Zoho's Sridhar Vembu issues big warning to software engineers: 'High salary not birthright...'

In the current job scenario, the threat of AI takeover and layoffs have become a stark warning for the engineers, particularly software engineers. Now, Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu has also issued an alarming warning for the software engineers, saying that don't assume that high salaries will last forever as it is not "your birthright."

He took to X, and posted, “I have often said this to our employees: the fact that software engineers get paid better than mechanical engineers or civil engineers or chemists or school teachers is not some birthright and we cannot take that for granted, and we cannot assume it will last forever."

Sridhar Vembu advised software engineers to not take their jobs, responsibilities and high salaries for granted, writing, "the fact that customers pay for our products also cannot be taken for granted.”

"This is to remind ourselves that we can be "disrupted" - and the more we assume we won't be, the more likely we will be. Or as Andy Grove of Intel said "Only the paranoid survive," he added.

"The productivity revolution I see coming to software development (LLMs + tooling) could destroy a lot of software jobs. This is sobering but necessary to internalize," he concluded the post.

 May 18, 2025

Internet reacts

Social media users quickly reacted to Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu's viral post. This triggered a serious conversation, with many users agreeing to him, while others pointing out other factors like artificial intelligence.

One user praised him and said, "Well elucidated", pointing out how job opportunities are shrinking and Salary levels of software engineers are at risk. The user added, "Youngsters aspiring to get into the profession and lay off current employees."

Another user said, “India doesn't start innovating, we'll go from being the world's back office to being digitally unemployed. Will India continue to be a nation of IT coolies for foreign innovation, or will it finally start creating?"

One jokingly asked Grok AI, "Hey @grok, what is the average salary of mechanical vs software engineers in India?"

Another said, "A good reminder that value is contextual, not permanent. Software engineering rose to the top because it sat at the intersection of scalability and scarcity. But as AI collapses that scarcity, the value curve will shift again. The next premium will go to those who pair technical fluency with adaptability and judgment, not just code."

Lastly, one said, "I don't think jobs will disappear, they'll just pay a lot less, so the bloating in the IT industry will reduce gradually."