College Majors & The Rise of AI

[Anonymous]

I saw that Rice University will be offering a Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence through their engineering school. I wonder if more schools will follow.

[Anonymous]

Specifically, SignalFire found that Big Tech companies reduced the hiring of new graduates by 25% in 2024 compared to 2023. Meanwhile, graduate recruitment at startups decreased by 11% compared to the prior year. Although SignalFire wouldn’t reveal exactly how many fewer grads were hired according to their data, a spokesperson told us it was thousands.
While adoption of new AI tools might not fully explain the dip in recent grad hiring, Asher Bantock, SignalFire’s head of research, says there’s “convincing evidence” that AI is a significant contributing factor.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/27/ai-may-already-be-shrinking-entry-level-jobs-in-tech-new-research-suggests/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A programmer with an AI tool is akin to a carpenter working with power tools - they are more efficient and can produce value at a higher rate, translating into higher productivity.

Typically, higher productivity encourages more investment, and more creation.

In other words, programmers will remain, but they will accomplish far more.

I disagree. I have been a programmer for 30 years, taught at two different t20 CS depts……now consulting with one of the big 3….
I’m 100% certain that once we reach AGI there wont be a need for programmers. It is that simple.
Young CS graduates will NOT have jobs for them 5 yrs from now. They wont get the experience they need to be able to oversee an AGI programmer.

95% of CS jobs will be eliminated in less than 7 years. You car take picture of this post….then lets discuss this again in 5 years so I can tell you “I told you so”…..

I think the work will just change, just like it changed in the 80s (high level languages) and 2000s (code generation tools).

Compared to three years ago, I can produce working code at about 4x the rate, but I'm in more demand than ever. The reason is that I'm productive.

If you have shallow skills, you'll have a hard time but the demand for people that can take business requirements and turn them into working solutions isn't going anywhere for a while. They will just build more complex systems, with fewer people. Arguing that programmers (and other types of technical workers) will go away is arguing that complexity will go away.

That being said, openings for junior level folks will be more rare, but this has happened in the past - just ask anyone that was job hunting in the bay area after the dot-com bust.

Another argument for the field - someone has to build all of these agentic AI systems and integrate them into business processes. That's going to be a mountain of work and I'd submit that a CS major is pretty well suited for the task.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A programmer with an AI tool is akin to a carpenter working with power tools - they are more efficient and can produce value at a higher rate, translating into higher productivity.

Typically, higher productivity encourages more investment, and more creation.

In other words, programmers will remain, but they will accomplish far more.

I disagree. I have been a programmer for 30 years, taught at two different t20 CS depts……now consulting with one of the big 3….
I’m 100% certain that once we reach AGI there wont be a need for programmers. It is that simple.
Young CS graduates will NOT have jobs for them 5 yrs from now. They wont get the experience they need to be able to oversee an AGI programmer.

95% of CS jobs will be eliminated in less than 7 years. You car take picture of this post….then lets discuss this again in 5 years so I can tell you “I told you so”…..

You type like grandpa's first time on a computer. I don't think you know anything about CS at all, but let me ask, when will we have AGI? You think what we have now is close? Lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A programmer with an AI tool is akin to a carpenter working with power tools - they are more efficient and can produce value at a higher rate, translating into higher productivity.

Typically, higher productivity encourages more investment, and more creation.

In other words, programmers will remain, but they will accomplish far more.

I disagree. I have been a programmer for 30 years, taught at two different t20 CS depts……now consulting with one of the big 3….
I’m 100% certain that once we reach AGI there wont be a need for programmers. It is that simple.
Young CS graduates will NOT have jobs for them 5 yrs from now. They wont get the experience they need to be able to oversee an AGI programmer.

95% of CS jobs will be eliminated in less than 7 years. You car take picture of this post….then lets discuss this again in 5 years so I can tell you “I told you so”…..

Wrong.

A CS degree is more than coding.

Sorry bud…you dont need to teach me what a CS degree is…..been teaching at some of the TOP CS depts for years….
Of course it is more than coding. But it doesnt change the fact that once we reach AGI, there wont be a need for an INEXPERIENCED CS graduate….those jobs will be gone whether you like it or not. The transition will be hard. It will start with the kids right out of college first and with time, even guys in my position will be obsolete.
But go head and put your head in the sand as you send your kids to study CS…..let’s have this conversation again in 2030….

Technology always evolves. CS majors will too.

But doomsday away...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A programmer with an AI tool is akin to a carpenter working with power tools - they are more efficient and can produce value at a higher rate, translating into higher productivity.

Typically, higher productivity encourages more investment, and more creation.

In other words, programmers will remain, but they will accomplish far more.

I disagree. I have been a programmer for 30 years, taught at two different t20 CS depts……now consulting with one of the big 3….
I’m 100% certain that once we reach AGI there wont be a need for programmers. It is that simple.
Young CS graduates will NOT have jobs for them 5 yrs from now. They wont get the experience they need to be able to oversee an AGI programmer.

95% of CS jobs will be eliminated in less than 7 years. You car take picture of this post….then lets discuss this again in 5 years so I can tell you “I told you so”…..

I think the work will just change, just like it changed in the 80s (high level languages) and 2000s (code generation tools).

Compared to three years ago, I can produce working code at about 4x the rate, but I'm in more demand than ever. The reason is that I'm productive.

If you have shallow skills, you'll have a hard time but the demand for people that can take business requirements and turn them into working solutions isn't going anywhere for a while. They will just build more complex systems, with fewer people. Arguing that programmers (and other types of technical workers) will go away is arguing that complexity will go away.

That being said, openings for junior level folks will be more rare, but this has happened in the past - just ask anyone that was job hunting in the bay area after the dot-com bust.

Another argument for the field - someone has to build all of these agentic AI systems and integrate them into business processes. That's going to be a mountain of work and I'd submit that a CS major is pretty well suited for the task.

It isn't major work it's just firing off API calls and managing text.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter decided to pass on CS and is planning on doing pre med. We counseled her to consider this based on the fact entry level jobs for CS graduates will dry up by the time she graduates. There will always be a need for health care providers.

I am not sure this is great advice. Tons will change in the next 7-10 years, and the health care profession will absolutely be impacted.

There will always be a need for someone to perform the low level patient work, but AI will completely transform radiology, anesthesiology, surgery (robotic surgery which already is happening), essentially all doctors that diagnose diseases, etc.

[Anonymous]

If (gen) AI was this all conquering, all disruptive, workforce reducing thing, why aren't the big players able to monetize? Why are all these companies in the red? Why do all of them obfuscate the usage/revenue metrics? How much longer can companies like OpenAI/Anthropic continue to burn billions of investors money before being asked to actually make money, somehow? Is it going to represent value to companies to reduce junior coders and replace them with 'virtual coders' that burn through many thousands of expensive api calls, once those calls are priced fairly?

These models/agents are not intelligent at all and there is no hint of such a breakthrough happening anytime soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter decided to pass on CS and is planning on doing pre med. We counseled her to consider this based on the fact entry level jobs for CS graduates will dry up by the time she graduates. There will always be a need for health care providers.

I am not sure this is great advice. Tons will change in the next 7-10 years, and the health care profession will absolutely be impacted.

There will always be a need for someone to perform the low level patient work, but AI will completely transform radiology, anesthesiology, surgery (robotic surgery which already is happening), essentially all doctors that diagnose diseases, etc.

Sure but DD isn’t interested in med school necessarily. She doesn’t have the drive. I see her in a PA or NP type of job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A programmer with an AI tool is akin to a carpenter working with power tools - they are more efficient and can produce value at a higher rate, translating into higher productivity.

Typically, higher productivity encourages more investment, and more creation.

In other words, programmers will remain, but they will accomplish far more.

I disagree. I have been a programmer for 30 years, taught at two different t20 CS depts……now consulting with one of the big 3….
I’m 100% certain that once we reach AGI there wont be a need for programmers. It is that simple.
Young CS graduates will NOT have jobs for them 5 yrs from now. They wont get the experience they need to be able to oversee an AGI programmer.

95% of CS jobs will be eliminated in less than 7 years. You car take picture of this post….then lets discuss this again in 5 years so I can tell you “I told you so”…..

I think the work will just change, just like it changed in the 80s (high level languages) and 2000s (code generation tools).

Compared to three years ago, I can produce working code at about 4x the rate, but I'm in more demand than ever. The reason is that I'm productive.

If you have shallow skills, you'll have a hard time but the demand for people that can take business requirements and turn them into working solutions isn't going anywhere for a while. They will just build more complex systems, with fewer people. Arguing that programmers (and other types of technical workers) will go away is arguing that complexity will go away.

That being said, openings for junior level folks will be more rare, but this has happened in the past - just ask anyone that was job hunting in the bay area after the dot-com bust.

Another argument for the field - someone has to build all of these agentic AI systems and integrate them into business processes. That's going to be a mountain of work and I'd submit that a CS major is pretty well suited for the task.

It isn't major work it's just firing off API calls and managing text.

And building a house is just pouring some concrete, framing out walls, and putting a roof in place. Right?

It's all *so easy* and nothing ever goes wrong. Customers always know exactly what they want, and the data is *always* available and formatted as expected. Remote services never go down and someone else handles security and compliance.

I look forward to the day that AI takes additional mundane tasks off my plate (happening all the time!), but I think AI will replace us at the same moment that people decide they are finished innovating and there's no more complex work to be done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter decided to pass on CS and is planning on doing pre med. We counseled her to consider this based on the fact entry level jobs for CS graduates will dry up by the time she graduates. There will always be a need for health care providers.

I am not sure this is great advice. Tons will change in the next 7-10 years, and the health care profession will absolutely be impacted.

There will always be a need for someone to perform the low level patient work, but AI will completely transform radiology, anesthesiology, surgery (robotic surgery which already is happening), essentially all doctors that diagnose diseases, etc.

Sure but DD isn’t interested in med school necessarily. She doesn’t have the drive. I see her in a PA or NP type of job.

Well..why is she studying pre-med then? Are there not specific courses of study for a PA or NP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If (gen) AI was this all conquering, all disruptive, workforce reducing thing, why aren't the big players able to monetize? Why are all these companies in the red? Why do all of them obfuscate the usage/revenue metrics? How much longer can companies like OpenAI/Anthropic continue to burn billions of investors money before being asked to actually make money, somehow? Is it going to represent value to companies to reduce junior coders and replace them with 'virtual coders' that burn through many thousands of expensive api calls, once those calls are priced fairly?

These models/agents are not intelligent at all and there is no hint of such a breakthrough happening anytime soon.

Monetize is different from profitability. Open AI generated $3.7BN of revenue last year.

Look, this is no different than what happened in the dotcom era. Facebook blew through billions until it was the dominant social network and now mints tons of profit.

Eventually, a couple will win and mint enormous profit, and the rest will hope to sell to a winner...and many will go bankrupt...but that's VC investment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If (gen) AI was this all conquering, all disruptive, workforce reducing thing, why aren't the big players able to monetize? Why are all these companies in the red? Why do all of them obfuscate the usage/revenue metrics? How much longer can companies like OpenAI/Anthropic continue to burn billions of investors money before being asked to actually make money, somehow? Is it going to represent value to companies to reduce junior coders and replace them with 'virtual coders' that burn through many thousands of expensive api calls, once those calls are priced fairly?

These models/agents are not intelligent at all and there is no hint of such a breakthrough happening anytime soon.

Monetize is different from profitability. Open AI generated $3.7BN of revenue last year.

Look, this is no different than what happened in the dotcom era. Facebook blew through billions until it was the dominant social network and now mints tons of profit.

Eventually, a couple will win and mint enormous profit, and the rest will hope to sell to a winner...and many will go bankrupt...but that's VC investment.

The models are not products, like Facebook was. At any given time, some vendor or another may claim some very marginal level of Better Than for a minute. Where are the killer products?

[Anonymous]

[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A programmer with an AI tool is akin to a carpenter working with power tools - they are more efficient and can produce value at a higher rate, translating into higher productivity.

Typically, higher productivity encourages more investment, and more creation.

In other words, programmers will remain, but they will accomplish far more.

I disagree. I have been a programmer for 30 years, taught at two different t20 CS depts……now consulting with one of the big 3….
I’m 100% certain that once we reach AGI there wont be a need for programmers. It is that simple.
Young CS graduates will NOT have jobs for them 5 yrs from now. They wont get the experience they need to be able to oversee an AGI programmer.

95% of CS jobs will be eliminated in less than 7 years. You car take picture of this post….then lets discuss this again in 5 years so I can tell you “I told you so”…..

Wrong.

A CS degree is more than coding.

Sorry bud…you dont need to teach me what a CS degree is…..been teaching at some of the TOP CS depts for years….
Of course it is more than coding. But it doesnt change the fact that once we reach AGI, there wont be a need for an INEXPERIENCED CS graduate….those jobs will be gone whether you like it or not. The transition will be hard. It will start with the kids right out of college first and with time, even guys in my position will be obsolete.
But go head and put your head in the sand as you send your kids to study CS…..let’s have this conversation again in 2030….

Nope.
It's like saying math major was going to be obsolete now that  we had computers in the 80s 90s. All the calculations would be done by computers and entry level mathematicians are not needed. Let's see in year 2000.

Math major has been fine and applied math major has been gaining popularity with good outcomes. Nobody really knows, but CS major is still in a better position than most others.

Math majors are not learning calculations. Math is completely different than computation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A programmer with an AI tool is akin to a carpenter working with power tools - they are more efficient and can produce value at a higher rate, translating into higher productivity.

Typically, higher productivity encourages more investment, and more creation.

In other words, programmers will remain, but they will accomplish far more.

I disagree. I have been a programmer for 30 years, taught at two different t20 CS depts……now consulting with one of the big 3….
I’m 100% certain that once we reach AGI there wont be a need for programmers. It is that simple.
Young CS graduates will NOT have jobs for them 5 yrs from now. They wont get the experience they need to be able to oversee an AGI programmer.

95% of CS jobs will be eliminated in less than 7 years. You car take picture of this post….then lets discuss this again in 5 years so I can tell you “I told you so”…..

Wrong.

A CS degree is more than coding.

Sorry bud…you dont need to teach me what a CS degree is…..been teaching at some of the TOP CS depts for years….
Of course it is more than coding. But it doesnt change the fact that once we reach AGI, there wont be a need for an INEXPERIENCED CS graduate….those jobs will be gone whether you like it or not. The transition will be hard. It will start with the kids right out of college first and with time, even guys in my position will be obsolete.
But go head and put your head in the sand as you send your kids to study CS…..let’s have this conversation again in 2030….

Nope.
It's like saying math major was going to be obsolete now that  we had computers in the 80s 90s. All the calculations would be done by computers and entry level mathematicians are not needed. Let's see in year 2000.

Math major has been fine and applied math major has been gaining popularity with good outcomes. Nobody really knows, but CS major is still in a better position than most others.

Math majors are not learning calculations. Math is completely different than computation.

Also, there used to be people with the job title of "computer". Go watch the movie Hidden Figures.

Those people were in fact replaced by actual computers.

The only answer to this is that AI needs to result in industries that nobody can even imagine that will employ people.

In 1990, other than in very small circles that knew about the Internet, there were no web designers or any of the various jobs created by the Internet. By the same token, there used to be millions of travel agents, and now there are like 90% fewer (though, human travel agents are showing their value these days as people are tired to doing all the work themselves when someone will do it for them for no cost and they can sometimes get better deals).