More and more often we see news of the once prestigious Silicon Valley becoming more and more wealthy with the rise of technological advancements, primarily now in AI; but on the reverse of this, we see massive layoffs from major tech giants more frequently as well, in what is now an oversaturated market.

So what the fuck happened?

In the last 2 decades, more and more people have decided to get into the computer science field with the seemingly endless need for programmers and new software to be made for an ever-changing world. The result of this is mainly that nowadays, the industry is highly oversaturated with people thinking there are plenty of jobs still, because why not? We’re in a time when technological use is at an all time high, frankly you’ll see a homeless man with a VR headset and realize what a techno-dystopian hell we’ve become (thanks Ernest Cline), but does that mean there’s more opportunity?

There’s too many people, and too few jobs.

To put it simply, of course.
More and more now companies prefer to hire people with experience. The current curriculum for CS majors in (most) universities is outdated or simply a lower bar than what would be expected in the real world, leading to a shitty resume, and ZERO prospects. On top of that is the fact that with such heavy market saturation, and the cost of living being as high as it is, companies can offer shitty wages or salaries as compared to other fields in the tech sector (think administrative, engineering and sales). Which all leads us into the big question:

“Is the computer science industry cooked?”

Perhaps not entirely yet, but from an outsider perspective, it’s not going to get better. Not for new grads at least.
Computer science degrees are fairly common nowadays, and with most people knowing how to do basic programming, I’d expect it to not improve the chances. All of this notwithstanding the looming threat of AI replacement, the singularity and whatnot.

My bets? Pick a new degree or SPECIALIZE HEAVILY. There are some very niche markets who need people (computer engineering, for example) and are much more stable than the CS market.