For quite a long time some of the best advice for people wondering what field they should enter was to tell them to get into technology.
Whether it is coding, working on hardware, or any number of other things, the thought was that getting into a high-tech field would offer stable employment long into the future.
While technology will undoubtedly be around forever, it seems like the jobs are not nearly as stable.
UC Berkeley professor James O’Brien recently made a post on LinkedIn talking about the fact that even top performing students at this elite school are having trouble finding work when they graduate.
In the post, he said:
“Previously, a Berkeley [computer science] graduate, even if not a top student, would receive multiple appealing job offers in terms of work type, location, salary, and employer. However, outstanding students, like those with a 4.0 in-major GPA, are now contacting me worried because they have zero offers.”
While there has been a clear downturn in hiring by many top tech companies recently, the issue may date back further than the last couple of years.
The professor explains:
“Lately, I’m [hearing] similar narratives from students. I suspect this trend is irreversible and likely part of the broader trend impacting almost every employment sector.”
This sentiment is backed up by other data as well. The National Association of College and Employers put out a study that said that the hiring forecasts for people graduating college are down by about 6% from 2023 numbers.
This is a major concern that needs to be addressed.
In the professor’s post, he said:
“I hate to say this, but a person starting their degree today may find themself graduating four years from now into a world with very limited employment options. Add to that the growing number of people losing their employment and it should be crystal clear that a serious problem is on the horizon. We should be doing something about it today.”
What can be done, however, is bit of a challenge as more and more jobs are being taken over by advanced robots and AI.
The job market is not looking good.
If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a quantum computer simulation that has “reversed time” and physics may never be the same.