4 ms·

In the mid aughts I decided against computer science as a major based on media forecasts of offshoring destroying the market for programmers. That was a mistak

In the mid aughts I decided against computer science as a major based on media forecasts of offshoring destroying the market for programmers. That was a mistake. I ended up a programmer anyway, just with a degree that didn’t really prepare me for it. As for the data, starting with 2019 is going to skew things. In 2022-2023 things went sideways and many big tech employers didn’t extend any intern offers or didn’t even have interns. This year interns are back.

hedora 1y ago
This also feels like yet another boom-bust cycle to me. During the boom, many people that couldn’t write a for loop got degrees and somehow got entry level jobs. After the dot com bust, many people avoided CS because such jobs evaporated. This cycle will be a bit worse because four things are hitting simultaneously: (1) Hangover from idiot over hiring during COVID (2) AI is going to replace a lot of incumbent businesses with startups (3) The real economy shows every sign of collapsing due to the trade wars (4) The US is intentionally giving up its position as the best country for skilled workers to move to. I can’t say what will happen with (4), but it seems unlikely (3) is going to win many elections for the incumbents. Anyway, this year, firms are probably going to be simultaneously too conservative (eliminating job positions instead of retraining people to use AI with more aggressive product targets) and too aggressive (betting the magic AI genie will grant middle management’s wishes and also somehow not simultaneously commoditize all the stuff it automates away). Anyway, I think there’s plenty of opportunity this year for any company that’s borderline competent. My personal experience with middle-manager-dominated large firms makes me pessimistic about their futures.
- WarOnPrivacy 1y ago
  > During the [dot com] boom, many people that couldn’t write a for loop got degrees and somehow got entry level jobs. This wasn't universally true. In the SE US, late 1990s, I got 2 responses over a year of submitting applications for entry level coding jobs. One response was for a position hundreds of mi away. Overlapping this time, I was serving as an employment counselor. I learned that this region was super insular and you need some kind of inside referral to get hired - in pretty much every industry. Local tech wasn't immune to that mindset. It took me a few years to make connections and start working and even then it self-employed, on-site support. Thirty years later I'm still doing that. On the other side, once I broke into an industry I could go all over. I got a referral into an ARC and within a few months I was serving all of them. They were all years needing someone but went without rather than hire cold.
Breza 1y ago
I really identify with your first paragraph. I enjoyed writing for the school paper and programing in high school, but I didn't see much of a future in either, for different reasons (death of print and offshoring). I graduated around the time that 538 launched a new appreciation for data-driven journalism, so maybe I could have been in a good position. I ended up running the data science division at a digital publisher, so I guess I backed into that space after all.

hedora 1y ago

This also feels like yet another boom-bust cycle to me. During the boom, many people that couldn’t write a for loop got degrees and somehow got entry level jobs. After the dot com bust, many people avoided CS because such jobs evaporated. This cycle will be a bit worse because four things are hitting simultaneously: (1) Hangover from idiot over hiring during COVID (2) AI is going to replace a lot of incumbent businesses with startups (3) The real economy shows every sign of collapsing due to the trade wars (4) The US is intentionally giving up its position as the best country for skilled workers to move to. I can’t say what will happen with (4), but it seems unlikely (3) is going to win many elections for the incumbents. Anyway, this year, firms are probably going to be simultaneously too conservative (eliminating job positions instead of retraining people to use AI with more aggressive product targets) and too aggressive (betting the magic AI genie will grant middle management’s wishes and also somehow not simultaneously commoditize all the stuff it automates away). Anyway, I think there’s plenty of opportunity this year for any company that’s borderline competent. My personal experience with middle-manager-dominated large firms makes me pessimistic about their futures.

WarOnPrivacy 1y ago
> During the [dot com] boom, many people that couldn’t write a for loop got degrees and somehow got entry level jobs. This wasn't universally true. In the SE US, late 1990s, I got 2 responses over a year of submitting applications for entry level coding jobs. One response was for a position hundreds of mi away. Overlapping this time, I was serving as an employment counselor. I learned that this region was super insular and you need some kind of inside referral to get hired - in pretty much every industry. Local tech wasn't immune to that mindset. It took me a few years to make connections and start working and even then it self-employed, on-site support. Thirty years later I'm still doing that. On the other side, once I broke into an industry I could go all over. I got a referral into an ARC and within a few months I was serving all of them. They were all years needing someone but went without rather than hire cold.

Breza 1y ago

I really identify with your first paragraph. I enjoyed writing for the school paper and programing in high school, but I didn't see much of a future in either, for different reasons (death of print and offshoring). I graduated around the time that 538 launched a new appreciation for data-driven journalism, so maybe I could have been in a good position. I ended up running the data science division at a digital publisher, so I guess I backed into that space after all.