3 ms·

I think this article may be outdated. It was published in 2017. By 2019, the NYTimes was publishing articles like this, about the shortage of spaces in classes

I think this article may be outdated. It was published in 2017. By 2019, the NYTimes was publishing articles like this, about the shortage of spaces in classes for people interested in CS: so popular students literally could't sign up. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/technology/computer-science-courses-college.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/technology/computer-scien... Here's an article from 2023, about a 12x increase (!) in CS enrollments at UC Berkeley from 2011 to 2021. The trend at other unis was also strongly, like double-digit percentage increase yearly, up. https://eighteenthelephant.com/2023/02/12/10-double-the-number-of-computer-science-majors-20-goto-10/ https://eighteenthelephant.com/2023/02/12/10-double-the-numb... I think there was a brief cultural moment where for whatever reason - uncool? nerdy? math anxiety? - CS wasn't where you'd expect it to be, in terms of enrollment. But the culture changed & now it's very popular.

seanmcdirmid 3y ago
CS enrollment booms and busts. It was booming just before 2001, and then it was something no one wanted to do for a few years, then it was booming before 2008, and then...again...it fell out of favor for a few years before coming back again. This happened in the 70s, 80s, and 90s as well. It isn't just a culture change, we are simply in a cycle.
- pcthrowaway 3y ago
  According to the article, the peak was between 2004-2005 (I guess all the people who went into CS before the dotcom bubble exploded graduated then). Which means we're due for possibly the biggest cohort of fresh CS grads in about 3 more years. Fun times
  - 9659 3y ago
    "Peak CS" was last year. Not every school has peaked, but many have. It will drop for the next 5 to 10 years. (FAANG hiring freezes will disincentive students...)
    - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
      The peaks are local (ML joke?). Every boom bust cycle the peaks getting higher...
    - pcthrowaway 3y ago
      Enrolment sure, but the charts show that more people graduate years after the bubble. Meaning last year may have been the largest CS enrolment class, but we won't see the largest fresh graduate class for a few years still
gniv 3y ago
Yes. The actual numbers of graduates with CS degrees: 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 55,271 59,586 64,402 71,416 79,597 88,638 97,054 104,874 Source (same as TFA): https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_322.10.asp https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_322.10.a... Remarkably, it's the field with the highest growth from that table, by far.
deleted 3y ago
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seanmcdirmid 3y ago

CS enrollment booms and busts. It was booming just before 2001, and then it was something no one wanted to do for a few years, then it was booming before 2008, and then...again...it fell out of favor for a few years before coming back again. This happened in the 70s, 80s, and 90s as well. It isn't just a culture change, we are simply in a cycle.

pcthrowaway 3y ago
According to the article, the peak was between 2004-2005 (I guess all the people who went into CS before the dotcom bubble exploded graduated then). Which means we're due for possibly the biggest cohort of fresh CS grads in about 3 more years. Fun times
- 9659 3y ago
  "Peak CS" was last year. Not every school has peaked, but many have. It will drop for the next 5 to 10 years. (FAANG hiring freezes will disincentive students...)
  - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
    The peaks are local (ML joke?). Every boom bust cycle the peaks getting higher...
  - pcthrowaway 3y ago
    Enrolment sure, but the charts show that more people graduate years after the bubble. Meaning last year may have been the largest CS enrolment class, but we won't see the largest fresh graduate class for a few years still

gniv 3y ago

Yes. The actual numbers of graduates with CS degrees: 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 55,271 59,586 64,402 71,416 79,597 88,638 97,054 104,874 Source (same as TFA): https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_322.10.asp https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_322.10.a... Remarkably, it's the field with the highest growth from that table, by far.

deleted 3y ago

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