Is studying CS risky?

[-]

Outrageous_Duck3227@reddit

cs isn’t risky, thinking it guarantees big money is what bites people. learn core stuff well, build projects, maybe mix in some math or another field so you’re not just “yet another web dev”. it’s still good, just way more compitetive now. finding that first job is a pain in this mess of a market

[-]

nog642@reddit

They won't be entering into today's market, they'd be entering into the market of 4 years from now, and we don't know what that will be. AI automation is an unknown, I would say it is risky.

[-]

Astral_Inconsequence@reddit

I agree, but name a safe major in 4 years? I don't think there is one.

I am not saying no job is safe in 4 years but I don't think anything I'm safe in 4 years because the future is so murky right now due to AI.

Best bet is study something that seems reasonable and be prepared to continue to grow, that seems like the only option rn.

[-]

Soy_tu_papi_@reddit

You could say that about any job that isn’t manual labor. No one knows what AI will be in four years.

[-]

nog642@reddit

AI is specifically being applied to software development right now, that's like its most advanced usecase

[-]

Soy_tu_papi_@reddit

Yes, but we’re talking about four years from now. No one can predict how advanced AI will be then.

[-]

nog642@reddit

Sure but the thing it's already good at now is definitely more at risk

[-]

AUTeach@reddit

If software development can be automated, then every white-collar job is going to fall in months.

[-]

nog642@reddit

Months?

Many would be easily automated given software development can be. Many would not.

Also software development doesn't need to be completely automated for the job market to tank. It just needs to significantly decrease the required number of software developers.

[-]

CodyEngel@reddit

Only because we can use AI. Claude Cowork is coming to ruin every other knowledge workers plans.

[-]

sockcman@reddit

Is also being applied to cheeseburger development, this isn't just a cs thing

[-]

Gugalcrom123@reddit

What about a humanoid electrician robot?

[-]

fixermark@reddit

You can say it about manual labor too. While it's true that there's never a lack of work for an electrician to do, there is a lack of supply if, say, your President imposes tariffs on everything imported, and a lack of demand if people aren't paid enough to afford to do maintenance.

[-]

fixermark@reddit

But that category of risk is always true. When I started my freshman year, the dotcom bubble was crashing. Seniors were crashing out about graduating with a ton of debt into a market that they perceived as imploded.

... and then, well, the FAANGs happened.

[-]

nog642@reddit

Yes, and CS would also be risky around the dotcom crash. Just because it worked out doesn't mean it wasn't a risk.

[-]

fixermark@reddit

True, true. The main factor at play is "past performance is not predictive of future results." That principle cuts both ways.

[-]

CodyEngel@reddit

Also how many times has our industry been disrupted? We don't build software with punchcards anymore, most software is deployed to cloud infrastructure and there's a handful of other disruptions in between those two.

AI was supposed to replace radiologists and yet that's still a highly in demand career. AI changes what our days look like, it's not going to make us unemployable.

[-]

JKPwning@reddit

My issue is I worked for 4 years as a Python Dev with no clear career progression within the company. I was recently let go and now I’m having to compete for lower salaries 🤦‍♂️

It’s hard out here, I’ve just done everything wrong

[-]

win10trashEdition@reddit

Exactly. Coders weren't even paid before capitalism found it useful. If ur goal is money for God's sake study law or medicine.

All such questions seem to simply same thing - stable income/employment with 100 metaphors around it so..

Most talented guys I ever met either worked a fully unrelated job or never even employed. In short - tech world is incredible and lack of money doesn't make it less beautiful/enjoyable.

I hear op screaming - Well I have bills to pay!! Yeah so just keep in mind

[-]

AlSweigart@reddit

If ur goal is money for God's sake study law or medicine.

You might want to sit down for what I'm about to tell you...

[-]

Gunther0-0@reddit

How much do you earn for this bot/ad comments

[-]

pinback77@reddit

I think it was easier to get into IT in previous years. Now, the market is saturated with people that have no passion for it and AI that makes entry level jobs harder to find.

If you are really into it, go for it. If you have no clue what you want in life, I'd say it's a risky choice.

[-]

CodyEngel@reddit

There is a compelling argument that mid levels are most at risk with AI.

Junior engineers are AI native, they know how to use the tool better than most. Senior engineers have industry experience that is much harder to replace.

[-]

Major-Management-518@reddit

Well I would argue it's outsourcing that makes entry level jobs harder to find, but the rest is true.

[-]

Ok_Decision_@reddit

That’s not it at all lol.

[-]

Mediocre-Pizza-Guy@reddit

My big tech employer is still hiring entry level positions...

Just not in the US.

I'd say it's a very big part of it.

[-]

PhilosophicalGoof@reddit

Yeah, it one of the problems but not THE problem.

[-]

win10trashEdition@reddit

IT stuff especially, if u actually wanna do stuff u can work of stuff ur whole life just not for money. Most people who actually love technical work just do it on their own.

If you actually love such work u dint need a job! Usual excuse is "I gotta pay my bills"... Btw some of the most skilled techies in the world work minimum wage jobs or fully unemployed their whole life.

THISE WHO LILE TECH DONT LOOK FOR JOBS. LIVE OFF GOV BENEFITS LIKE I DO. IM VERY HARDWORKING I JUST DONT GET PAID FOR IT

[-]

win10trashEdition@reddit

Exactly. As a lifelong enthusiast, I said screw it eventually and do all my projects unpaid/self paced and make living in other ways cuz f that

[-]

AlSweigart@reddit

From surveying successful people, my advice is to have rich parents.

[-]

HexspaReloaded@reddit

Make stuff. Serve a market. Take initiative.

[-]

PhilsPhoreskinn@reddit

Sounds like you need to disconnect from social media, kiddo. Lot of folks on here aren’t very ambitious so just keep that in mind when you see the constant complaining. Correct answer is to ask this question to a parent or a college advisor when you get to school.

[-]

willfresno@reddit

The fact is many economies around the world don’t guarantee survival, let alone basic needs. “Ambition” doesn’t guarantee those things either. So people want to know whether the profession they’re studying for will provide for them.

[-]

PhilsPhoreskinn@reddit

You’re right in that ambition doesn’t guarantee but it does help shift the probability in your favor. Someone who develops in-demand skills is in a different position than someone who doesn’t.

[-]

willfresno@reddit

True, but at this point it’s a bit of a guessing game lol

[-]

PhilsPhoreskinn@reddit

I don’t know your situation but if you want my anecdotal advice looking at local companies, reaching out directly on LinkedIn, email etc was a night and day difference for me in terms of landing internships/jobs.

[-]

QuarryTen@reddit

im curious as to when you did the cold calling emails and LinkedIn messages.

[-]

illicitli@reddit

LOL most parents are stupid

[-]

PhilsPhoreskinn@reddit

Damn! You have enough experience with parents to make that kind of statement? 😂

[-]

illicitli@reddit

my sister is a college counselor and did admissions also, the stories are wild. also a lot of parents in America voted for Trump LOL i could go on and on...

[-]

PhilsPhoreskinn@reddit

Fair enough

[-]

fixermark@reddit

This is really good advice. Always remember when hanging out on social media that you're talking to bored people on the Internet.

The folks doing stuff aren't hanging out on Reddit. ;)

[-]

Ecstatic_Score6973@reddit

Yeah i see it all the time on here, people do the absolute bare minimum and earn their degree and expect to get a job yet they know absolutely nothing about CS or IT

[-]

Slight_Champion6885@reddit

I’m some what close to OP’s age, and can confirm, it really is that tough out there. It isn’t exaggerated.

[-]

Zyphronix@reddit (OP)

could you give me some of what you have experienced?

[-]

Slight_Champion6885@reddit

It took me about 700 job applications to get a job in the field, and I moved across the country with a week’s notice to do so

I do genuinely love the field and there is absolutely room for more to join. The team is expanding in size

[-]

nog642@reddit

Many programs require you to apply directly to a major.

Also a parent or college advisor would not be the most knowledgeable on the CS job market. The best people to ask this to would be people in the industry who are hiring.

[-]

PhilsPhoreskinn@reddit

You’re right, definitely not Reddit though.

[-]

nog642@reddit

If you don't know anyone like that in person reddit is a decent option. Just need to take all the comments with a grain of salt, but at least you see some perspectives.

[-]

Horror_Guidance_7337@reddit

nah man those "homeless cs student" memes are just from people who thought coding bootcamp meant automatic 200k salary without putting in actual effort - market's still solid if you're willing to grind and learn beyond just basic stuff

[-]

PhilsPhoreskinn@reddit

Agreed, I’d love to see the resume of the people whining the most online. Bet it’s pretty bare.

[-]

Several_Ad_1322@reddit

Its also important to note that rarely do people come online to post happy things. The best is just to keep moving forward, focusing on the challenges ahead, and keep trying. Just like programming, life is all about running into failure and problem solving it. Its definitely tough out there, but its also important to keep vigilant and to keep trying.

[-]

PhilsPhoreskinn@reddit

Very well said. Anything you want in life is gonna take effort.

[-]

Le_9k_Redditor@reddit

Almost all degrees are risky and likely not worth the cost, learn because you're passionate if you want to go to uni

[-]

PhilosophicalGoof@reddit

Most fields are risky in this economy tbh.

Healthcare however, seems to be doing fine atm.

If you’re looking for a career that you can be comfortable knowing that you don’t have to worry about being rendered obsolete then go into healthcare.

But if you’re truly passionate about cs and understand that you may not get a job for atleast a year after graduation then go ahead with CS.

[-]

rustyseapants@reddit

Teach Yourself Computer Science

What research have you done before choosing "Computer Science" as your major?

What are your options other than Computer Science?

What will the job market look like for your degree in 4-6 years?

How much money in student debt will you owe when you graduate?

How much time did it take to chose Computer Science as your major?

[-]

AlSweigart@reddit

Just to head off "you should be come a plumber or an electrician, they have tons of shortages right now."

Man, my dad was an electrician in the 90s and 00s. It's no guarantee to a lifetime of stable employment. Being in the union helped though.

[-]

Either-Signature-726@reddit

All this panic because of AI. AI is just a tool, you are the one who shapes it. No matter how advanced it gets it cannot replace the human mind behind it. AI cannot think for itself, problem solve from experience, understand context the way a human does or build real relationships with clients and teams. You are not competing with AI, you are the one who uses it, directs it and makes it actually useful. Humans built AI, not the other way around. Follow your gut and go for it.

[-]

OscarF2P@reddit

Let me give you a small history lesson.

There is a running thing since about the 90s that there is a trucker shortage. There is no trucker shortage & never has been. There is a shortage of people willing to work for peanuts. That's the only shortage. All these companies want too many workers so they can underpay them.

The raising popularity of pushing people to become electricians & plumbers in the media. They're just upset that they can't pay people almost nothing like they used to. When the financial crisis hit in 2008. Everyone stopped building homes so a lot of trades people lost their job. They switched careers because they didn't have any other choice. I used to work next to electricians who were making a few dollars above minimum wage before 2008. It wasn't some massive financial hit for most guys to switch careers. That's why they did it. You'll soon soon enough that these were actually one of the worst careers to go into. Most downturns. These guys lose their jobs first.

If you want to chase money. Go into the medical field or become an airline pilot(This job can be a struggle at times to get your hours in.). If you're passionate about CS quit worrying about it and go into CS. Just be aggressive about chasing internships so you can get a job and you're not so inexperienced when you finally do graduate.

If you're also passionate you're not going to be one of the 50 posts here a day of "I've never done a project & I got a degree and I need help.". Half those guys were going to struggle to find jobs during good times.

[-]

Dubiisek@reddit

Standing up and walking to take a leak is risky, just as literally everything else you do is.

No, software developers/IT people in general are not going to disappear or become homeless. If you have passion for whatever field of CS you want to get into, you put in the time and are right in the head you will be golden.

If you want to study CS, do nothing besides what the degree requires and then go work 8-5 like a code monkey and cash in then don't, you would indeed likely end up homeless and/or you would end up working retail.

[-]

coder155ml@reddit

You’ll be homeless if you work 8-5?

[-]

Dubiisek@reddit

No, if you want to get the degree to work as a 8-5 code monkey you will be because those are the positions that are actually being replaced by LLMs.

[-]

BurnQuest@reddit

“Being a [job title] isn’t risky, being a [derogatory name for job title] is risky”

[-]

Dubiisek@reddit

Sorry, if you think a dev who works on personal projects, is actively interested in new tech and is actually part of the collective at work is the same as someone who wants to get a degree doing bare minimum and then wants to clock in at 8 and clock out at 5 doing whatever trivial stuff is dumped onto them are the same then we have nothing to talk about.

That is besides the fact that what you wrote makes 0 sense considering the first sentence of my initial comment.

[-]

BurnQuest@reddit

They don’t have to be the same to both have very bad employment prospects. How many artists have huge personal portfolios and are active in the community ? It’s not exactly a straight line to a job for them

[-]

Gnaxe@reddit

Standing up and walking to take a leak is risky, just as literally everything else you do is.

That's the Fallacy of Gray, right there. Congratulations. You've discovered the world is not black and white. But saying all the grays are the same shade does not make you wise. You've made it worse.

[-]

Dubiisek@reddit

The sentence is meant to relay that everything you do carries risk and that it's up to you to weight the risk vs benefit, as we all do constantly. Saying that something is "risky" is meaningless in isolation.

I have no idea what the fallacy has to do with any of this.

[-]

Dry-Hamster-5358@reddit

It’s not “risky”, it’s just not as easy as it looked a few years ago. The field is more competitive now, but there’s still demand for people who can actually build and solve problems

What you’re seeing online is mostly extremes, either huge success or worst case scenarios. Reality is somewhere in between

If you focus on building real skills and projects instead of just relying on a degree, you’ll be fine

CS is still a solid path, just don’t treat it as a guaranteed outcome

[-]

StoneCypher@reddit

i would like to stop seeing this post several times a day

what's risky is going into anything if you need to ask reddit without searching even once

[-]

OskeyBug@reddit

It's less risky than psychology or political science

[-]

Indigo903@reddit

I graduated a little less than a year ago and just got my first real job offer yesterday. So it might be hard but it is possible. When I was a TA for a CS course I interacted with a lot of people who had no business being in the major, just straight up dumb lol so if you tend to do well in school and you take your first couple classes and enjoy it then I say go for it.

[-]

Js_cpl@reddit

Theres going to be plenty of technology problems to solve in the future that real humans can solve.

[-]

sp00kyyelahOG@reddit

This right here is why I still went for the computer science B.S even knowing the job market is in hell. Eventually there will be so many computer problems and the amount of people needed to fix them will not be there because so many decided not to go after this.

I think if you have a passion and work well and care you should.

If you’re just in it for the money only (even tho we are too) LIke only money? You should pick something else OP

[-]

vinnypotsandpans@reddit

Super risky. People who study CS have been known to get 7 years of bad luck.

[-]

NovaMind16@reddit

Lance des projets à côté, c'est les audacieux qui réussissent le plus

[-]

Gnaxe@reddit

Did you hear about Mythos yet? Learn a trade instead. You'll get a high paying job faster and for less money. The robots will take longer to replace you.

[-]

ky7969@reddit

As someone in a trade, the wear on my body I not worth the faster pay growth

[-]

memilanuk@reddit

Depends on the trade

[-]

Conscious-Secret-775@reddit

Why were you looking forward to CS. Is programming something you enjoy? How much coding have you done so far?

[-]

Reasonable_Ad1226@reddit

While.. windows itself is junk, and the language is based on windows. Just saying…

[-]

s4psee@reddit

is python a good language to learn? how can someone whos never had a pc or is a conplete beginner to learn in steps 😭

[-]

j01101111sh@reddit

Everything is risky nowadays. Pick a risk you enioy because you'll be dealing with it for a long time if you're lucky.

[-]

BlaaccHatt@reddit

Yeah, stay away. Let others like me, who don't care about the risks of studying CS, explore the field and prosper, and just focus on what makes you happy. Best of luck

[-]

cochinescu@reddit

Honestly, the memes are way overblown. If you like solving problems and you're curious about tech, CS is still a solid choice. The job market's rough lately, but it's not any worse than most other fields outside healthcare.

[-]

baileyarzate@reddit

Most degrees are risky if you’re a bottom tier student. Treat it as something to master.

It’s less risky than nursing. Go nursing if you’re truly terrified and don’t love CS.

[-]

autistic_bard444@reddit

Depends on how you approach it

There are some programming forms Ai fails at relentlessly. Sure, it can sort of do web dev if you guide it like a stupid missile

I would not even think about letting it touch my clang, llvm, or Lua.

Hell, ask Claude opus to double random sequence a 509 line .xml file. You end up with 500 lines of one row.

Find a niche and dig a deep hole in it. As someone said, do special projects that prove your talents and reliability. Until the Ai bubble pops, you have to make yourself stand out

Another brick in the wall will get ignored.

[-]

dmazzoni@reddit

It's competitive, but not risky if you work hard, genuinely learn the material, build projects, and ideally try to get an internship before you graduate.

What's super common is people who do the bare minimum in school - especially these days when they can use AI to do their homework for them - then they graduate with no skills and can't find a job.

It's true that right now there are people who do have skills and are struggling to find a job. The market is bad right now and it's very competitive. But most other good careers are competitive too - it's just that programming when through a period of hyper growth where getting a job was easy, and now that's over.

Have a realistic attitude. You have to excel. You have to interview well. Getting your first job will be a grind. It's a career where you'll have to constantly keep learning and adapting. But, if you enjoy it, it's a great career and still a very viable option.

[-]

nog642@reddit

I'd say yes it is risky compared to some other careers.

Do you have a particular interest in CS? If so, in what way? If CS is your passion you can make it, but if you're mostly going in for the career there are better options probably.