Recent computer science graduates face higher unemployment than graduates in most other majors, and students are leaving the field. Undergraduate computer science enrollment fell by more than 8 percent, with graduate enrollment dropping by about 14 percent. The promise that learning to code leads to good tech jobs has become less certain. AI has refashioned programming work by enabling coding bots to produce code that previously would have been done by entry-level workers. Warnings have emerged that the value of junior workers is becoming more dubious as a large share of new code is AI-generated. Some Silicon Valley voices now discourage students from majoring in CS, though the major’s waning relevance is argued to be overstated.
"Recent grads have a higher unemployment rate than those in just about every other major-yes, even philosophy. The internet is littered with rants from newly minted programmers who can't find work. On one such YouTube video, the top comment reads: "Your first mistake is not being born earlier." Students, meanwhile, are fleeing the field. Undergraduate enrollment in computer science dipped by more than 8 percent last year, representing the largest absolute decline across any major in several years. The falloff at the graduate level-14 percent-was even more severe."
"Learning to code was supposed to be a ticket to a good tech job. It wasn't just Silicon Valley that spread the gospel of computer science: "Support tha american dream n make coding available to EVERYONE!!" Snoop Dogg once tweeted. Now the decision to major in CS is more complicated. Nowhere has AI refashioned work as dramatically as it has for programmers. Coding bots have become much more powerful over the past few years, and they excel at precisely the kind of programming that might previously have been delegated to entry-level workers."
"An Anthropic co-founder, Jack Clark, recently warned that "the value of more junior people is a bit more dubious," as some 90 percent of the company's new code is apparently now AI-generated. The popular narrative around CS has flipped to such a degree that some Silicon Valley insiders are now actively discouraging people against the major. John Coogan, a co-host of TBPN, a popular tech-news podcast, recently asked if it would be a "contrarian move" to study computer science "at a time when coding jobs are going away.""
"But studying computer science is not contrarian, and the major's waning relevance has been overstated. It's true that the work situation is more dicey than it once was. "Forget Python, study Plato," The Economist advised students last week. But altho"
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