A software engineering degree from Stanford used to be a golden ticket. Artificial intelligence has devalued it to the bronze level, recent graduates say.
Elite students are surprised by the lack of job offers as they finish their studies at what is often considered the best university in the United States.
When they were freshmen, ChatGPT had not yet been released to the world. Today, AI can code better than most humans.
Top tech companies simply don't need as many fresh graduates.
“Stanford computer science graduates are struggling to find entry-level jobs” at top tech brands, said Jan Liphardt, an associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford University. “I think that's crazy.”
While the rapid advancement of generative AI coding capabilities has made experienced engineers more productive, it has also hampered the job prospects of early-career software engineers.
The Stanford students describe a suddenly skewed job market, where only a small portion of graduates—those considered “expert engineers” who already have resumes rich in product manufacturing and research—are landing the few good jobs, leaving everyone else to fight for the scraps.
“There's definitely a very somber atmosphere on campus,” said a recent computer science graduate who asked not to be identified so he could speak freely. “People [who are] “The job search is very stressed and it is very difficult for them to get a job.”
The restructuring is being felt at all California universities, including UC Berkeley, USC and others. The job search has been even more difficult for those with less prestigious degrees.
Eylul Akgul graduated last year with a bachelor's degree in computer science from Loyola Marymount University. He didn't get any offers, so he went to Türkiye and gained some startup experience. In May, she returned to the United States and was still “cheated” by hundreds of employers.
“The programming industry is becoming very saturated,” Akgul said.
The main competitor of engineers is getting stronger every day. When ChatGPT launched in 2022, you could only code for 30 seconds at a time. Today's AI agents can code hours, and perform basic programming faster and with fewer errors.
The data suggests that while AI startups like OpenAI and Anthropic are hiring a lot of people, that's not offsetting the decline in hiring elsewhere. Employment for specific groups, such as software developers who enter their careers between 22 and 25 years old, has fallen almost 20% from its peak in late 2022, according to a stanford study.
It was not just software engineers, but also customer service and accounting jobs that were highly exposed to AI competition. The Stanford study My dear that initial hiring for jobs exposed to AI decreased by 13% relative to less exposed jobs, such as nursing.
In the Los Angeles region, another study estimated that nearly 200,000 jobs are exposed. About 40% of tasks performed by call center workers, editors and personal finance experts could be automated and performed by AI, according to a study. AI Exposure Index curated by resume builder MyPerfectResume.
Many startups and tech titans have not been shy about broadcasting that they are scaling back their hiring plans as AI allows them to do more programming with fewer people.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said that between 70% and 90% of the code in some of his company's products is written by his company's AI, called Claude. In May, he predicted that AI capabilities will increase to about 50% of all entry-level administrative jobs could disappear within five years.
A common sentiment among hiring managers is that where they once needed 10 engineers, they now only need “two trained engineers and one of these agents with an MBA,” which can be just as productive, said Nenad Medvidović, a computer science professor at the University of Southern California.
“We don't need junior developers anymore,” said Amr Awadallah, CEO of Vectara, a Palo Alto-based artificial intelligence startup. “AI can now code better than the average junior developer coming out of the best schools out there.”
Without a doubt, AI is still a long way from causing the extinction of software engineers. As AI handles structured, repetitive tasks, human engineers' jobs are shifting toward supervision.
Today's AIs are powerful but “jagged”, meaning they can excel at certain math problems and still fail basic logic tests and are not consistent. One study found that AI tools made experienced developers 19% slower at work as they spent more time reviewing code and fixing bugs.
Students should focus on learning how to manage and test the operation of AI, as well as gaining experience working with it, said John David N. Dionisio, a computer science professor at LMU.
Stanford students say they're hitting the job market and finding a divide along the way; Capable AI engineers can find work, but old-school entry-level computer science jobs are disappearing.
As they hit this surprising roadblock, some students are lowering their standards and joining companies they wouldn't have considered before. Some are creating their own startups. A large group of frustrated graduates are deciding to continue their studies to improve their resumes and add more skills needed to compete with AI.
“If you look at the enrollment numbers over the last two years, they have skyrocketed for people who want to do a fifth year of master's,” the Stanford graduate said. “It's a completely different year, a completely different cycle for recruiting. I would say half of my friends are still on campus doing their fifth-year master's degree.”
After four months of searching, LMU graduate Akgul finally landed a technical lead job at a software consultancy in Los Angeles. In his new job, he uses AI coding tools, but feels like he has to do the work of three developers.
Universities and students will have to rethink their study plans and careers to ensure their four years of study prepare them for a world with AI.
“That's been a dramatic change from three years ago, when all of my college students found great jobs at the companies around us,” Stanford's Liphardt said. “That has changed.”
