Has this board missed the huge contraction in tech?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are constantly pushing CS and other majors for “Big Tech” jobs. Meanwhile FAANG companies have done massive layoffs and the truth of fake jobs warehousing talent has come to light. Salaries are tanking because demand has plummeted. But the parents on here are still so focused on these employers!

The belt-tightening by a few companies has had little or no impact on the industry. Issues with META and Twitter were largely caused by mismanagement and aren't a symptom of anything. For anyone with talent, there's no lack of demand. Salaries have also increased so much these past few years that this blip isn't all that noticeable. At least from my view as someone who has worked at more than one of those companies over the past 35 years, I don't really see the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cybersecurity is still hot.

For now, I question how that field can possibly absorb all of the kids who are flocking to it now, especially given how ripe it is for automation.

It is a strange misconception that CS is ripe for automation...creative fields, law, accounting, etc. are routinely cited as far more ripe for automation. Not to say CS is not as well, but it is impossible to know what to study if you are worried about being automated out of a career. Unless you are planning to pursue a trade...basically, every white collar job is vulnerable.

At least someone needs to program the AI and build the robots overlords...until they become aware at least.

CS is far more ripe for automation than law. I can already use automation to build a functional app but would never use it to write a brief to file in federal court. I am a lawyer and DH is a software engineer and he whole heartedly agrees, BTW.

Good luck with that...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CS majors will continue to be in demand.

Most kids of parents in DCUM won't hit the job market for another 4 - 5 years.

+1 I wrote in another thread about college kids and jobs.

It's a cycle.

But, I do agree that paying $80K/year for a CS degree is not worth it. I talked DC out of doing ED to CMU because while we could pay for it (but a hit to our retirement), it was not worth it.

So, DC will be going to UMDCP with some merit aid. They will do a +1 masters, and also have the time and finances to do a doublemajor if they want.

CS isn't going anywhere, but the next year or two will mean job seekers won't be getting the ridiculous salaries. That party was not going to last anyway. I am much older and have been in the high tech industry for 30+ years, went through two recessions and the dot com bomb in the Bay Area.

But, a CS degree is also more marketable and portable if DC wants to ever live in another country.

You are paying for optionality by going to CMU vs. UMDCP. Hedge funds, AI offshoots coming out of CMU, etc. are heavily recruiting at CMU...I don't know if they are at UMD (maybe they are, in which case agree with you). If your goal is just to get a good CS job at some company, I completely agree with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are constantly pushing CS and other majors for “Big Tech” jobs. Meanwhile FAANG companies have done massive layoffs and the truth of fake jobs warehousing talent has come to light. Salaries are tanking because demand has plummeted. But the parents on here are still so focused on these employers!

The belt-tightening by a few companies has had little or no impact on the industry. Issues with META and Twitter were largely caused by mismanagement and aren't a symptom of anything. For anyone with talent, there's no lack of demand. Salaries have also increased so much these past few years that this blip isn't all that noticeable. At least from my view as someone who has worked at more than one of those companies over the past 35 years, I don't really see the problem.

Twitter and Meta have shed an absolutely massive number of highly qualified employees. I don’t understand how you can say this huge increase in supply isn’t harming demand. And prices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are constantly pushing CS and other majors for “Big Tech” jobs. Meanwhile FAANG companies have done massive layoffs and the truth of fake jobs warehousing talent has come to light. Salaries are tanking because demand has plummeted. But the parents on here are still so focused on these employers!

The belt-tightening by a few companies has had little or no impact on the industry. Issues with META and Twitter were largely caused by mismanagement and aren't a symptom of anything. For anyone with talent, there's no lack of demand. Salaries have also increased so much these past few years that this blip isn't all that noticeable. At least from my view as someone who has worked at more than one of those companies over the past 35 years, I don't really see the problem.

Twitter and Meta have shed an absolutely massive number of highly qualified employees. I don’t understand how you can say this huge increase in supply isn’t harming demand. And prices.

Because the overall industry employs millions of people...so 30,000 employees from two companies is a blip in the scheme of things. Remember, every large company has IT/Tech groups, so it's not just "Tech" companies that hire tech employees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cybersecurity is still hot.

For now, I question how that field can possibly absorb all of the kids who are flocking to it now, especially given how ripe it is for automation.

It is a strange misconception that CS is ripe for automation...creative fields, law, accounting, etc. are routinely cited as far more ripe for automation. Not to say CS is not as well, but it is impossible to know what to study if you are worried about being automated out of a career. Unless you are planning to pursue a trade...basically, every white collar job is vulnerable.

At least someone needs to program the AI and build the robots overlords...until they become aware at least.

CS is far more ripe for automation than law. I can already use automation to build a functional app but would never use it to write a brief to file in federal court. I am a lawyer and DH is a software engineer and he whole heartedly agrees, BTW.

Good luck with that...

You really don’t get it. Law is war. Increased technology hasn’t ever made wars cheaper. Just more effective. If you give me an AI tool that makes my “troops” 1,000x more effective I’m not going to fire them. I’m going to rain hell down on my enemy. But wait, they will have the same tech, so we will still just be going head to head.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are constantly pushing CS and other majors for “Big Tech” jobs. Meanwhile FAANG companies have done massive layoffs and the truth of fake jobs warehousing talent has come to light. Salaries are tanking because demand has plummeted. But the parents on here are still so focused on these employers!

The belt-tightening by a few companies has had little or no impact on the industry. Issues with META and Twitter were largely caused by mismanagement and aren't a symptom of anything. For anyone with talent, there's no lack of demand. Salaries have also increased so much these past few years that this blip isn't all that noticeable. At least from my view as someone who has worked at more than one of those companies over the past 35 years, I don't really see the problem.

Twitter and Meta have shed an absolutely massive number of highly qualified employees. I don’t understand how you can say this huge increase in supply isn’t harming demand. And prices.

Because the overall industry employs millions of people...so 30,000 employees from two companies is a blip in the scheme of things. Remember, every large company has IT/Tech groups, so it's not just "Tech" companies that hire tech employees.

You’re forgetting the other side of the equation, drying up VC money. So the big employers are shedding massive numbers of people (WAY more than 30k out of Big Tech this year), and VC isn’t giving them anywhere to turn.

[Anonymous]

My DS graduated from UMD in 2022 with a degree in CS. He is working for a government contractor with the NSA and pulling in 125K/yr and he just received Security Clearance. He just passed his CISSP and AWS certifications so he expects to make a whole lot more in '23. Cybersecurity is here to stay, even with automation.

[Anonymous]

People don't seem to understand that the kids that graduate from a CS program and typically much more intelligent that the others who didn't, especially considering the competition to get into those programs over the past several years. Do you think they won't be able to figure out their careers relative to someone who majored in, what, English?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are constantly pushing CS and other majors for “Big Tech” jobs. Meanwhile FAANG companies have done massive layoffs and the truth of fake jobs warehousing talent has come to light. Salaries are tanking because demand has plummeted. But the parents on here are still so focused on these employers!

The belt-tightening by a few companies has had little or no impact on the industry. Issues with META and Twitter were largely caused by mismanagement and aren't a symptom of anything. For anyone with talent, there's no lack of demand. Salaries have also increased so much these past few years that this blip isn't all that noticeable. At least from my view as someone who has worked at more than one of those companies over the past 35 years, I don't really see the problem.

Twitter and Meta have shed an absolutely massive number of highly qualified employees. I don’t understand how you can say this huge increase in supply isn’t harming demand. And prices.

Because the overall industry employs millions of people...so 30,000 employees from two companies is a blip in the scheme of things. Remember, every large company has IT/Tech groups, so it's not just "Tech" companies that hire tech employees.

You’re forgetting the other side of the equation, drying up VC money. So the big employers are shedding massive numbers of people (WAY more than 30k out of Big Tech this year), and VC isn’t giving them anywhere to turn.

Again, the tech market has many millions of jobs. There was an article in NY Times how United Health decided to dramatically expand their IT group and is hiring some of these laid-off folks. Another article how John Deere tractors has an entire AI/Machine Learning department to continue developing self-driving tractors...that department didn't even exist 5 years ago. Purdue can't produce enough semiconductor engineers for the new US-based plants that want to open. There are hundreds of other examples.

VC still has plenty of dry powder, though rising interest rates hurts new fundraising...although, it is not hurting Sequoia, NEA, Andressen Horowitz or the other large, established VC funds...it is the newer/smaller funds that get squeezed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People don't seem to understand that the kids that graduate from a CS program and typically much more intelligent that the others who didn't, especially considering the competition to get into those programs over the past several years. Do you think they won't be able to figure out their careers relative to someone who majored in, what, English?

+1

[Anonymous]

No kid should be learning coding RN. I've coded on and off for 20 years and with AI, I haven't had to write any code in 6 months. Coding skills will not be needed in 10 years. At all.

[Anonymous]

Fwiw, FAANG stock prices all doing very well this month. META is up 18 percent

[Anonymous]

should add, CS degrees will still be needed, but there will be a giant curriculum recharacterization and programs that pivot do not make the move will be left out. Waterloo is the first out of the gate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, FAANG stock prices all doing very well this month. META is up 18 percent

Meta is doing so well because of how deeply they cut overpaid jobs!