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Guess maybe coders needed a fucking union after all, who would have guessed that the “rockstar” programmer gravy train wouldn’t last forever.
Goodbye, $165,000 Tech Jobs. Student Coders Seek Work at Chipotle.
Submitted 17 hours ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/10/technology/coding-ai-jobs-students.html
Comments
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 hours ago
mesamunefire@piefed.social 17 hours ago
My union got me a raise. And I have a pension of all things. Crazy. In 2025!
Unions are great.
adespoton@lemmy.ca 17 hours ago
$165,000 tech jobs are still out there. Usually they require at least 10 years experience, or a masters in mathematics or data science.
empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 hours ago
Try a $48-64k job and get some experience.
Boomer out of touch take.
Damn. That’d be crazy if anyone was actually hiring anybody with no experience.
I know multiple group chats of people who graduated fresh from college, not even 20% of them have jobs a year after grad. And this is spread across comp sci, cybersecurity, and mech eng.
The entry level job is dead. Every company thinks they can replace the menial shit that entry level workers do to learn with AI slop.
prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 16 hours ago
counterpoint: I work in tech for a Fortune 500 and we still have interns and still hire intern classes and kids right out of college.
We are working with AI but we aren’t stupid, we still need people.
Not in Silicon Valley.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
Try a $48-64k job and get some experience.
Try renting an apartment in Silicon Valley with a $48k/year paycheck in your pocket.
The starting salaries justified the crazy cost-of-living in a city that wanted $5000/mo for 800 sqft. Now the question becomes how you afford to get the experience in a job that pays below the regional cost of living.
mesamunefire@piefed.social 17 hours ago
Most tech jobs are outside Silicon Valley. But I see your point, they need to pay cost of living. Its still technical work
Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
Counter offer: Rent an apartment in Bumfuck, Flyover and work for a tech company.
It’s the only way I’ve been able to afford a house.
frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 hours ago
I need a big truck in case I need to haul wood from Home Depot once or twice a year, because that’s worst case scenario. It needs to be an EV with 1000 mile range, because that’s worst case scenario. And I need to make enough to live in Silicon Valley, because that’s worst case scenario.
atticus88th@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
It’s weird that so many replies are attacking you when you are factually right. The industry has always been this way. And some kid with a GED and 3 years of CompSci from their community college is not going to land them a 165k dream job right after graduation.
I think some people have been living in a fantasy world or believed every headline they saw.
Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
What sucks is that was the starting wage when I got into the tech industry back in the early ‘00s
adespoton@lemmy.ca 16 hours ago
Yup. Entry level wages have stagnated while food and housing prices have skyrocketed.
BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
Probably not the hottest of markets right now (not just because of Trump and company) and I was in a similar boat when I graduated. My first job was Best Buy (not Geek Squad unfortunately) then tech support then a reporting analyst. Took probably 4 years for me to get into a job where coding was the main aspect.
That being said, I feel bad for any new graduate except for maybe lawyers.
GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml 7 hours ago
On top of this, the AI jobs are paying some flat-out ridiculous rates.
Like, millions of dollars up-front in signing bonuses kind of ridiculous
peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 12 hours ago
Wait what? Who is making $165k out of college?
I don’t even make $165k after working for… I don’t know let’s say 12 or 15 I can’t keep track what counts anymore
nek0d3r@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 hours ago
I don’t make quite that after 8 years of doing this stuff. That being said, I dropped out of college twice. Maybe $100k of debt is what I need to close that $25k difference lol
AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 hours ago
My first tech job out of college was $55k.
Average in my area for new grads at best is like $85k.
My highest paying was $195k as a Senior and my average is probably $150k as a Senior / Lead.
None of this was big tech though.
Prove_your_argument@piefed.social 12 hours ago
My brother in law got fucked by this. Smart kid and beloved by his boss, company folded and now works at a fucking dominos.
return2ozma@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
Oof
some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 16 hours ago
The industry went to shit after non-nerdy people found out there could be a lot of money in tech. Used to be full of other people like me and I really liked it. Now it’s full of people who are equally as enthused about it as they would be to become lawyers or doctors.
inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
I remember this same article decades ago during the late 90’s and early 2000’s.
taiyang@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
So, life of a humanities major like my wife. Actually, most majors that weren’t STEM.
If it helps anyone in this situation, you can try to bank on other skills. My wife is doing great now but got her start because of her bilingualism, and even that was only 35k a year. My sister did a little better with her music degree by pivoting to community manager, although in her case she had experience modding for a well known streamer. That was pretty good money right out the gate.
Point is, programming isn’t your everything, even if you’re leveraging something from your personal life.
panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 12 hours ago
Those offers for new grads were always insane and never going to last. That was entirely a sign of the zero interest rate bubble during covid.
masterofn001@lemmy.ca 13 hours ago
How about $165k guillotine operators?
BigTrout75@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
Technically a good burrito though.
AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 hours ago
Eh.
turdburglar@sh.itjust.works 8 hours ago
it’s really not. technically or otherwise.
TorJansen@sh.itjust.works 16 hours ago
I’m glad I’m retired out of that intense craziness (tax coding in COBOL for DOS version and for some reason Delphi for Windows). Crunch times get old after a while.
Plebcouncilman@sh.itjust.works 17 hours ago
This is a good thing.
Fuck these kids getting overpaid remote jobs destroying the economy of poor countries like mine.
cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 15 hours ago
What?
tatterdemalion@programming.dev 14 hours ago
Probably referring to expat remote workers creating more competition in lower-income countries?
Plebcouncilman@sh.itjust.works 14 hours ago
Third world problems but it’s true.
eager_eagle@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
individuals buying/renting for themselves don’t destroy any housing market
scalping companies buying hundreds of houses and apartments in a city do
Plebcouncilman@sh.itjust.works 12 hours ago
Maybe not in US cities. But I’m not talking about the US, I’m not even talking about cities. More like towns with heavily distorted markets thanks to expat parasites.
TorJansen@sh.itjust.works 16 hours ago
Maybe they can go the easy route to big riches (haha) as social influencers. Though not as many make bank as they’d like
HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 hours ago
Did she have a portfolio that went beyond school work? Coders are like artists you need a portfolio showing you can do shit without being told to.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 12 hours ago
Did she have a portfolio that went beyond school work? Coders are like artists you need a portfolio showing you can do shit without being told to.
As a developer who has hired dozens of developers, you definitely don’t. It makes no difference.
AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 hours ago
Hard disagree. Every company across the spectrum I’ve worked for couldn’t care less about a portfolio.
gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 13 hours ago
Hey so just to be clear: a 200k comp package nowadays is the equivalent of about 81k in 1990.
Put another way: I am doing a good bit worse than my dad was at his age, despite being a pretty solid and experienced software engineer, with an EECS degree, and a lot of devops and system design experience.