4 ms·

There was a golden age (2010-2020 or so?) when a CS degree of as basically an easy ticket to the upper middle class. Unlike similar well-paying jobs like law or

There was a golden age (2010-2020 or so?) when a CS degree of as basically an easy ticket to the upper middle class. Unlike similar well-paying jobs like law or medicine, a bachelor's degree was enough. Now it's not easy to get a job as a new grad, so there are fewer people getting into the discipline whose primary reason to study it was money.

fatnoah 6mo ago
CS started as a major for "computer nerds" who were very into computers. Computers were a hobby for virtually every one of my CS classmates in the 90's. Studying computer science was an extension of that interest, so majoring in CS made sense. Fast forward a decade or two, and it is like you said, people who don't have a strong interest in computers starting taking CS as a major as a path to jobs and income. Now, as a manager of engineering teams, I'm constantly surprised by Software Engineers that don't even own their own computers and/or have very little knowledge about how they work.
- lvl155 6mo ago
  So you hire people who “don’t even own their own computers?” You might be the problem then.
stvltvs 6mo ago
CS hiring has always been very cyclical, and there have been more flush times prior to 2010 where CS more or less guaranteed a good paying job.
bluGill 6mo ago
There have always been ups and downs in the economy. This isn't the first recession where programmers were hit harder than other jobs. There have been other recessions where programmers were one of the few places where everyone was hiring. You can substitute every single possible profession for programmers above and still have a trust. Even things like groceries (everyone needs to eat) still has ups and downs (some recessions people go to restaurants less and so are good; others they switch to low margin staples and profits go down).
goodcanadian 6mo ago
CS was viewed as a golden ticket at least as far back as 2000. Even then, there were people doing the degree who had no interest in the subject, but thought it would get them a good salary.
- jgwil2 6mo ago
  Seemed to really accelerate around 2007-2008 when Facebook became massive and turned a bunch of kids into billionaires overnight. After that it sort of turned into a gold rush, and we were the shovels.
TYPE_FASTER 6mo ago
> There was a golden age (2010-2020 or so?) Also during the Dot Com era. Pretty much every cycle lead to more people getting into the field.
deleted 6mo ago
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fatnoah 6mo ago

CS started as a major for "computer nerds" who were very into computers. Computers were a hobby for virtually every one of my CS classmates in the 90's. Studying computer science was an extension of that interest, so majoring in CS made sense. Fast forward a decade or two, and it is like you said, people who don't have a strong interest in computers starting taking CS as a major as a path to jobs and income. Now, as a manager of engineering teams, I'm constantly surprised by Software Engineers that don't even own their own computers and/or have very little knowledge about how they work.

lvl155 6mo ago
So you hire people who “don’t even own their own computers?” You might be the problem then.

stvltvs 6mo ago

CS hiring has always been very cyclical, and there have been more flush times prior to 2010 where CS more or less guaranteed a good paying job.

bluGill 6mo ago

There have always been ups and downs in the economy. This isn't the first recession where programmers were hit harder than other jobs. There have been other recessions where programmers were one of the few places where everyone was hiring. You can substitute every single possible profession for programmers above and still have a trust. Even things like groceries (everyone needs to eat) still has ups and downs (some recessions people go to restaurants less and so are good; others they switch to low margin staples and profits go down).

goodcanadian 6mo ago

CS was viewed as a golden ticket at least as far back as 2000. Even then, there were people doing the degree who had no interest in the subject, but thought it would get them a good salary.

jgwil2 6mo ago
Seemed to really accelerate around 2007-2008 when Facebook became massive and turned a bunch of kids into billionaires overnight. After that it sort of turned into a gold rush, and we were the shovels.

TYPE_FASTER 6mo ago

> There was a golden age (2010-2020 or so?) Also during the Dot Com era. Pretty much every cycle lead to more people getting into the field.

deleted 6mo ago

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