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Computer Science Students Face a Shrinking Big Tech Job Market

20 points by TT482 4y ago

TT482 4y ago
Is this actually a concern amid a global IT skills shortage? Get the impression that this seems to be mainly gifted students having less of a chance of getting their dream job.
- MattGaiser 4y ago
  Well, that would inevitably filter down. Gifted students take regular jobs. Regular students take lousy jobs, if they can find jobs at all.
  - MrDresden 4y ago
    There are not enough gifted students to take all of the positions that are open.
- rg111 4y ago
  I also think the same. And it is not "gifted" per se, but well-guided, and serious students. The demand for a truly skilled exceptional engineer will always remain, even in FAANG, even now. The demand for mid-rung IT workers will also remain. The first case study mentions a student who taught younger students in HS, interned at MS during the same, and interned at Meta during college. These are all-checkbox-ticking serious students. I wouldn’t be so keen on the true talent of such student. Maybe they will be forced to take mid-rung IT jobs, and the people suited for there, would go downwards. The lowest rung would be the sufferer and loser in this scenario. Much of their job will be replaced by no-code tools in the short-term, and automation in the long-term. The lowest jobs in IT will surely be wiped out, and it has already began ~decade ago. The pace will only increase.
  - zer0zzz 4y ago
    I think the most enraging thing is that the article is using the term “computer science” graduate as a label for all tech workers. If you’re a bright talented CS graduate you’re going to find a good job with good pay even in this environment. Maybe some people may not find their “dream job” straight out of school and they will have to wait out some cyclic hiring slowdown for a year or so but it’s hardly some terrible end of the tech dream for the youngsters.
zer0zzz 4y ago
> A Boston native, Ms. Singer graduated from Brown University with a degree in comparative literature and has a master's degree in creative writing from Boston University. > Ms. Huang is from New York and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in statistics. I’m so darn tired of reading front page articles written largely by liberal arts folks that never worked in tech that never created anything in tech commenting on the fate of tech and the future of tech graduates and workers. Why do we even upvote these to the top of the orange site? Because it came from the New York Times? The people that know can’t write and the people that can write don’t know what the hell is actually going on imho.
- TT482 4y ago
  Tend to agree. NYT's tech coverage especially can be pretty dire, not just on stuff like this but on crypto, too. Credit to the author/editor, though, for mentioning jobs elsewhere in IT are still in demand, halfway down the story.
  - zer0zzz 4y ago
    Totally. And when the coverage on tech is this way it practically degenerates into tabloid journalism. It’s not even useful journalism. It’s just clickbait entertainment for dorks that enjoy reading about the doom of tech.
    - TT482 4y ago
      That's the truth of it. The sad thing is, there's probably a bigger market among NYT readers for more nuanced tech coverage than editors assume. Instead, there's a hierarchy of publications where these stories filter down, from the trade mags and review journals through to places like Wired, then finally to the big papers/mags. By the time the story gets there, though, it's lost all flavour.
- theGnuMe 4y ago
  It is pretty poor form to attack the author. For example, one could say, I'm tired of the top comment on HN always being some rando who knows nothing about journalism and attacks both the publication and the writer in an effort to garner credibility.
1B05H1N 4y ago
Poor new grads may have to settle for a non-MAANG job like the rest of us.
- dam_broke_it 4y ago
  And then compete with the horde of h1b's/offshored people.....
egberts1 4y ago
Is it just me or is it a good practice to glance down to the last (or two) paragraphs for the gist of the story? I'm finding this to be frequently true but not so sure once the "evil" ChatGPT takes over. Perhaps, it's time to make a Turing Test browser app?

20 points by TT482 4y ago

Is this actually a concern amid a global IT skills shortage? Get the impression that this seems to be mainly gifted students having less of a chance of getting their dream job.

MattGaiser 4y ago
Well, that would inevitably filter down. Gifted students take regular jobs. Regular students take lousy jobs, if they can find jobs at all.
- MrDresden 4y ago
  There are not enough gifted students to take all of the positions that are open.
rg111 4y ago
I also think the same. And it is not "gifted" per se, but well-guided, and serious students. The demand for a truly skilled exceptional engineer will always remain, even in FAANG, even now. The demand for mid-rung IT workers will also remain. The first case study mentions a student who taught younger students in HS, interned at MS during the same, and interned at Meta during college. These are all-checkbox-ticking serious students. I wouldn’t be so keen on the true talent of such student. Maybe they will be forced to take mid-rung IT jobs, and the people suited for there, would go downwards. The lowest rung would be the sufferer and loser in this scenario. Much of their job will be replaced by no-code tools in the short-term, and automation in the long-term. The lowest jobs in IT will surely be wiped out, and it has already began ~decade ago. The pace will only increase.
- zer0zzz 4y ago
  I think the most enraging thing is that the article is using the term “computer science” graduate as a label for all tech workers. If you’re a bright talented CS graduate you’re going to find a good job with good pay even in this environment. Maybe some people may not find their “dream job” straight out of school and they will have to wait out some cyclic hiring slowdown for a year or so but it’s hardly some terrible end of the tech dream for the youngsters.

zer0zzz 4y ago

> A Boston native, Ms. Singer graduated from Brown University with a degree in comparative literature and has a master's degree in creative writing from Boston University. > Ms. Huang is from New York and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in statistics. I’m so darn tired of reading front page articles written largely by liberal arts folks that never worked in tech that never created anything in tech commenting on the fate of tech and the future of tech graduates and workers. Why do we even upvote these to the top of the orange site? Because it came from the New York Times? The people that know can’t write and the people that can write don’t know what the hell is actually going on imho.

TT482 4y ago
Tend to agree. NYT's tech coverage especially can be pretty dire, not just on stuff like this but on crypto, too. Credit to the author/editor, though, for mentioning jobs elsewhere in IT are still in demand, halfway down the story.
- zer0zzz 4y ago
  Totally. And when the coverage on tech is this way it practically degenerates into tabloid journalism. It’s not even useful journalism. It’s just clickbait entertainment for dorks that enjoy reading about the doom of tech.
  - TT482 4y ago
    That's the truth of it. The sad thing is, there's probably a bigger market among NYT readers for more nuanced tech coverage than editors assume. Instead, there's a hierarchy of publications where these stories filter down, from the trade mags and review journals through to places like Wired, then finally to the big papers/mags. By the time the story gets there, though, it's lost all flavour.
theGnuMe 4y ago
It is pretty poor form to attack the author. For example, one could say, I'm tired of the top comment on HN always being some rando who knows nothing about journalism and attacks both the publication and the writer in an effort to garner credibility.

1B05H1N 4y ago

Poor new grads may have to settle for a non-MAANG job like the rest of us.

dam_broke_it 4y ago
And then compete with the horde of h1b's/offshored people.....

egberts1 4y ago

Is it just me or is it a good practice to glance down to the last (or two) paragraphs for the gist of the story? I'm finding this to be frequently true but not so sure once the "evil" ChatGPT takes over. Perhaps, it's time to make a Turing Test browser app?