Anonymous wrote:People can give their anecdotes all they want, but companies are saying that they want Eng/CS and business/finance majors. Not a humanities major among the list. It's all STEM and Business.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/17/the-10-most-in-demand-bachelors-degrees-no-1-isnt-engineering.html

The Winter 2026 Salary Survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, or NACE, collected responses from 150 member organizations from Oct. 8 through Nov. 30, 2025.

Here are the 10 most in-demand bachelor’s degrees, according to NACE’s report, along with the percent of responding firms that said they have plans to hire graduates with each degree from the class of 2026.

10. Human Resources: 40%
9. Marketing: 44%
8. Logistics/Supply Chain: 44.7%
7. Information Sciences and Systems: 48%
6. Electrical Engineering: 51.3%
5. Business Administration/Management: 58.7%
4. Accounting: 58.7%
3. Computer Science: 60%
2. Mechanical Engineering: 61.3%
1. Finance: 61.3%

And salaries for those majors are going up. Salaries for social sciences are expected to decline.

NACE’s report also found that annual base salary projections for 2026 college grads show an increase across nearly all major categories of study included in the survey.

Only social sciences show a projected decrease in starting salary from 2025. The rest — computer science; engineering; mathematics and statistics; business; agriculture and natural resources; and communications — all show increased projected starting salaries from last year.

Computer science, which has the highest overall average salary, for example, has a 2026 projection of $81,535, up 6.9% from $76,251 last year.

The Winter 2026 Salary Survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, or NACE, collected responses from 150 member organizations from Oct. 8 through Nov. 30, 2025.

Here are the 10 most in-demand bachelor’s degrees, according to NACE’s report, along with the percent of responding firms that said they have plans to hire graduates with each degree from the class of 2026.

NACE’s report also found that annual base salary projections for 2026 college grads show an increase across nearly all major categories of study included in the survey.

Only social sciences show a projected decrease in starting salary from 2025. The rest — computer science; engineering; mathematics and statistics; business; agriculture and natural resources; and communications — all show increased projected starting salaries from last year.

Computer science, which has the highest overall average salary, for example, has a 2026 projection of $81,535, up 6.9% from $76,251 last year.

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Anonymous wrote:CS majors are going to work at Starbucks.

Know one who is doing two such jobs, but she’s outgoing. The other recent CS grads are cowering at home arguing with their parents about how it’s not possible to work, yadda, yadda, yadda…

LOL thanks for the laugh.

Laugh all you want, most my colleagues are stem and their kids are finishing up CS degrees. The sons are unmotivated and sulking at home. The daughters are working food service. Obviously it could be a fluke of my friend group but it's the pattern I' see.

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Anonymous wrote:my kid says there's a big movement to hard and soft skills. so history and data science double major. or Econ and philosophy.

How’s history gonna give you more soft skills? Unless you’re talking about being brainwashed is a soft skill?

History doesn't give you soft skills. History gives you perspective.

It's all happened before and it will all happen again.

STEM majors are more likely to have better knowledge in history than humanities majors because they’re generally more intellectually curious. That has been my observation.

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CS majors are going to work at Starbucks.

Know one who is doing two such jobs, but she’s outgoing. The other recent CS grads are cowering at home arguing with their parents about how it’s not possible to work, yadda, yadda, yadda…

LOL thanks for the laugh.

Laugh all you want, most my colleagues are stem and their kids are finishing up CS degrees. The sons are unmotivated and sulking at home. The daughters are working food service. Obviously it could be a fluke of my friend group but it's the pattern I' see.

That's usually a boy problem. Girls tend to be more motivated, which is why more females have degrees than males.

My DS and their friends who are CS majors are doing fine. Not sulking at home. They have internships lined up and have been having a blast.

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Anonymous wrote:my kid says there's a big movement to hard and soft skills. so history and data science double major. or Econ and philosophy.

How’s history gonna give you more soft skills? Unless you’re talking about being brainwashed is a soft skill?

History doesn't give you soft skills. History gives you perspective.

It's all happened before and it will all happen again.

STEM majors are more likely to have better knowledge in history than humanities majors because they’re generally more intellectually curious. That has been my observation.

You have overplayed your hand.

If you wanted to argue that stem majors on average are smarter than humanities majors, I could see you winning that argument but arguing that STEM majors know more history than humanities majors is a stretch.

History and humanities you can learn from reading books on your own. Engineering and other Stem involves training and an intense curriculum. Do both and you will be well rounded.

There is nothing here that you cannot easily study at home at this point.....misguided to believe anything else. And, this is why the primary goal of college has to be learning how to think, evaluate, understand nuance, and communicate. Hence, SLACs and their approach to education are the right approach at this moment.

? do you think CS majors aren't taught to think critically and evaluate? Good gracious. Tell me you know nothing about CS without telling me you know nothing about CS.

PP; Since you popped in with a bit of nonsense I'll take a bit of time to help you out with context because I have context, real life day to day context.

I know a bit about CS because in my day job I am a director at a Mag 7 and I run a group of engineers, SWEs, TPMs and PMs. I drop into DCUM because it is a delightfully toxic stew of nonsense with some folks who care sprinkled in. It provides a great dopamine boost to my ADHD riddled brain.

I didn't say anything about CS majors not being able to think; I pointed out what skills are going to actually matter. AI is changing everything that my team does, everyday. And, I have said it before but I'll leave it here again.....we don't care what your major is when interviewing for SWEs. If you can code you can code for us. But everyday it is less about being able to code and more about understanding systems, constraints, optimization areas, etc.. Coding chops are becoming less valuable (there are still fantastic opportunities for coders who can go deep) and more about architecture and systems thinking. Thinking skills are quickly becoming more valuable than coding chops for many positions that would have been filled by SWEs in the past. My PMs and TPMs are also having to adjust and skill up in order to continue growing.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my kid says there's a big movement to hard and soft skills. so history and data science double major. or Econ and philosophy.

How’s history gonna give you more soft skills? Unless you’re talking about being brainwashed is a soft skill?

History doesn't give you soft skills. History gives you perspective.

It's all happened before and it will all happen again.

STEM majors are more likely to have better knowledge in history than humanities majors because they’re generally more intellectually curious. That has been my observation.

You have overplayed your hand.

If you wanted to argue that stem majors on average are smarter than humanities majors, I could see you winning that argument but arguing that STEM majors know more history than humanities majors is a stretch.

History and humanities you can learn from reading books on your own. Engineering and other Stem involves training and an intense curriculum. Do both and you will be well rounded.

There is nothing here that you cannot easily study at home at this point.....misguided to believe anything else. And, this is why the primary goal of college has to be learning how to think, evaluate, understand nuance, and communicate. Hence, SLACs and their approach to education are the right approach at this moment.

? do you think CS majors aren't taught to think critically and evaluate? Good gracious. Tell me you know nothing about CS without telling me you know nothing about CS.

PP; Since you popped in with a bit of nonsense I'll take a bit of time to help you out with context because I have context, real life day to day context.

I know a bit about CS because in my day job I am a director at a Mag 7 and I run a group of engineers, SWEs, TPMs and PMs. I drop into DCUM because it is a delightfully toxic stew of nonsense with some folks who care sprinkled in. It provides a great dopamine boost to my ADHD riddled brain.

I didn't say anything about CS majors not being able to think; I pointed out what skills are going to actually matter. AI is changing everything that my team does, everyday. And, I have said it before but I'll leave it here again.....we don't care what your major is when interviewing for SWEs. If you can code you can code for us. But everyday it is less about being able to code and more about understanding systems, constraints, optimization areas, etc.. Coding chops are becoming less valuable (there are still fantastic opportunities for coders who can go deep) and more about architecture and systems thinking. Thinking skills are quickly becoming more valuable than coding chops for many positions that would have been filled by SWEs in the past. My PMs and TPMs are also having to adjust and skill up in order to continue growing.

Your post is a bit odd in that you say you don’t care about major as long as you can code…but I assume the vast majority of those people come from CS and STEM backgrounds because they are interested in coding and do well on your technical interviews.

It’s no different than quant firms saying we don’t care about your major as long as you can pass all our Math challenges…but it’s no surprise that 99% of their hires have STEM backgrounds.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CS majors are going to work at Starbucks.

Know one who is doing two such jobs, but she’s outgoing. The other recent CS grads are cowering at home arguing with their parents about how it’s not possible to work, yadda, yadda, yadda…

LOL thanks for the laugh.

Laugh all you want, most my colleagues are stem and their kids are finishing up CS degrees. The sons are unmotivated and sulking at home. The daughters are working food service. Obviously it could be a fluke of my friend group but it's the pattern I' see.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my kid says there's a big movement to hard and soft skills. so history and data science double major. or Econ and philosophy.

How’s history gonna give you more soft skills? Unless you’re talking about being brainwashed is a soft skill?

History doesn't give you soft skills. History gives you perspective.

It's all happened before and it will all happen again.

STEM majors are more likely to have better knowledge in history than humanities majors because they’re generally more intellectually curious. That has been my observation.

You have overplayed your hand.

If you wanted to argue that stem majors on average are smarter than humanities majors, I could see you winning that argument but arguing that STEM majors know more history than humanities majors is a stretch.

History and humanities you can learn from reading books on your own. Engineering and other Stem involves training and an intense curriculum. Do both and you will be well rounded.

There is nothing here that you cannot easily study at home at this point.....misguided to believe anything else. And, this is why the primary goal of college has to be learning how to think, evaluate, understand nuance, and communicate. Hence, SLACs and their approach to education are the right approach at this moment.

? do you think CS majors aren't taught to think critically and evaluate? Good gracious. Tell me you know nothing about CS without telling me you know nothing about CS.

PP; Since you popped in with a bit of nonsense I'll take a bit of time to help you out with context because I have context, real life day to day context.

I know a bit about CS because in my day job I am a director at a Mag 7 and I run a group of engineers, SWEs, TPMs and PMs. I drop into DCUM because it is a delightfully toxic stew of nonsense with some folks who care sprinkled in. It provides a great dopamine boost to my ADHD riddled brain.

I didn't say anything about CS majors not being able to think; I pointed out what skills are going to actually matter. AI is changing everything that my team does, everyday. And, I have said it before but I'll leave it here again.....we don't care what your major is when interviewing for SWEs. If you can code you can code for us. But everyday it is less about being able to code and more about understanding systems, constraints, optimization areas, etc.. Coding chops are becoming less valuable (there are still fantastic opportunities for coders who can go deep) and more about architecture and systems thinking. Thinking skills are quickly becoming more valuable than coding chops for many positions that would have been filled by SWEs in the past. My PMs and TPMs are also having to adjust and skill up in order to continue growing.

Great, but CS majors are not just "coders."

It's computer science

All of the thinking and analytical skills go with the major as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my kid says there's a big movement to hard and soft skills. so history and data science double major. or Econ and philosophy.

How’s history gonna give you more soft skills? Unless you’re talking about being brainwashed is a soft skill?

History doesn't give you soft skills. History gives you perspective.

It's all happened before and it will all happen again.

STEM majors are more likely to have better knowledge in history than humanities majors because they’re generally more intellectually curious. That has been my observation.

You have overplayed your hand.

If you wanted to argue that stem majors on average are smarter than humanities majors, I could see you winning that argument but arguing that STEM majors know more history than humanities majors is a stretch.

History and humanities you can learn from reading books on your own. Engineering and other Stem involves training and an intense curriculum. Do both and you will be well rounded.

There is nothing here that you cannot easily study at home at this point.....misguided to believe anything else. And, this is why the primary goal of college has to be learning how to think, evaluate, understand nuance, and communicate. Hence, SLACs and their approach to education are the right approach at this moment.

? do you think CS majors aren't taught to think critically and evaluate? Good gracious. Tell me you know nothing about CS without telling me you know nothing about CS.

PP; Since you popped in with a bit of nonsense I'll take a bit of time to help you out with context because I have context, real life day to day context.

I know a bit about CS because in my day job I am a director at a Mag 7 and I run a group of engineers, SWEs, TPMs and PMs. I drop into DCUM because it is a delightfully toxic stew of nonsense with some folks who care sprinkled in. It provides a great dopamine boost to my ADHD riddled brain.

I didn't say anything about CS majors not being able to think; I pointed out what skills are going to actually matter. AI is changing everything that my team does, everyday. And, I have said it before but I'll leave it here again.....we don't care what your major is when interviewing for SWEs. If you can code you can code for us. But everyday it is less about being able to code and more about understanding systems, constraints, optimization areas, etc.. Coding chops are becoming less valuable (there are still fantastic opportunities for coders who can go deep) and more about architecture and systems thinking. Thinking skills are quickly becoming more valuable than coding chops for many positions that would have been filled by SWEs in the past. My PMs and TPMs are also having to adjust and skill up in order to continue growing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my kid says there's a big movement to hard and soft skills. so history and data science double major. or Econ and philosophy.

How’s history gonna give you more soft skills? Unless you’re talking about being brainwashed is a soft skill?

History doesn't give you soft skills. History gives you perspective.

It's all happened before and it will all happen again.

STEM majors are more likely to have better knowledge in history than humanities majors because they’re generally more intellectually curious. That has been my observation.

You have overplayed your hand.

If you wanted to argue that stem majors on average are smarter than humanities majors, I could see you winning that argument but arguing that STEM majors know more history than humanities majors is a stretch.

History and humanities you can learn from reading books on your own. Engineering and other Stem involves training and an intense curriculum. Do both and you will be well rounded.

There is nothing here that you cannot easily study at home at this point.....misguided to believe anything else. And, this is why the primary goal of college has to be learning how to think, evaluate, understand nuance, and communicate. Hence, SLACs and their approach to education are the right approach at this moment.

? do you think CS majors aren't taught to think critically and evaluate? Good gracious. Tell me you know nothing about CS without telling me you know nothing about CS.

PP; Since you popped in with a bit of nonsense I'll take a bit of time to help you out with context because I have context, real life day to day context.

I know a bit about CS because in my day job I am a director at a Mag 7 and I run a group of engineers, SWEs, TPMs and PMs. I drop into DCUM because it is a delightfully toxic stew of nonsense with some folks who care sprinkled in. It provides a great dopamine boost to my ADHD riddled brain.

I didn't say anything about CS majors not being able to think; I pointed out what skills are going to actually matter. AI is changing everything that my team does, everyday. And, I have said it before but I'll leave it here again.....we don't care what your major is when interviewing for SWEs. If you can code you can code for us. But everyday it is less about being able to code and more about understanding systems, constraints, optimization areas, etc.. Coding chops are becoming less valuable (there are still fantastic opportunities for coders who can go deep) and more about architecture and systems thinking. Thinking skills are quickly becoming more valuable than coding chops for many positions that would have been filled by SWEs in the past. My PMs and TPMs are also having to adjust and skill up in order to continue growing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CS majors are going to work at Starbucks.

Know one who is doing two such jobs, but she’s outgoing. The other recent CS grads are cowering at home arguing with their parents about how it’s not possible to work, yadda, yadda, yadda…

LOL thanks for the laugh.