Warning sign for panic?

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have resigned from their leadership positions with the company. This is a big change in tech, to put it mildly. Anyway, across the technology industry, CEOs are stepping down, according to new data (more details: http://www.challengergray.com/download/file/fid/668).

Is that a warning sign of some sort?

Between January and October, some 181 CEOs of tech companies have left their positions, a year-over-year increase of 46 percent. In comparison, the next-highest year for tech CEO turnover occurred in 2006, when 163 CEOs left technology companies.

It was warning of 2008 financial crisis?

Announced job cuts in the technology sector are up 380 percent over last year. Across all industries, the biggest job cuts are taking place in California, New York, Massachusetts, Texas, and Illinois—collective home to many substantial tech hubs, including Silicon Valley and Cambridge. The vast majority of cuts were due either to restructuring or companies shutting down.

Is it time to panic? Probably not.

It’s very possible to attribute the accelerated rate of job cuts in tech to several factors, including many companies deciding to shift their strategies to incorporate new technology. As businesses move to the cloud and automate processes, for example, the need for certain jobs decreases. A firm might no longer require the datacenter administrators and sysadmins who ran its on-premises server farm, for example, but they need more data scientists to wrangle the immense amounts of data they’re receiving from their new cloud-based tools.

But why are all the CEOs leaving?

That’s hard to say, but your typical CEO deals with factors that never confront your typical employee. If the company’s stock price doesn’t stay above a certain line, for example, or if there’s a fight for control among board members, they could find themselves out on the street again.