For the last decade or more, high schools have pushed STEM—an acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics—as the key to success. Well-meaning teachers, counselors and administrators—frequently baffled by the computers on their own desks—confidently told students that developing STEM skills would guarantee future prosperity.
Technology and Prosperity
Above all else, the essential twenty-first-century skill was supposedly the ability to code. Learn that, and the mythical cornucopia would open wide and spill its contents.
Of course, the COVID years of 2020-2022 amplified everything connected with computers. The magical black box became everyone’s window to the world. Online marketing exploded. Millions learned to purchase groceries and restaurant meals remotely. Yesterday’s newspaper became today’s podcast. Children used computers to communicate with grandparents they were afraid to contaminate. In-person meetings were replaced by something called Zoom.
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All of that technological advancement contributed to an enormous boom in tech investments. Most financial press outlets promoted the idea that Silicon Valley was the font of prosperity.
The Search for Coders
The effective force behind this activity was thousands of “coders” making it all work. Anyone serious about the future needed to conquer this bewildering world and its algorithms. Conquering that world could yield an excellent income at the very least. Of course, there was always the prospect that a student could, with a bit of luck, become the next Gates, Zuckerberg, Bezos or Musk.
Thousands followed the song of this virtual Pied Piper. Many ran up large student loan debts under the assurance that their entry-level income after graduation would easily cover the payments. This sense was not wholly unfounded. In 2012, Brad Smith, then a top Microsoft executive, campaigned to persuade high schools to enhance their computer curricula. “Typically their starting salary is more than $100,000,” he enthused. The carrot became sweeter when he explained that hiring bonuses and stock options could add another $50,000 to that salary.
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Many cheered at the prospect. Every high school has a clique of computer students. They eat lunch together in the cafeteria and “hang out” in the computer classroom after school. Their other teachers turn to them when technical maladies threaten to scuttle a lesson. They form a kind of cyber elite.
Within such circles, Mr. Smith’s encouragement caught like wildfire.
Now, it turns out that the students’ wagers were unwise. The headline in the New York Times article containing Mr. Smith’s predictions says it all: “Goodbye, $165,000 Tech Jobs. Student Coders Seek Work at Chipotle.”
The Unfortunates
Much of the Times article centers on the misfortunes of four recent graduates. None of them fit the common perception of college graduate underachievers.
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Manasi Mishra grew up in Silicon Valley. She created her first webpage in elementary school. One year after graduating from college, her computer science degree netted exactly one interview – at the “fast-casual” restaurant chain mentioned in the headline.
Zach Taylor spent much of his high school time programming his own computer games. His search for employment parallels Miss Mishra’s. He applied for 5,762 jobs. Only thirteen applications yielded interviews. Not one produced an offer for a full-time job. Desperate, he applied to a local McDonald’s, which turned him down because he lacked job experience. He currently lives in his parents’ home and collects unemployment.
Audrey Roller’s computer skills are augmented by a strong creative streak. Since graduating, she has stressed that aspect of her abilities in hopes of standing out from the crowd when applying for the same jobs. One recent application was answered three minutes after she sent it – with a rejection. She told the Times, “It’s hard to stay motivated when you feel like an algorithm determines whether you get to pay your bills.”
Jamie Spoeri sees herself as a logical problem solver. Her computer science degree includes a concentration in “tech policy,” the process by which the government interacts with technically oriented companies. During her last summer in college, she completed an internship with the National Science Foundation. However, like the others mentioned in the article, her over two hundred applications for positions in government, industry and non-profit organizations were uniformly rejected.
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Searching for Answers
Why, one might ask, did the optimistic forecasts of industry executives, teachers, counselors and college-level “experts” prove to be so glaringly wrong? Why are these four expensively educated, talented, enthusiastic, and energetic young people and thousands of their peers unemployed?
Two reasons emerge—one seemingly as old as time and the other relatively new.
The new wrinkle can be summed up in two letters, A.I. The simple fact is that Artificial Intelligence can do most of the programming itself. Perhaps the computers have not yet replaced all human ability, but a few computers are so developed that they can program other computers. That ability is increasing geometrically. Every task completed by an unassisted computer replaces the human—perhaps a whole team of humans—who used to do that work.
An Ancient Economic Principle
The old condition was all too predictable, although it seems no one cared to “crunch the numbers.” It is the antique but still active law of supply and demand. Undoubtedly, the first wave or two of computer science students did well. Industry demanded their abilities, and they profited—some of them (again, Messrs. Gates, Zuckerberg, Bezos and Musk spring to mind) made more money than they could ever spend. That success spawned legions of would-be imitators.
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Now, untold thousands have earned computer science degrees. Consider the numbers. If every one of the nearly 27,000 high schools in the U.S. graduated a half-dozen such students every year for the last twenty-five years, that is over four million computer scientists. Even that massive figure does not include those from other countries who migrate to the U.S. Simply put, there are more graduates than jobs.
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Unfortunately, the current crop of computer science majors is learning the same lessons that the business administration graduates of the late twentieth century learned. No degree, in and of itself, will guarantee a future. Even under the best of circumstances, it takes more than a transcript to succeed.
Our Lord created everyone with a mission. He gave each one the personality, talents and inclinations to pursue that mission. Finding that work takes years of practice, formal and informal education, prayer, trust, and many other indefinable processes. Substituting the career that a high school counselor says is “a sure thing” is never a good idea. Striving to become the man or woman God wants each person to be is the only path to true fulfillment.
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