Stanford tech grads struggle to find work in an industry overrun with AI

College students graduating from Stanford in computer science are struggling to find job offers, as they are competing in the world of AI, since graduating from the elite university. There has been recent worry in the labor market about how much AI will replace human-driven labor.

According to the LA Times, recent graduates applying to tech firms are finding that their degrees do not make them a shoo-in to companies as they once did. Tech companies are now able to replace ten junior tech developers with two senior developers who are working with AI.

Faced with a job market with fewer opportunities, they are turning to Master's programs, start-up ventures, and less prestigious employers in order to keep their careers going.

“Stanford computer science graduates are struggling to find entry-level jobs” with the top tech brands, associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford University, Jan Liphardt said. “I think that’s crazy.”

AI has made the capabilities of experienced engineers much more productive, but at the same time, has replaced the work that entry-level employees were once performing. Only those considered to be "cracked engineers," a small portion of top-performing graduates, are getting a few of the good jobs available.

One recent tech graduate at Stanford said of the job market, “There’s definitely a very dreary mood on campus. People [who are] job hunting are very stressed out, and it’s very hard for them to actually secure jobs.”

Loyola Marymount University graduate Eylul Akgul went to Turkey in order to get work experie,nce but was then “ghosted” by hundreds of employers. “The industry for programmers is getting very oversaturated,” Akgul added.

Employment for software engineers between the ages of 22 and 25 has dropped by 20 percent. The job market for computer science graduates peaked in 2022. However, it is not just limited to computer science and tech jobs. Accounting has also seen a decline in job offers. A Staford study recently found that entry-level hiring for jobs exposed to AI has dropped by 13 percent in comparison to jobs such as nursing, which are more walled off from AI exposure. An AI exposure index has said that 40 percent of the tasks that have previously been done by call center workers, editors, and personal finance experts can be automated.

“We don’t need the junior developers anymore,” tech start-up CEO Amr Awadallah said. “The AI now can code better than the average junior developer that comes out of the best schools out there.”