Why CS Majors Can't Get Jobs
With the rise of the internet, a new standard for American education has emerged. The success of computer science graduates is no longer determined by their success in school.
In popular media, you can see this confusion reflecting on today's college graduates. Headlines such as:
- "I graduated top of my class at Harvard but I can't land a job"
- "I applied to 700 jobs in the past 3 months and haven't got a single interview"
go viral online because they contradict how we were raised.
Our parents were judged based on their marks in school and the institutions they attended. These factors determined the majority of their future. Other industries still maintain this posture, but computer science has taken a different approach.
Despite most students visibly struggling with this outdated approach, few are stepping back to consider whether employers are actually looking for something else.
The new standard for computer science students is to make things. Write papers, invent devices, ship software, or discover encryption algorithms. If you are not doing these things, you will be drastically less employable than someone who is. Not only will you be less employable, but you will also perform worse when working a job.
It makes sense. If you want a career making software, you should learn by making software. So why don't more students realize this sooner?
Agency
The field of computer science has given students unlimited agency. If you think about other careers, it is quite difficult to practice the subject at an advanced level. You need starting capital (provided by universities) to make stuff. Some examples:
- Electrical engineers want to make electronics.
- Civil engineers want to make bridges.
- Architects want to make buildings.
- Natural scientists want to perform research.
As a young person, it is not reasonable to fetch the equipment necessary to create meaningful projects in most fields.
With computer science, all you need is a laptop, which is obtainable for most Americans.
Thus, this barrier has been removed. Computer science students are no longer reliant on a university or company to provide them with the materials necessary to complete projects in their field.
Over time, students and companies have realized this. Students are creating projects on their own accord, and companies are hiring such students because they have obtained practical skills leagues above a textbook student.
If you are a textbook student struggling to get a job in university, this is why. You're not in the same league as students who build real projects outside the classroom.
What Can I Do?
My advice to CS majors is: CS is the most powerful field when combined with knowledge in another field. For example:
- CS + Finance
- CS + Biology
- CS + Physics
- CS + Business
These are some of the most lucrative areas for projects of all time.
You don't have to be a great computer scientist to make a project. You can be the first person to intersect something you're passionate about with computer science, and perhaps that's even better.
You don't have to be an expert in another field, but you need to be good enough to identify a problem to solve. Examples:
- If you play video games, create a cheating engine.
- If you own stocks, create an asset management tool.
- If you rock climb, create an AR interface to map routes.
Your project should hit at least one of these categories:
- Be interesting to you or the world
- Attract attention
- Make money
If your project cannot meet any of these criteria, then do not make it. If you don't know enough to make a project, then learn.
If you cannot make a project that meets this criteria, then you won't be able to make a project for a company either. Companies hire engineers to make stuff for them. If you can't make stuff, they won't want to hire you.