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Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

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Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#121

Post by throwawaysea »

standardUser wrote: post #64
throwawaysea wrote: post #38

Personally I think that this entire sector is due for a reduction. Companies like Facebook or Amazon or Google or just soaking up employees to work on things that don’t really matter. Once they figure that out and manage more efficiently, there will be layoffs followed by the inevitable commodification of CS talent. This field isn’t special, it’s like any other field that went through a boom phase and a later regress…

"Soon everyone in every role/industry will have rudimentary programming skills" I'm completely baffled as to where all of today's workers in their 20's, 30's and 40's, almost none of whom have any programming skills whatsoever, are going to learn programming skills in this "soon" timeframe.

I was deliberately vague. I don’t think the existing workers will pick up those skills but they will become increasingly unemployable if they do not.

Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#122

Post by briga »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #119
d-d wrote: post #91

Unpopular opinion: it's not a good career unless you are the best of the best. IMO blue collar work is a better option because it's easier work and more stable, and lets you have a life outside work. In software the hours are increasing to no real benefit, and free time is burnt just keeping with the times. The evolution of tools, best practices and high availability of quality knowledge has made it trivial to spin u…

> IMO blue collar work is a better option because it's easier work and-- Your opinion is wrong. Programming gigs, especially at the giant tech companies, are way, way easier than blue collar work. Blue collar work, especially skilled trade work, is a fine career option, but not because it's easy.

Programming and blue collar work are two different types of work, requiring different skill-sets that not everyone has. Ask your average construction worker to write a web app and no doubt they would find it very difficult. Ask your average programmer to build a house and they would also find it challenging.

Both types of work can be exhausting, it's just that one is mentally exhausting and the other is physically exhausting.

Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#123

Post by corporate_shi11 »

HashHishBang wrote: post #113
d-d wrote: post #91

Unpopular opinion: it's not a good career unless you are the best of the best. IMO blue collar work is a better option because it's easier work and more stable, and lets you have a life outside work. In software the hours are increasing to no real benefit, and free time is burnt just keeping with the times. The evolution of tools, best practices and high availability of quality knowledge has made it trivial to spin u…

This isn't just unpopular, it's ignorantly wrong. I've done blue collar work and CS work. Also the whole romanticizing of busting one's ass pisses me off to no end. > IMO blue collar work is a better option because it's easier work and more stable, and lets you have a life outside work. In software the hours are increasing to no real benefit, and free time is burnt just keeping with the times. This is all but objecti…

You hate the post, but the post is factually accurate. H1B abuse is indeed taking jobs from people and giving them to low wage workers who drive down wages for everyone.

Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#124

Post by lucb1e »

> every smart kid I know [is] majoring in [compsci]

At least, every smart kid in your bubble. You did mention you've been programming for a long time.

I know that my friends are mostly gotten through that "career": first programming forums, a nerdy open source game, then through doing IT studies and friends of friends, now through work and hacker spaces. Trends that I see and opinions that I think are generally held, are probably just happening in my bubble. I would expect that your "ever smart kid does this already" is also quite biased.

Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#125

Post by uwuhn »

torgian wrote: post #115
uwuhn wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans won't, but immigrants will.

Immigrants who study CS, yes. I live and been to countries where these immigrants come from. I don't think Americans would have anything to worry about if they stay competitive and take time to specialize. Your regular coding guys might get burnt after the next recession though.

Iran, China, and CIS countries are the ones I have in mind. Which ones are you thinking of?

Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#127

Post by devinplatt »

> I am currently in an undergraduate university considered "elite" in US.

As someone who went to community college and public university, and has worked at FAANG companies, I think your perspective is heavily influenced by your current environment. In elite schools there is a heavy selection bias for the type of classmates you describe.

Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#128

Post by finolex1 »

ryandvm wrote: post #19

I started playing with computers in middle school as a hobby and it basically morphed into a career. I've been in the industry since the 90s, well before everyone realized what a lucrative career it can be. And I saw the same thing - the field became flooded with people who were only chasing the money. My advice to you: don't worry about it. Do not underestimate the competitive advantage you have if you are passionat…

It's not just people looking only for money that are jumping into the field. I know of several classmates who started off as math/physics/economics majors, took a couple of CS classes because they heard "everyone needs to know programming", ended up liking it and are now CS majors. Even if a majority of new entrants to the field are in it only for money, there's still a large proportion who truly enjoy it as well.

Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#129

Post by mLuby »

stopachka wrote: post #99

Advice for you: Try personally pinging the people you respect the most -- send an email to Paul Graham, Peter Thiel, creators your respect. You'll be surprised with two things: first, they'll respond, and second, their responses will surprise you. This is a public forum -- it's going to be hard for you to separate signal from noise.

This is good advice, but also keep in mind that they experienced highly unlikely outcomes (survivorship bias), what they say caused their success may not be what actually did, and the playing field may have changed since then.
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