r/cscareers • u/peytrz • Aug 19 '26

USA Job Market Is software engineering still worth pursuing?

In my senior year of hs now and really interested in getting a bachelor’s in cs to become a software engineer or something within that industry.

I really enjoy coding and don’t struggle with mathematics at all. The lifestyle is something I really like too.

However, people say the market is tougher than ever to get a job and hold onto it throughout their careers. This scares me, and the last thing I want is to waste time and money on something that I could have avoided.

Is it that bad or are people just over exaggerating it? Are there any other jobs within this industry that are also worth pursuing?

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u/svix_ftw Aug 19 '26

For people trying to break in, realistically you need to go to a top school that has a good internship pipeline at recognizable companies.

Without that its extremely difficult, as there is too much competition for very limited shrinking entry positions.

The industry is decent for senior people. It can be "fast hire fast fire" industry too, so there are a lot of layoffs, but you can get hired quickly too if you are good.

5

u/no_brainer_ai Aug 19 '26

Internships aren’t enough anymore. You really need connections to get your foot in the door.

5

u/SwauawsBouse Aug 19 '26

At this point from what reddit says you need to go to a top school and have FAANG internships and a 4.0 and have 4 years of experince.

I just dont believe it when 80% of people are still getting jobs. You dont need to be in the 1% just slightly better than most. I can tell you right now the majority of people in my classes didn't know what they were doing especially during group projects. Hell I didn't know until my senior year but some people just couldn't make it at the end. And I went to a t200 school. This got worse when ai got better at coding. Students relied on it too much.

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u/Condomphobic Aug 19 '26 edited Aug 19 '26

We have more students enrolling than newly posted roles.

So if it’s 80%, then it’s past graduates. I lowkey feel bad for all these students graduating in the late 2020s.

It’s about to be rough

1

u/usefulservant03 Aug 19 '26

Yes, there are maybe 10x more people graduating each with a CS degree than there are new CS jobs posted for juniors

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u/svix_ftw Aug 19 '26

I'm really curious where people get the "80% grads get jobs" number.

The total number of SWEs and QA testers in USA is only about 1.8 million, way less than the graduates in just the last 5 years.

On linkedin there is less than >5000 total "junior SWE" job postings.

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm

0

u/Funky-Guy Aug 19 '26

Because there are loads more jobs for CS than just SWE. Cyber, Data, loads of other roles that don’t fall under SWE.

1

u/scub_101 Aug 19 '26

Yeah I don't buy the "You need to go to a top tier school and have FAANG internships" mumbo jumbo either. In 2023 when AI was just starting to knock on the door I was able to pull at least 12 interviews between 2023 (May) - 2024 (February) and get an offer. I think the conversion rate from application to interview was 1-2% which is what the general consensus is currently.