Students and young engineers around the world have become fed up with Big Tech in light of recent events. In response to global slowdown and rising interest rates, hundreds of thousands of tech workers have been laid off. This has resulted in numerous rejections and an overall lack of faith in the industry.
Enrollment of students majoring in computer science and engineering at MIT is up by 5% in 2021, although the number of graduates for the degree have dropped by 12%. At Princeton, computer science remains the most popular major; however, the proportion of students choosing this major has declined to 9% – the lowest since 2019. The number of students and junior engineers using Interviewing.io has also decreased dramatically.
It appears that students are still interested in building their careers in the tech industry, but they are looking for more stable and long-term options. Companies that have a major brand name, strong growth rate and offer remote work is what the students are looking for now. Moreover, students also want to use their degrees to benefit society, rather than just earning a big paycheck.
One such company is Raytheon, a defense technology company. Interest in this company has skyrocketed in 2021, as student job searchers have a desire to look for jobs outside of the traditional tech giants. Raytheon provides students with a more stable working environment, as well as the opportunity to work on meaningful projects.
Aline Lerner plays a major role in this shift in interest in the tech industry. As the founder and CEO of Interviewing.io, a platform that helps job seekers with their job prep, she has seen first-hand the struggles of students and junior engineers. According to her, it is the worst time to be a junior engineer since the dot-com bubble burst. In addition, AI-focused tools such as ChatGPT are rendering some of the entry-level job roles redundant.
The impact of dwindling interest in Big Tech among students on major companies is still yet to be seen. It is possible that without a steady influx of young workers, the tech industry will remain overwhelmingly male and white.
Clearly, it has been a rough year for the tech industry. Students and young engineers are being more selective about the companies they apply to, while looking for places to put their skills to good use. Big Tech may have to make some changes if they wish to remain a powerhouse in the tech industry.
