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Computer science has one of the highest unemployment rates

newsweek.com

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Re: Computer science has one of the highest unemployment rates

#3

Post by cs_throwaway »

CS professor with 15 years experience.

The massive boom in computer science enrollment over the last 20 years has been driven mostly by people chasing tech salaries, not by any real interest in computing itself. These students often show up completely unprepared for how difficult CS actually is, and universities have responded by dumbing down their programs to keep everyone happy and enrolled.

If this weeds out the people who are just there for the paychecks, it might actually be a relief to get back to teaching students who genuinely want to learn about computing.

Re: Computer science has one of the highest unemployment rates

#4

Post by bux93 »

The source is here https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market#--:...

I don't read too much into the fact that unemployment for nutrition science is at 0.4% - that doesn't mean those people are all working as nutritionists or even in a job that requires a degree. You can see this clearly in the underemployment rate which is 45%+.

Likewise, the top unemployment rate (9.4%) of those with an anthropology major probably doesn't mean all those people are living under a bridge - a fair number of them will be pretty well off, living off their parents and knew going in that their field doesn't hire millions.

So what to make of IT grads having high unemployment rates (but low underemployment rates! bottom 5 in those)? I feel some more on-the-ground reporting is needed.

The quotes from randos reacting in this article don't really help. "Every kid with a laptop thinks they're the next Zuckerberg, but most can't debug their way out of a paper bag," because debugging (like Zuck!) is computer science, apparently.

Re: Computer science has one of the highest unemployment rates

#8

Post by felixarba »

> Every kid with a laptop thinks they're the next Zuckerberg, but most can't debug their way out of a paper bag

I feel like I've seen this quote many times over the years.

Also, how do they calculate employment rate? If you get a job at McDonald's while having a civil engineering degree or nutrition science, that counts as employed as well, no?

Would be good to see how many are actually employed in their field of study

Re: Computer science has one of the highest unemployment rates

#9

Post by rvz »

This is nothing (it will get worse) compared to what will happen in 2030.

Just look at what is happening in just the last 5 to 6 months since this prediction was made [0]. The definition of "AGI" was hijacked to mean all sorts of things to the companies that operate the AI systems, even conflicting with each other on timeframes and goals.

But what really is the true definition of "AGI" is the blueprint inside the WEF's Future of Jobs Report 2025 [1] with the deadline of 2030 including mass layoffs which 40% of employers admittedly anticipate reducing their workforce where AI can automate tasks, as I said before [2]

So what AGI actually means is a 10% global unemployment increase by 2030 or 2035 and with all those savings going to the AI companies.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42490692

[1] https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-repo...

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42652402

Re: Computer science has one of the highest unemployment rates

#10

Post by paxys »

zettapwn wrote: post #2

[flagged]

It's mainly #1. For 20 years now we've been hearing non-stop about how computer science is this magical major where anyone can sleepwalk out of college into a 150k job. Parents have been pushing their kids into it whether they are interested or not. Colleges have been taking advantage by pushing sub-par programs and boosting graduation rates. The end result is a large number of CS graduates who can't write a for loop in an interview (and will then loudly complain about how the interview process is unfair).
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