Computer science graduates struggle to secure their first jobs
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm21dvg8l1go
Posted by Odd-Help6890
Computer science graduates struggle to secure their first jobs
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm21dvg8l1go
Posted by Odd-Help6890
16 Comments
I work in IT, my company just laid off 12 of us because AI can do our jobs. It’s a bad time to get into it
I work as a software engineer and AI is definitely extremely good at automating the small changes or bug fixes that a typical graduate/junior engineer would be given. But that’s a bad way of looking at it. Pair programming is the best way to train a graduate/junior engineer. Unfortunately that costs time and companies just like to save money.
That said, I think all graduates are struggling to find work. Not just in tech.
At some point, when capitalism has achieved its purpose of creating the most efficient production of all our needs, we’ll need to think about the next steps. This is not it though, comparing to pre-Covid is silly. 50% job advert decline over a period where interest rates increased 50 times (from 0.1% to 5%) is honestly not that bad for an industry built on credit.
We take n00bs in as apprentices with huge success!
You just don’t need a degree in this stuff anymore to enter the work place. Sorry 🤷
Been struggling to get a job in IT for over a decade. I don’t want to go to university and straddle myself down with debt.
This isn’t new. Computer Science grad schemes have been incredibly competitive for at least the past 10 years with similar difficulties getting jobs as is seen in other competitive fields like Law. We’ll need to wait a few more months to get the actual statistics on hiring rates for recent computer science grads but I would bet when they do come out, they’ll be in line with the past few years or only slightly down.
Being a computer science graduate only gets you so far. Companies aren’t willing to invest in people especially when they can outsource (AI is the excuse, outsource is the reality). AI can’t do shit without prompts and checking plus the fixing because it’s not a complete solution. They can’t be telling people the truth can they. How would you feel if company x that you use just sacked off a load of home grown workers for cheap ones in India? Optics would not be good for that.
If you want to get into it you either need a proven portfolio of whatever your specialisation is (online, github, whatever) or you need proven experience. That’s it and you have to be fucking good at it.
[“The UK will benefit from the arrival of more skilled workers from India under a new deal, Narendra Modi has said…”](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/24/britain-will-benefit-from-indian-migrants-says-modi/)
>The UK will benefit from the arrival of more skilled workers from India [under a new deal](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/11/britain-deal-india-far-more-impact-trump-razzmatazz/), Narendra Modi has said.
>India and the UK have agreed an arrangement which will make it easier for people from each country to go to the other and work on a temporary basis.
>The Indian prime minister said the deal will “inject new energy into the service sectors of both countries” and the UK economy will “benefit from India’s skilled talent”.
>He confirmed a deal had been agreed on the so-called double contributions convention (DCC) as he signed a [broader UK-India free trade deal](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/06/our-destiny-is-not-with-europe-but-india-and-rest-of-world/) alongside Sir Keir Starmer at Chequers in Buckinghamshire on Thursday.
>Sir Keir faced accusations of implementing a two-tier tax system when the [DCC issue came to light](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/08/starmer-economic-policies-collapsed-into-incoherent-mess/) in May.
I work application support. Most positions require higher and higher skill set (sql, network, security, powershell etc) and pay minimum wage while requiring higher and higher experience time. Some job openings are genuinely taking the piss.Â
I’m terrified that AI will take my job eventually (air traffic control)
It’s only a matter of time.
I’ve hyper specialised.. I’m screwed when it happens.
As well as the decimation of the job market due to our shit economy, truth is a lot of degrees don’t equip students well enough.
The government need to push for good/proper apprenticeships much more.
Can confirm. Graduated in 2024 with a first in CS as a mature student and still struggling to land an entry level tech role. Currently in an unrelated admin job.
Job hunting is a nightmare. Everything wants senior experience for junior pay and all I’ve ever got out of applying for jobs on Indeed is a 100,000 x increase in spam calls.
Other than enjoying tutorial hell and building my portfolio does anyone have any advice?
I’m really not surprised. I’ve got 20 years of experience and I reckon I’d struggle to find a new role.
yet there’s guys in my area commiting fraud since 2010 and still no record, has a nice car and house and takes his wife and kids on multiple foreign holidays, I really chose the wrong career choice smh
Honestly… As a person who hires for my team, CS degrees aren’t producing good candidates.
I should be seeing graduates with 3 or 4 years of project work that they can talk me through. Instead they have maybe some a couple of the same scripted projects.
Every successful graduate we have hired has basically done loads of stuff on their own.
We need to completely rethink how we are training young people. A completely theoretical comp sci degree isn’t useful to the vast majority wanting to be devs.
My company has a UK hiring freeze on IT roles because it’s so much cheaper to hire elsewhere.