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After 22 years in technology and work with 54 web companies, Reston resident Shallon Elizabeth Brown says even extensive experience and a doctorate could not protect her from repeated job losses, drained savings and financial uncertainty.

Brown explores those pressures in “Impossibly Hard: What’s Driving High Turnover in Tech?” Released Feb. 22, the book examines the forces behind technology-sector job instability and the costs borne by workers, families and communities.

Brown holds a doctorate in information systems engineering. Her career has included serving as chief technology officer at North Studio and consulting for the IRS, Johns Hopkins University and the U.S. Department of Education.

She once viewed her education and experience as “career insurance.” Instead, she said, contracts ended, jobs disappeared and unemployment benefits fell far short of her living expenses.

“I live alone with the dog. I lose my job in a contract, unemployment doesn’t cover 50% of it. I’m bankrupt and go back to live with my parents. I’m 42 years old,” Brown said in a Feb. 20 interview.

Technology careers can offer strong salaries, prestige and independence, she said, but those benefits may conceal constant turnover, burnout and financial precarity. Workers also face relentless pressure to update their skills and increasingly automated hiring systems that can prevent qualified candidates from reaching a human reviewer.

Brown said she wishes she had understood two decades ago that technology might not provide the stable, lifelong career she expected. She had assumed it would resemble other highly skilled professions rather than an industry marked by frequent layoffs and short tenures.

Northern Virginia appeared to offer particular security. Brown was drawn to the Reston-Fairfax area and the Dulles technology corridor, sometimes promoted as the “Silicon Valley of the East.” Now, she questions whether the region can sustain its technology workforce amid high housing costs and persistent job turnover.

“What attracted me to this area was the tech and all that comes with that … and I don’t see a sustainable future here, because of the affordability crisis and because of the high turnover in tech,” she said.

Brown cited a 69% turnover rate among software engineers, saying many leave their positions within two years. She also asserted that one in two technology workers will experience unemployment in a given year.

Her own employment history reflects that volatility. Over 22 years, she said, she has worked at 54 web companies.

Women and Black workers face added pressure

Brown argues that instability does not affect every technology worker equally. Women and Black employees, she said, encounter additional barriers that make it more difficult to remain in the industry or recover after losing a position.

She said seven in 10 women who enter technology leave the field within 10 years because of its intensity.

Black workers also remain sharply underrepresented. African Americans make up 13.3% of the population but less than 3.7% of the technology workforce, according to figures Brown cited. She said that disparity extends to Reston and Fairfax.

The problem is access to opportunity rather than a shortage of talent, Brown said. Informal professional relationships can help some workers hold onto jobs or quickly find comparable positions, while people from underserved communities may not have those connections.

“If you’ve been in an underserved community, you don’t have … a lot of those bindings,” she said, describing a workplace “buddy system” built through personal access to decision-makers.

A call for stronger protections

Brown wants workers, the public and elected officials to recognize how deeply turnover affects mental health, household finances and entire communities.

She argues that unemployment benefits must be strengthened to reflect basic living costs in expensive areas such as Fairfax County. Without a more effective safety net, she said, even previously successful workers can quickly lose their financial footing.

“If you don’t, then success is going to be a fleeting memory for a lot of us here,” Brown said.

She also calls for changes to contracting and hiring. Brown believes the technology industry’s dependence on short-term contracts and gig-style arrangements builds instability into employment. She says artificial intelligence used to screen applicants can shut out qualified candidates, including recent graduates, before they receive meaningful consideration.

Brown advocates for less automated and more equitable hiring, along with diversity and opportunity programs that produce measurable results. She also wants students to enter the field with a realistic understanding of its risks.

She describes “Impossibly Hard” as a survival guide intended to show workers that repeated job disruption is not necessarily a personal failure. Technology professionals should gather references early, expect frequent transitions and prepare financially and emotionally, she said.

Brown also linked the industry’s instability to severe burnout and mental health problems among its workers.

“We’ve got some of the highest rates of mental health crises, we’ve got some of the highest suicide rates,” she said. “We’ve got some of the highest burnout factor rates.”

Brown is arranging events and book signings for “Impossibly Hard,” which is available through Amazon.