Computer Science Graduates Turn to AI Skills as Coding Job Boom Cools

The job market for new computer science graduates has turned difficult, with artificial intelligence absorbing more of the work that once went to entry-level developers. Students who entered college during the coding boom are now graduating into a landscape where offers no longer arrive unsolicited.

Jack Zemke, a Tulane University graduate, sent out hundreds of applications with little response. Days before graduation, he was preparing to move back in with his parents when a group project he had built — an AI-powered search tool — caught the attention of a civil engineering firm employee at a conference. The man told him the company needed someone to serve as an AI evangelist. Zemke spent a year there before joining an AI startup this summer.

"These jobs are expecting you to be able to jump in and kind of operate on the frontier," Zemke said, describing a frenzied market marked by churn and layoffs.

The unemployment rate for recent computer science and computer engineering graduates stands at around 7.1%, according to an analysis. That figure partly reflects the surge in students who enrolled during the pandemic-era tech boom, when software development postings peaked in early 2022. Since then, major technology companies have increasingly turned to AI for code writing, and some large employers have cut staff as AI spending accelerates. Postings for software development roles have fallen sharply.

For workers in their early 20s in occupations exposed to AI — such as software development — employment is 19% below where it would be had it kept pace with less-exposed fields, according to the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. The U.S. Census Bureau compared the decline to finishing college during a severe recession.

What employers now seek are workers who can supervise AI tools and question their outputs — skills more often found in experienced staff. Tracy Camp, executive director and CEO of the Computing Research Association, said the effect on young workers is concerning enough that the group has urged industry leaders to invest in entry-level hiring. Without such changes, she warned, companies will lack mid-level talent in a few years.

Students are responding. After the number of recent computer science and computer engineering graduates tripled over a decade to about 362,000 in 2024, enrollment began to decline last year. Data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows computer and information science enrollment fell 8.4% at four-year institutions by spring this year.

International students face particular hurdles. Changes to U.S. immigration policy and the shifting mix of available jobs have made their search harder. Samir Khuller, chair of Northwestern University's computer science department, noted that smaller companies hiring now often lack human resources departments experienced with H-1B work visas. The visa program, which requires employer sponsorship, has become a target of the Trump administration, which seeks to raise fees to over $100,000.

Collins Kibet, a computer science graduate from Kenya, has sent hundreds of applications and secured only a handful of interviews, mostly with AI bots. During rare human interviews, he said, the tone changes when employers learn they would need to sponsor his visa. Kibet started his own software company after failing to find a job.

Nicholas Mattei, an associate computer science professor at Tulane, said job advertisements often demand that graduates step directly into middle management rather than junior developer roles. "And it's kind of crazy," he said.

Colleges are retooling their programs. At Georgia Tech, professors researched what AT&T wanted and trained students for a month before internships with the company. The school plans to expand the effort under a program called "Bootcamp to Industry," said Fisayo Omojokun, associate dean for undergraduate education in the College of Computing. Recruiters for the college's job fairs are also reaching out to a wider range of industries.

"Earlier this year, we got a call from a forestry company of all things," Omojokun said. "They're like, 'Hey, we are in forestry, and we know that AI can help in what we do in different ways.'"

Schools say most graduates ultimately find jobs, though increasingly the employers are not tech giants but smaller businesses trying to figure out how to use AI.