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If there's a tech skills shortage, why so many computer graduates unemployed?

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Re: If there's a tech skills shortage, why so many computer graduates unemployed?

#61

Post by muninn_ »

presidentender wrote: post #35
mrcactu5 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the standards are lower (certainly they weren't at Princeton) -- University standards may not perfectly align with the job market, perhaps?

Your humblebragworthy alma mater is not Flyover State University, home of the Footballs. The Princetons and Stanfords and MITs of the world don't have the bandwidth to fill the industry's demand.

Meh, not all the great programs are on the coasts. Any Big 10 school (carrying on with the football reference lol) is going to be at least decent, and a few are world class:

Carnegie Mellon (not a Big 10 school I know) #1 globally Michigan Illinois Northwestern Purdue Wisconsin Ohio State

to name a few.

Re: If there's a tech skills shortage, why so many computer graduates unemployed?

#62

Post by ipnon »

drakonandor wrote: post #22
zzalpha wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Umm... Of course they're graduating with no professional coding experience. The entire point is they don't have professional experience yet. What the hell do you expect them to do? They have to start somewhere. Do chemical companies refuse to hire newly graduated chemical engineers who don't have professional chemical engineering experience? That doesn't even make sense.

Projects. Internships. I would never hire a graduate without at least some combination of those. Typically, getting a 'real' internship requires projects anyway so we can just say internship experience. And yes, good chem E candidates have internship or project experience, in conjunction with decent grades to show they understand the theory.

How is your company doing overall?

Re: If there's a tech skills shortage, why so many computer graduates unemployed?

#63

Post by [deleted] »

throwmeOct7 wrote: post #23

I would like to hear from the point of view of a recent computer science graduate here, who is having trouble finding a job. I can see how you might want to work at one of the big companies, but they want "5 years of Angular" and okay, you don't have that. Maybe you have only 1 year of Angular and you're the most passionate Angular developer out there, but they won't even talk to you. That happens, I can see that. It…

[deleted]

Re: If there's a tech skills shortage, why so many computer graduates unemployed?

#64

Post by wolfgke »

ryandrake wrote: post #59
jimmydddd wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this point. A Rutgers University professor did some research on this issue. He is quoted as saying something like "just because I can't find a 60 inch flat screen TV for $100 doesn't mean there's a shortage of flat screen TVs."

Yea, I use the "I want a $10K Ferarri = shortage of Ferarris" example but it's the same thing. The word shortage is meaningless without stating the asking price.

"Shortage" means that even if you payed absurdly high prices you will not get any/not enough, though you would immediately be willing to pay that price.

Re: If there's a tech skills shortage, why so many computer graduates unemployed?

#65

Post by muninn_ »

Old_Thrashbarg wrote: post #47

In San Francisco and the Bay Area, it does feel like there's a shortage of good developers. I say that because I know contractors (with a couple years of experience) who make $250 or $300 per hour. That's very burdensome for startups and the cost is necessarily passed on to consumers. On the flip side, coming out of academia, I had a hard time landing my first industry job.

Move out of the bay area then. That area is one of the most expensive places on the planet. You're not going to find "cheap" developers because they can't afford to be in expensive.

Re: If there's a tech skills shortage, why so many computer graduates unemployed?

#66

Post by skciva »

The article mentions 11.7% CS UK grads unemployed after 6 months. This doesn't surprise me nor does it concern me that the bottom ~10% of students are struggling to find work.

What's giving them trouble is probably what plagued them in school: laziness. As a recent US grad in CS, most of my peers (in CS and outside) who couldn't find work after college slept walk through their classes and did next to no extracurricular work.

When you've got below average grades, little to show outside of your degree, and you struggle with interviews (due to your minimal effort in college), don't be surprised if finding a job is difficult.

Re: If there's a tech skills shortage, why so many computer graduates unemployed?

#67

Post by sharemywin »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #40
sharemywin wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is the shortage is with companies wanting exactly "XYZ" experience in the last 2-3 years.

If there was a real shortage, it wouldn't be a problem. The more a business needs labour, the more flexible the 'requirements'.

Businesses have a hard time quantify the value of IT labor. add a widget maker and he can produce x more units. If the demand is good enough they hire him. with IT its different. I could write thousands of lines of shitty code and it takes a while to figure it out especially if I'm "training".

Re: If there's a tech skills shortage, why so many computer graduates unemployed?

#68

Post by CuriousCosmic »

muninn_ wrote: post #61
presidentender wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your humblebragworthy alma mater is not Flyover State University, home of the Footballs. The Princetons and Stanfords and MITs of the world don't have the bandwidth to fill the industry's demand.

Meh, not all the great programs are on the coasts. Any Big 10 school (carrying on with the football reference lol) is going to be at least decent, and a few are world class: Carnegie Mellon (not a Big 10 school I know) #1 globally Michigan Illinois Northwestern Purdue Wisconsin Ohio State to name a few.

I can say that Carnegie Mellon is definitely ranked nationally a Top 10 university in computer engineering and/or computer science.

Re: If there's a tech skills shortage, why so many computer graduates unemployed?

#69

Post by JetSetWilly »

LeanderK wrote: post #48
JetSetWilly wrote: post #30

From my experience interviewing CS grads in the UK, I'd say the answer is pretty obvious: 'cos most of them are inexplicably rubbish. For example I recently interviewed someone with CS degree (sorry, "informatics" according to them) and masters from edinburgh uni who couldn't join 2 tables, write fizzbuzz-type code, etc. I don't know if it is because of group work or some other effect, but credentials even from decen…

How many CS grads commited to open source projects regularly? Do they perform better in interviews?

Some do, not that many. I have interviewed some stellar candidates who were heavily involved in some project they were passionate about (my favourite was one that wrote an emulator for a 90s-era games VM I won't mention) - so there's definitely some relationship between people who code for passion and interest and people who are good at coding - which isn't exactly surprising.

Re: If there's a tech skills shortage, why so many computer graduates unemployed?

#70

Post by scarmig »

ryandrake wrote: post #57
noamsml wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Low wages? Silicon valley engineers tend to be fairly highly paid...

SOME Silicon Valley engineers are fairly highly paid. Especially so if you only read HN, where there's always someone who's brother's girlfriend's roommate knows someone at Google who makes $250K, therefore this must be an average salary.

$250k isn't at all unreasonable for a SWE who works at Google. And there are tens of thousands of them in the Bay Area. These are not imaginary unicorns we're talking about.
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