or upskilled.

So clearly there is a strong demand for specialized talent, but a weak supply.

So let's talk about where Switzerland gets its talent from.

Like most of Western Europe and the world in general, Switzerland's aging population and declining birth rates mean they have no choice but to rely on imported talent to meet the technical demand.

However, Switzerland immigration system has been historically regulated and restrictive, especially for non-EU and non EFA Iceland lienstein and Norway nationals.

But in the light of a significant talent shortage, the Swiss government is supporting talent growth with work permit quotas which is 8 and a half thousand for non-EU tech talent in 2025.

and they introduce policies to attract international talent.

Now, not all 8,000 permits are allocated to technical roles and competition for these permits is fierce across multiple highskll sectors.

The 8 half,000 permits are split into 4 and a half long-term permits and 4,000 short-term permits for non-EU, nonfta nationals.

So, let's work with this number a little bit. 8,000.

Is it a lot? Is it a little?

8 and a half thousand is approximately.1% of the total population.

And if it seems like a tiny number, let me assure you that in the context of Switzerland, this is them being very generous giving their historical patterns.

Switzerland provides just enough quotas to fill critical roles and the goal behind it is to maintain a balance between economic needs and regulated immigration.

Switzerland has been historically very difficult to break into, and I don't blame them for it.

It's just something worth noting.

Here's a quick example from personal experience.

I worked with two people here in Canada in late 2010s and one person was a French national, the other one was Belgian.

Both of them were good friends and both of them went to study in the states.

Both exceptionally skilled technical architects, one was a data architect and the other one was a software architect.

And the person from France was a Harvard and MIT grad and the person from Belgium was a Carnegie Melon alum.

Both highly experienced, both got experience from the states.

Both went back to Europe after studying and working in the US.

Both tried to get into Switzerland and both had zero luck.

Now, I'm well aware that two people is not representative at all, but I just remember being shocked at the time when I heard how difficult it was to break into Switzerland.

So, that's just a little story from personal experience.

The vibe.

Let's talk about what it feels like to work in Switzerland in some of their biggest tech hubs.

Each city has its own personality, and trust me, the differences matter more than you think.

Zurich is Switzerland's financial and tech capital, offering great salaries, buzzing international scene.

Fast-paced, research-driven, and dense with global tech giants and startups.

ETH plays a big role in the city's tech culture, similar to how Stanford influences the vibe of the Silicon Valley.

It is known for Google Zurich, Google's largest engineering office outside of the United States,

Scandit, computer vision, barcode scanning, augmented reality, Beekeeper, Workforce Management, Deep Code, acquired by Sneak, a fantastic company, and I've been fortunate enough to deal with some of the Sneaks folks.

It is a very strong global developer security company.

IBM Research known for its breakthroughs in quantum computing, AI, and blockchain.

Zurich is predominantly German speaking, Swiss German, I'd like to emphasize, which can be challenging even for native German speakers.

English is the lingua frana in many tech workplaces, especially at multinationals and startups.

But knowing the local language is a significant advantage for integration and career progression.

Plenty of expats successfully work in Swiss tech without full fluency in a national language particularly in technical roles.

But again, career progression very often as you know depends on your network.

Also, Zurich is known for eyewatering prices.

Geneva more international, more diplomatic.

It is home to the United Nations, World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, European Organization for Nuclear Research, and hundreds of NOS's.

For the technative companies, the biggest ones are Teos Banking Software, SD Micro, Semiconductors, and Sensors.

Salaries are competitive with Zurich, and rent prices are slightly friendlier, although we're still talking expensive.

In fact, when you hear Switzerland, it's almost a rule of thumb that it's going to be expensive.

Lozanne, home to EPFL, very strong emphasis on AI, robotics, and medtech and R&D with a French-speaking academic and startup ecosystem.

It is very academic and very R&D.

Lozanne is a Swiss and European leader in medical tech, biotech and advanced engineering with startups like Luna and Readily 3D at the forefront.

They also pioneer development in clean techch and space tech and of course cyber security with companies like Wiz, which is a 3D biometric authentication.

Now, each city has its own regional nuances.

In Geneva, it's about diplomatic circles.

In Zurich, you better speak Swiss German if you want those doors to open fully for you.

Lozanne with burn or B have these tight-knit professional communities where relationship really matter, meaning the language really matters, too.

Cost of living.

Switzerland is notorious for having one of the world's highest costs of living.

Remember how I told you that there is very little content about the Swiss tax scene?

Well, let me tell you that if there is one topic about Switzerland that is widely discussed on the internet and on social media, it's the cost of living.

I'm not going to get into much detail as there is plenty of videos from the people who actually live there.

But as I was doing the research, I came across a bunch of videos where the Swiss living on the border with France do grocery shopping in France and how there is a limit to how much meat they can bring back with them.

These substantial living expensive create a unique economic environment where high salaries don't necessarily translate to wealth accumulation.

Now, I personally wouldn't call Switzerland a country that you come to to accumulate wealth fast.

And this applies to Western and Northern Europe in general.

It is a place where it's much easier to preserve wealth than to make it.

In my personal opinion, Europe is really good for two cohorts of people.

The first cohort is when you want a really beautiful, aesthetically beautiful and comfortable life, and you're perfectly happy with being middle class.

You appreciate your quality of life. You appreciate your weekend travels, etc.

You do not need a house with four parking spots.

And the second cohort, you either grow up with money or you bring money with you to Europe.

Switzerland has one of the highest levels of wealth concentration in the world and a significant share of its richest residents inherited their wealth.

Research shows that 60% of Switzerland's richest people acquired their fortunes through inheritance compared to 31% in the US where self-made wealth is much more common.

that upward mobility is possible in Switzerland, especially if we're talking about those high demand sectors.

But the scale and the fluidity of the economy differs significantly from the US.

Now, I'm making an emphasis on the money aspect because a lot of people who contemplate Switzerland have these romanticized dreams of how rich they're going to get if they move there.

They see the salary comparison to the US and they go, "This is the US of Europe."

No, it is not the US.

Salary is not the only factor that defines your earning potential.

Switzerland is not a place for raxs to reach his stories on the scale of California or Texas.

But on the other hand, you can become a very solid upper middle class or even affluent by European standards.

And if you are a highly skilled individual whose specialty is in very high demand and if you're able to integrate well into the Swiss society.

Also, Switzerland has a nuanced tax system with taxes at the federal, canonal, and municipal levels.

For tech workers who come from abroad, the permit type determines if they're taxed from their salary or annually.

There are also pet taxes.

You know how I typically include taxes in my tables, but for Switzerland, I decided not to to avoid people losing their in the comments saying that, well, I pay more or I pay half of that.

But what I have to say is that taxes are not very high compared to the rest of Europe or Canada.

Conclusion: Switzerland is a unique place for tech in Europe.

It's unlike any other country I've discussed in this series.

So when does Switzerland make sense?

It makes sense if you are a Swiss national with network graduating local schools, well-versed in the culture and language and a clear advantage in job access and integration.

It makes sense if your partner is Swiss and you're exploring the Swiss tech scene, knowing that you've got someone to rely on should things go wrong.

It makes sense if you're coming into the country with a strong compensation package and a highly specialized profession that Switzerland really needs.

It makes sense if you're an EU citizen and especially if you're coming from Italy, France, Belgium, or Germanspeaking countries and you're going to the canton where your native language is commonly spoken.

Your integration will be a lot smoother.

Switzerland is a perfect country for people who are not looking for lavishness or ostentatious wealth.

It's a polar opposite to the UAE, for example.

It's the country of quiet luxury where you can make a shitload of money but be perfectly comfortable biking home and living in something that looks like this.

Many well-paid folks live very modestly by North American standards, favoring quality, privacy, and understated comfort.

When does it not make sense?

If you are an EU national exploring tech markets and need a job within a foreseeable future, I would not count on Switzerland given the number of open rules.

If it pans out, great, but I wouldn't count on it.

You saw the number of job listings and the work permits they issue.

If you are an American citizen exploring European tax scene and you want to keep your American quality of life with tax salaries, I highly recommend that you explore Reddit threads.

There are a lot of comments from American expats saying that their purchasing power plummeted after I moved to Switzerland.

Especially factoring in housing and daily expenses.

And if you have children and both parents are working, meaning you need someone to look after your kids while you're at work, yeah, good luck with child care costs.

Also, the Swiss tech job market is highly competitive and selective with a preference for local or EU EFTA candidates, and the US is not part of either of these alliances.

It is probably not suitable if you're middle class with ambitions to become wealthy.

Switzerland is very attractive to those who are already established and seek stability, not for those looking for rapid wealth accumulation or flashy lifestyle.

And that's a wrap.

Switzerland, I would love to hear your take on this.

I had a blast doing research about your country.

Let me know what you guys think in the comments.

The next episode is coming very soon.

As always, I hope this was helpful.