Computer science graduates struggle to secure their first jobs
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm21dvg8l1go
by Odd-Help6890
Computer science graduates struggle to secure their first jobs
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm21dvg8l1go
by Odd-Help6890
26 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.
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.
For years people were being told learn to code, now all the big tech companies are using AI to replace all the coders. Pivet to cyber security
This is what happens when you lever your entire economy on importing a million people a year. The businesses have no reason to hire native talent
I graduated 3 years ago with a 2:2. I managed to get interviews despite my classification and had the option to do a Masters this year, I’ve opted to do a Games course this year as the prospect of going into IT/Dev space isn’t going to happen. Sure, Games may not pan out, doubt it will, but I will be doing something I know in my heart of hearts would enjoy.
Coming to the Masters and I know I could pull a First with it, especially how I beat myself over the 2:2 and developed my skills since then with my own stuff. I’m at a point where I can’t keep holding on the idea of going into IT. So I’m at a crossroads of doing an art degree and fulfilling that itch I know I have buried in me, while also leaving myself space for an events management role, which I’ve been toying around in my head for a while too.
I know the IT and Dev jobs are scarce and they are close to non existent to Grad/Juniors who walked out with a First. So I’m done procrastinating with the idea of doing it and cracking on with my life in other avenues.
I’m royally screwed. can’t get a another coding job. my iOS app barely makes more than universal credit per month
The four horsemen of the IT apocalypse:
economy_fucked
outsourcing_overseas
visa_nerds
artificial_intelligence
If you’re struggling to find work all I can say is keep updating your git and keep learning, you can do online courses in all sorts of niche IT work, pick one that interests you and do it.
All the jobs are going to Indians and Pakistanis, not abroad, but on our soil. 15 years ago we had an Indian tester which was a novelty. Now I’ve been in meetings where they switch to English from hindi or urdu after I join, and those are often government jobs too.
Seems once Indian people get into positions of hiring, either internally or via hiring agencies, they hire more of their own above others. So now basically every company is turning Indian and as a white guy I’m now in the minority almost everywhere I work. And I’m an IT professional with decades of experience.
Not only that but the market is tragically dead right now and the future is bleak. AI does all my job, I just vibe code everything, I can do hours of work in minutes. I’m skilled enough to spot any errors and just fix them manually or reissue instructions to fix them, though, which future generations won’t have the skills to do if they grow up with AI.
Kids, learn something with your hands like electrician or carpenter. Better money, security and prospects.
The reasons may vary over the years, but this isn’t a new phenomenon. For example, [here’s a similar article](https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/1mhy2q/computer_science_graduates_why_do_they_top/) posted here in 2013.
I was under the impression most CS grads go on to be VTubers or OF models, or is that just the guys? 🤔
Not surprising, most degress do not equip people with the sufficient skills to actually be useful in the workplace, you might as well just take people straight out of school and train them for the 3 years they would have gone to uni and they will be much better at their jobs.
There are only a very small number of degrees I would consider actually useful, medicine, engineering and law being the big 3 that come to mind.
I work for a very large European energy company, we are not hiring any IT staff at all in the UK until further notice and quite a few will be made redundant over the next few months. We haven’t hired any graduates for the last couple of years. All because of outsourcing, AI, automation, cost cutting. Jobs are moving to India and anything that requires EU data processing is going to Eastern Europe.
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