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Computer Science Enrollments Rocketed Last Year, Up 22%
alphadogg writes "A sneak peek at the annual Computing Research Association's (CRA) report on computer science enrollments at colleges shows that strong demand for technically-savvy workers is luring students in a big way. The full 2013 Taulbee Report will be published in May, but the CRA revealed a few tidbits this week in its Computer Research News publication. Among the findings: Among 123 departments responding last year and the year before, there was a 22% increase in enrollment for computer science bachelor's degree programs at U.S. schools. Degrees awarded increased 0.9% and new enrollments rose 13.7%"
get out now and go somewhere with real skills before your loans get to high.
Based on inflation, don't take less than $53K starting. That's the equiv of $36K in 1997. Inflation is a bitch.
We need a new version of angry bird every week.
0 5 * * 7 root release_a_new_angry_bird.py
I love the idea of people who are genuinely interested gaining access to these careers but this reminds me too much of the last dot-com bubble. All sorts of idiots who had no business getting into technology jumped into the pool chasing lucrative salaries and making gigantic messes once they got hired. It took years to flush them all back out.
The kids see $220,000,000 spent on a website that doesn't work (ie: CoverOregon) and think "Hell, that looks like easy work for the compensation" and they're right.
there was a 22% increase in enrollment for computer science bachelor's degree programs at U.S. schools
Great news for American technology! Of course it will take a while before those students graduate, so we'll need to "temporarily" increase the H-1B quota 3x. We assure you that this is being done only to keep the industry from completely collapsing due to the desperate shortage of qualified people, so that we'll be able to offer jobs to all those American students when they graduate.
Get at least six months of work in the field before you graduate with your CS degree.
Oh, and based on what I've seen, a lot of the students taking that are from other countries.
Not to be confused with local students, of which there are many.
As to the supposed goal of increasing women in technology, I've noticed it's all about only direct entry first year in STEM targetted on girls in middle and high school, which is fine, but ignores all the women who graduated high school and started work in another field or got all or part way to a degree in another field before deciding they liked tech better.
You need to fix that, because there are too many hoops to jump through and it's very confusing.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
I remember CS enrollment shot way up in the late 90s as the dotcom bubble was inflating. Now that we're in the late stages of the social media/apps bubble, and people are getting interested in computer science again, I'm guessing that's the reason for the spike.
Bubble or no bubble, there's always going to be demand for good, talented people in software development and IT. The H-1B and offshoring trends have cut salaries significantly, and have made employment less stable, but there are still jobs out there. If students are going into CS that have a genuine interest in computers, that's good. Chasing the money like they were doing in the 90s without the desire will lead to the same problem we had when 2001 rolled around -- tons of "IT professionals" who had no aptitude for the work and were just employed because of the frothy market.
I've managed to stay employed for almost 20 years now and I still really enjoy what I do. It's not as wildly lucrative as it was in the 90s when you could get 20+% salary increases by changing jobs every six months. The only things I've done consistently over this time are:
- Keeping my skills current (and yes, it is a tough commitment especially when you employer doesn't care.)
- Not begging for higher and higher raises every single time salary review time comes around (which requires saving and living within one's means...)
- Choosing employers who don't treat their employees like they're disposable.
I've heard lots of older IT people that they're actively discouraging their kids from following in their footsteps. I don't think that's necessarily good advice. Sure, there are crappy employers out there, and it's not a guaranteed ticket to wealth anymore. But if you're flexible and want interesting work that lets you use your brain and get paid for it, it's still a good move IMO. Look at the legal profession right now - the ABA sold out their members by allowing basic legal work to be offshored. Law degrees were previously an absolute guarantee of a respected, high-salary job, and now that profession is starting to see what we're seeing. My opinion is that as computers get more and more involved in our daily lives, a professional framework will eventually develop when things really start getting safety-sensitive and people stop treating computers like magic boxes and IT/developers like magicians.
Why do you need a tinfoil hat? "STEM shortage" is shouted from every rooftop, by government and non-government people alike, and has been ever since Sputnik. Objective statistics be damned - we need people who can take a scientific approach!
I blame the Raspberry Pi myself. Oh, damn those fiendish Engishmen for inventing it! Nobody expected the Raspberry Pi.
"Cock Up Your Beaver" does not mean what you think. This sig is intended to clog filters and annoy do-gooders
What about when someone automates the automating?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Prediction in 3-4 years expect lots of pain in CS/IT employment.
I would posit that this increase is caused by technically minded students seeing what has happened to engineering in the US and focusing on CS as the last viable avenue of technical study with a healthy job market. It's the only place where entry level jobs are readily available. I would find it hard to encourage any young American to pursue a technical career outside of software development. As it stands now, engineering schools largely serve a Chinese and Korean student base.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
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Sure, that's a lot of applicants, but really the most important thing is DO ENOUGH OF THEM HAVE VAGINAS?
I mean, really, otherwise it's obviously sexism at work.
-Styopa
First time through, I read that as "parolees".
Have gnu, will travel.
Yeah, even the IEEE finally admits it. Don't expect them or the IEEE-USA to do anything though. IEEE is heavily dominated by academicians, who are all for cranking out more grads. Everybody knows where their bread is buttered.
Why is so much emphasis put on enrollment rates, and not graduation rates? CS has a pretty high level of attrition (same with most STEM fields really), so I'd rather see numbers reflecting actual graduates.
The title should have said that enrollments were: enrollments*=1.22;
It's funny you say that - but it is true. We definitely need more STEM people in jobs not only in the technology fields (like IT) - but those jobs that interface with it as well (such as Project Management, Marketing et al). I can't tell you how many non-technical people I have to deal with in the course of a day. Some of them are actually holding technology positions...most are just collecting a paycheck for all the positive effect they have on the business. I have to get work done in spite of them. On the flip side - if a person got a STEM degree to make money (and whose heart is not into their field) - by all means stay away from technology...please...
Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain