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New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

randalolson.com

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Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#11

Post by nradov »

gravypod wrote: post #4
nikolay wrote: post #3

Isn't getting a college degree actually making you more selective, too, leading graduates to pass on jobs they would otherwise have taken?

I've known a few college graduates who have come up in this market. From what I see, the common pattern is to try and get a position in your field for 3-10 months. Somewhere in that time range, they burn out. Then they apply for something field related for a few months. Then anything. Once they've exhausted all options they usually give up. We will likely have a similar concept in our country as China's "lying flat"…

American parents on average may be less willing and financially able to support deadbeat adult children than their Chinese peers.

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#12

Post by Rotdhizon »

This is the easiest niche to pick on but I am mid career for cybersecurity. I spend a decent amount of time trying to advise people away from this career field for college. So so so so so many people are going to college for cyber not realizing when they graduate, they are in totality unemployable. Really I'm not sure how new people to tech could even enter the industry, it seems like at the lower levels the entire industry is essentially closed.

However it happened, the absolute maniacal obsession with job experience has ruined the market. Yes the more involved jobs in information security do require widespread knowledge that can't necessarily be taught on site. A lot of the entry jobs in tech though are not complicated and can easily be taught on site but even then, companies have defaulted to requiring years of prior experience even for those positions.

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#13

Post by dr_dshiv »

OutOfHere wrote: post #7

Outside of medicine, a non-CS engineering degree, preferably also a masters, remains a good pathway to a reasonable non-parasitic job, although relocation may be required.

Can it be replaced with good references and an interesting portfolio?

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#14

Post by panny »

gravypod wrote: post #4
nikolay wrote: post #3

Isn't getting a college degree actually making you more selective, too, leading graduates to pass on jobs they would otherwise have taken?

I've known a few college graduates who have come up in this market. From what I see, the common pattern is to try and get a position in your field for 3-10 months. Somewhere in that time range, they burn out. Then they apply for something field related for a few months. Then anything. Once they've exhausted all options they usually give up. We will likely have a similar concept in our country as China's "lying flat"…

Hah, I speed ran that process when I graduated with a useless degree back in the dotcom days. I graduated and gave up any hope within 3 months. I was working at the shopping mall selling suits after that. I've since told anyone who will listen that college degrees are worthless and school loan debts are the kiss of death. Not many will listen, but I try.

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#15

Post by spunker540 »

Rotdhizon wrote: post #12

This is the easiest niche to pick on but I am mid career for cybersecurity. I spend a decent amount of time trying to advise people away from this career field for college. So so so so so many people are going to college for cyber not realizing when they graduate, they are in totality unemployable. Really I'm not sure how new people to tech could even enter the industry, it seems like at the lower levels the entire i…

I’m just a swe, but I kinda thought cyber is a good place to be, since the proliferation of insecure vibecoded apps.

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#16

Post by OutOfHere »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #13
OutOfHere wrote: post #7

Outside of medicine, a non-CS engineering degree, preferably also a masters, remains a good pathway to a reasonable non-parasitic job, although relocation may be required.

Can it be replaced with good references and an interesting portfolio?

For those with a CS degree, I think the issue is that we aren't correctly using CS and AI to amass power as we rightfully should. We literally hold in our hands the power to delete many desk jobs from existence, also to offer various original new services, but somehow we're feeling crippled. This disconnect requires bridging.

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#17

Post by rfgplk »

Rotdhizon wrote: post #12

This is the easiest niche to pick on but I am mid career for cybersecurity. I spend a decent amount of time trying to advise people away from this career field for college. So so so so so many people are going to college for cyber not realizing when they graduate, they are in totality unemployable. Really I'm not sure how new people to tech could even enter the industry, it seems like at the lower levels the entire i…

> However it happened, the absolute maniacal obsession with job experience has ruined the market.

The problem isn't necessarily with job _experience_. It's the acronym. Most employers seem to believe that YOE stands for years of _employment_, which has effectively cut off anyone who wasn't previously employed at a relevant position. You can gain experience in almost anything by working hard at home (and 90% of that would absolutely carry over to a FT position), but you can't do the same for employment (unless you accept fabricating your job history). Cybersecurity is actually a field where hacking away at home, messing around with codebases, doing ctfs can actually give you TONS of experience, but barring you coming up with major zerodays, no one cares.

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#18

Post by wizzwizz4 »

spunker540 wrote: post #15
Rotdhizon wrote: post #12

This is the easiest niche to pick on but I am mid career for cybersecurity. I spend a decent amount of time trying to advise people away from this career field for college. So so so so so many people are going to college for cyber not realizing when they graduate, they are in totality unemployable. Really I'm not sure how new people to tech could even enter the industry, it seems like at the lower levels the entire i…

I’m just a swe, but I kinda thought cyber is a good place to be, since the proliferation of insecure vibecoded apps.

There would not be such a proliferation if cybersecurity were a well-respected field.

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#19

Post by rfgplk »

spunker540 wrote: post #15
Rotdhizon wrote: post #12

This is the easiest niche to pick on but I am mid career for cybersecurity. I spend a decent amount of time trying to advise people away from this career field for college. So so so so so many people are going to college for cyber not realizing when they graduate, they are in totality unemployable. Really I'm not sure how new people to tech could even enter the industry, it seems like at the lower levels the entire i…

I’m just a swe, but I kinda thought cyber is a good place to be, since the proliferation of insecure vibecoded apps.

Most companies sadly don't care about security whatsoever.

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#20

Post by delfinom »

rfgplk wrote: post #19
spunker540 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m just a swe, but I kinda thought cyber is a good place to be, since the proliferation of insecure vibecoded apps.

Most companies sadly don't care about security whatsoever.

Yep, I think my megacorp's cybersecurity department is just a bunch of checklist punchers that now just copy and paste any of our technical writeups into ChatGPT, and I am not even joking. Fucking infuriating.

They are doing the bare minimum for cybersecurity insurance requirements, thats it.

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