AI Tanks CS Careers: Grads Face Fast Food Job Hunt
For years, a degree in computer science stood as a golden ticket, promising aspiring graduates a clear path to lucrative careers in the burgeoning tech sector. Yet, a seismic shift is now underway, leaving many recent computer science graduates struggling to secure even entry-level programming roles, let alone the six-figure salaries once envisioned. Instead, some are finding themselves applying for jobs in fast-food establishments, casualties of a dual crisis: widespread tech industry layoffs, occurring at an alarming rate of nearly 600 per day according to the Trueup jobs platform, and the rapid integration of advanced AI-powered coding tools.
Manasi Mishra, a 21-year-old from the heart of Silicon Valley, embodies this stark new reality. Raised with the mantra that a computer science degree and hard work guaranteed a high-paying starting salary, Mishra was a precocious programmer, building her first website in elementary school and excelling in advanced courses at Purdue University. However, the “AI shockwave” that coincided with her graduation this past spring left her jobless. Far from fielding multiple offers, she found herself interviewing at a Chipotle, a fast-casual burrito chain, for a position she ultimately did not secure—a humbling experience she shared in a now-viral social media video.
Mishra’s experience is far from isolated. A recent New York Times survey of over 150 current college students and recent graduates, all aspiring to enter the tech industry, revealed a pervasive sense of desperation and hopelessness. Many respondents expressed feeling “gaslit” by an industry that had long touted massive returns on “learn to code” investments, while others described their primary emotion as profound depression when contemplating the “soul-crushing” lack of opportunities. This sentiment is underscored by recent data from the New York Federal Reserve, which reports a 6.1 percent unemployment rate for computer science graduates, slightly above the 5.8 percent average for all recent graduates. Computer engineering majors face an even bleaker outlook, with their unemployment rate climbing to a notable 7.5 percent.
Zach Taylor, a 25-year-old who graduated from Oregon State University in 2023, recounts a similar trajectory of dashed hopes. When he began his computer science program in 2019, the job market appeared limitless. By the time he completed his degree, he was navigating the initial wave of AI-influenced tech layoffs, and his once-rosy career prospects had become a distant memory. Despite securing an internship at a software firm, Taylor was not offered a full-time position. In the two years since graduating, he has applied to an astonishing 5,762 jobs, resulting in just 13 interviews, none of which led to an offer. He describes his post-graduation job hunt as one of the “most demoralizing experiences I have ever had to go through,” a sentiment made all the more poignant by his rejection from a McDonald’s position due to “lack of experience.” Taylor has since returned to his hometown in Oregon, relying on unemployment benefits to stay afloat, finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the motivation to continue applying.
This impossible scenario, one that arguably surpasses the labor market challenges faced by millennials after the 2008 financial crash, leaves many wondering what the future holds. For now, with AI’s profound impact on the tech workforce still unfolding, the immediate prospects for these highly educated graduates remain deeply uncertain.