Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Computer science has one of the highest unemployment rates

newsweek.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 130 posts

Re: Computer science has one of the highest unemployment rates

#121

Post by sys_64738 »

dagw wrote: post #74
giantg2 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first real language I learned was C++ and I was decent at it (best in class but mostly stuck with console based programs, nothing advanced like GUIs that year). I have never used it at work. If you look at job boards, it's overwhelmingly stuff like Java, JS/TS frameworks, etc. Why teach it when it seems like less than 10% of postings are looking for it? Might as well teach other languages and just learn it if you…

Why teach it when it seems like less than 10% of postings are looking for it? And we're back to the discussion of what is the point of a University CS education. I would argue that learning something like C++ is important for the same reason something like Lisp or Haskell is important. Not because it will necessarily help you get a job, but because it introduces you to new concepts and a new way of thinking about pro…

University isn't there to teach any languages. But it is there to provide the foundation and theory. If somebody wants practical C++ then go to a further education college.

Re: Computer science has one of the highest unemployment rates

#122

Post by sys_64738 »

cs_throwaway wrote: post #3

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 p…

There really is too much hand holding of university students nowadays. I don't think degrees are really equivalent to what they were thirty years ago. Back then the university was about weeding out the wasters and lazy folk who didn't study. College courses are meant to be hard for a reason. Don't get me started with that extra credit crap.

Re: Computer science has one of the highest unemployment rates

#123

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 »

"Despite computer science being ranked as number one by the Princeton Review for college majors, the tech industry may not be living up to graduates' expectations.

When it came to undergraduate majors with the highest unemployment rates, computer science came in at number seven, even amid its relative popularity.

The major saw an unemployment rate of 6.1 percent, just under those top majors like physics and anthropology, which had rates of 7.8 and 9.4 percent respectively.

Computer engineering, which at many schools is the same as computer science, had a 7.5 percent unemployment rate, calling into question the job market many computer science graduates are entering.

On the other hand, majors like nutrition sciences, construction services and civil engineering had some of the lowest unemployment rates, hovering between 1 percent to as low as 0.4 percent.

This data was based on The New York Fed's report, which looked at Census data from 2023 and unemployment rates of recent college graduates."

Source:

https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market (requires Javascript)

Data: (no Javascript required)

https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/research/interactive...

https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/research/interactive...

https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/research/interactive...

https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/research/interactive...

Civil Engineering 1.0%

Aerospace Engineering 1.4%

Mechanical Engineering 1.5%

Chemical Engineering 2.0%

Electrical Engineering 2.2%

General Engineering 2.4%

Miscellaneous Engineering 3.4%

Computer Science 6.1%

Computer Engineering 7.5%

Re: Computer science has one of the highest unemployment rates

#125

Post by amy_petrik »

mrkramer wrote: post #58
paxys wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even 20 years ago back when I was in college you had a sizable portion of kids who came in to study computer science thinking it would be fun and games. They were then made to study formal logic in their first semester and debug segfaults in gdb in the next, and by the end of the first year pretty much all of them had switched majors. Anecdotally I've heard that very few CS programs even use C++ anymore, and schools…

I tried to study IT(lighter version of CS) without any prior programming experience and our first programming language was Java because apparently with Java you "Write once, run anywhere". But when I saw Java's syntax, I was like....this is not happening. That was the golden age of mobile apps and our focus was on the mobile development since Web was not sexy anymore. I'm actually happy that I quit because all I hear…

> But when I saw Java's syntax, I was like....this is not happening.

No, you're good, this is the natural reaction of basically all programmers except for those strange beasts known as Java programmers who believe verbosity and needlessly complex yet organized in a twisted sense is nirvana, in the same way the accountant sees the tax return as nirvana. Many other language enthusiasts such as C, python, or LISP, will also get a bad taste for Java. Of course there are other gnarly languages such as APL or SAS.

Re: Computer science has one of the highest unemployment rates

#126

Post by neom »

dingnuts wrote: post #104
ramesh31 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I recently heard someone say "I've never had a job that didn't involve at least some Python". Tell me you've been in the field for less than 10 years without telling me. Python is a joke language with a joke name. The only reason it ever caught on for AI is that someone wrote a few good math libraries for it in the 2000s, and its' rise is entirely incidental to that.

I was taught Python in class twenty years ago. I use/used it for systems roles. I don't use it as much anymore but your comment is complete nonsense.

Are you trying to get banned from hackernews? You can't go around calling peoples comments complete nonsense, you called me full of shit last week. Do you even like this community? We try really hard to be civil to each other in this place. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Computer science has one of the highest unemployment rates

#127

Post by nickd2001 »

bilbo0s wrote: post #45
paxys wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even 20 years ago back when I was in college you had a sizable portion of kids who came in to study computer science thinking it would be fun and games. They were then made to study formal logic in their first semester and debug segfaults in gdb in the next, and by the end of the first year pretty much all of them had switched majors. Anecdotally I've heard that very few CS programs even use C++ anymore, and schools…

I think that's what the professor meant when s/he said that schools are "dumbing down" curricula. The amount of Python being taught is a bit concerning even from the perspective of personal economics. If I was paying all that money every term in tuition, I'd want them to teach me the hard stuff. Not the language I can learn in a weekend while I'm shirtless on the couch watching GameDay. It's like no one ever stops fo…

I would argue that Python, being a simple, easy to learn language, allows you to focus on other aspects of CS e:g complex algorithms. Rather than faffing about with memory management etc you can really study algorithms without the language getting in the way. Of course, this depends upon the professors actually teaching this "hard stuff" :)

Re: Computer science has one of the highest unemployment rates

#128

Post by nickd2001 »

giantg2 wrote: post #115
dpflan wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hm, I see. Do you use a coding assistant? Do you see value in keeping up or your morale is diminishing? Can you change teams or positions or focus?

I use Copilot, but it isn't that helpful. There is no morale - I'm so burnt out I fantasize about getting hit by a bus. No team will touch me on a PIP.

If genuinely feeling suicidal for any length of time, please reach out for help. :) From your many posts, some of which I replied to before, I believe you work at a soul-destroying place which isn't doing you any good, and I understand you're kinda stuck there cos of health insurance etc, but, what I'd say is try to live for today, not worry too much. IF they fire you, f** 'em. I bet your skills are better and more useful than you currently think. If you did get kicked out , you may well find something better. To me there doesn't seem evidence you'll be stuck working at Walmart. Maybe you could get a job in local state government? (OK not federal cos that's been gutted) Not stunningly paid but perhaps nicer working environment?

Re: Computer science has one of the highest unemployment rates

#129

Post by AlexeyBelov »

zettapwn wrote: post #113
JanneVee wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a link to the post (or posts) from Michael O. Church? I have a vague recollection of the idea but I would like to reread it with what I know today!

[flagged]

You're a 9 day old account, why are you terrified? I don't believe this is your first account on HN, so you'll just create a new one.

Re: Computer science has one of the highest unemployment rates

#130

Post by dang »

zettapwn wrote: post #113
JanneVee wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a link to the post (or posts) from Michael O. Church? I have a vague recollection of the idea but I would like to reread it with what I know today!

[flagged]

Please stop.
Post reply on HN