Comment on Computer Science, a popular college major, has one of the highest unemployment rates

• surewhynotlem@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I have twenty years experience and it took me 300+ applications to get my current job.

  Times are changing.

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• Krono@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  No I have a spreadsheet with 3200 lines of submitted applications, which includes both entry level positions and internships. Many with customized cover letters.

  When you do the math its not even a strong pace, only about 3/day over 3 years. On a good day I was submitting 12-15.

  I even applied to some famous ones, like the time Microsoft opened up 30 entry level positions and received 100,000 applications in 24 hours. It is rumored thet they realized they cannot process 100k apps, so they threw them all away and hired internally.

  Whether they actually threw them out or not, that one always sticks with me. Submitting 100k apps is literally a lifetime of human work. All of that wasted effort is a form of social murder in my opinion.

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  • froggycar360@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    LMAO I THOUGHT YOU MEANT CODE APPLICATIONS. Like you developed 3000 apps. I was like no way…

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    • mfed1122@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I thought that at first too and I wasn’t gonna say anything but I was thinking to myself “bro is definitely writing some really shitty code”

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    • Krono@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Lol well I guess it’s easy to get confused. I was submitting job applications to write computer applications.

      I was submitting app apps.

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• BillBurBaggins@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  It sounds like the same amount of effort that it would take to make a really good open source project, or contribute to an existing one.

  I find it hard to believe you wouldn’t get a job with something like that under your belt. Also 3000 applications is probably a bit shotgun rather than targeted and HR would be able to pick up on it

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  • Krono@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    You’re right that my time was wasted, and knowing the outcome, I wish I could go back and do more project work before trying to enter the job market.

    But I don’t think that is a financial possibility for most Americans. Going to school drained my savings, when I graduated I had almost nothing except for school debt, medical debt, and high rent. Saying “I’m gonna take off and work for free for a year” never really seemed like a possibility.

    And as for my apps, the 3000 were not shotgun, they were all personalized, custom cover letters, keywords, etc. It only averaged out to 3/day. I did not track the apps where I used AI to submit them- the AI ones were definitely shotgun.

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    • BillBurBaggins@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      It’s not your fault, but it sounds like you and probably a lot of other people were misled about what having a degree actually does.

      The most important thing someone looks at when you apply for a job is that you are interested in the thing and capable of doing it. The degree doesn’t really do that but the personal projects do. The degree might be a nice to have on top and helps to convince some people, but you always end up working with people without one anyway.

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      • Krono@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I’m not sure I was misled, what you said was explicitly taught to us at University. I think my degree is the #1 thing on my resume, but of course I also had projects, a few certificates, and multiple attempts at more specific fields.

        Back when I was applying, my GitHub activity was pretty solid green.

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  • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Well believe it gramps, most of the open source projects contributors now either just do content creation as a side hustle or are permanently looking for work, at least in my experience

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    • BillBurBaggins@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      “most” open source project contributors are looking for work? Lol ok bud

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      • sobchak@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        IDK about most. But, I’ve seen many OS contributors say they’re looking for work. Seen one recently saying he won’t be contributing much to the project anymore because he’s housing-insecure. Seen maintainers for popular projects get laid off and are now looking for work. Seen people with 10+ and 20+ years of experience not being able to find a job after many months.

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      • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Yeah. Broken economy, broken world, etc etc. it’s like a bad dream that won’t end.

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  • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    the 2020-23 isnt exactly a time they were hiring at all, they froze for like 2 years. and students were barely learning at all since the classes were all online, and there was no way to find volunteering work. if you go back to look at your university reviews on yelp(yea they have it for universities) its pretty dismal out there.

    he said he handcrafted alot of them, so it was pretty targeted.

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