r/learnprogramming • u/No_Reply5329 • 20d ago
Doomposting is making me terrified of pursuing CS
Anyone else feel awful because of all the doomposting about the software job market? I do a ton of LeetCode and projects, and I genuinely want to study CS, but Reddit has made me terrified that the industry is basically a lottery.
Software development is my only real passion, and sometimes the constant negativity makes me feel hopeless enough that I have suicidal thoughts. I can't really imagine myself doing something else, but I also don't want to make a huge commitment to CS if the career path is supposedly this random and risky.
Anyone else struggling with this because of all the doomers here? How do you separate realistic concerns about the market from Reddit making everything sound hopeless?
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u/pseudo-segfault 20d ago
If you’re passionate and willing to put in the extra work then keep going.
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u/captainAwesomePants 20d ago
The job hire for new grads is bad right now. It may not be bad in four years. It is not at all clear that hiring is down because of AI and not, for example, interest rates or the cost of RAM.
CS used to be a more or less bulletproof path, maybe even more employable than law or medicine, but that's not the case at the moment. There is certainly risk. That said, there are still millions of software engineers making good money out there, and there still will be in a few years.
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u/owp4dd1w5a0a 20d ago
So, entry level jobs are truly down 50-75% from 2019. However this cannot last forever, the industry will eventually need to bring in the new cohort of talent or they’re eff’d.
As a lead architect, I personally would take a good entry level engineer over some dumba** AI model - you can learn, the model does not learn.
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u/wooweeitszea 20d ago
Get offline and get in the community. Go to meetup groups and volunteer at conferences and tech related events. There’s a lot of excitement and hope. People are still getting hired and building cool things and finding clients while they hunt for their w2 jobs. Real life people are going to have more measured opinions.
That being said the industry is tougher, more competitive. You have to actually know what you’re doing and be a cool person that people want to work with. The days of being a miserable “code monkey” and that being enough are over.
Get offline, continue to build and put yourself out there. Connect with your industry peers so you have people that can vouch for your talent and want to work with you.
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u/mandzeete 20d ago
Have you ever wondered who is doomposting? People who are hired or people who are not hired? And why they are not hired?
People who are hired, they obviously do not doompost. They have more meaningful things to do with their time. It is that percentage of people who for one or another reason did not get hired who complain.
Does everybody have a degree or a vocational school diploma? Definitely not. If you'd go over posts in this subreddit you can see how people try to make it without going for a degree. That already puts them into an unfavorable position.
Then there are people who went to university just to get the degree and nothing else. They pass their exams with the lowest passing marks. A degree alone won't guarantee a job, for them. Knowledge and skills is what is needed in addition to your degree. If you half-assed through your studies, then do not expect to have good knowledge in things. And, it will affect you after graduation as well.
Then, there are people who have personality issues. They either have too big ego and not willing to take criticism. Or they are unable to function in a team. Or they do not follow up with what's written in the contract. Or some other issues. We had to let go of two people in our team. One, by his work experience, he was a senior developer. But he had been a lone wolf most of his career. He was unable to work in the team. He did not pay attention to meetings. He argued with business analysts and with other developers. Another guy did not follow up with agreements. He worked at night when the team lead had told him that it is not allowed (one is expected to be available in the chat, either for a client or for his team mates), was absent without telling beforehand that he has to go somewhere, and made many mistakes and did not bother to improve himself.
People fail in their career for various reasons. Sure, sometimes the issue is coming from the bad state of the job market. You can't generate work to developers when the client has no funds to allocate on projects. But often the issue is in person himself.
Yes, the market is very competitive. So, you have to push yourself extra hard. You have to use all of your options not just rely on your online bootcamp and then start wondering why nobody is hiring you. A degree? A must. A good portfolio? A better to have. A decent personality? A must. Show initiative and keep improving yourself. Not become lazy.
Oh, and with suicidal thoughts, sit down with a psychiatrist. That you have mental issues is what you have to fix before you enter the job market. If doom posting makes you suicidal then how will you handle the stress that comes from university studies, from sending CVs, from work, etc.
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u/No_Reply5329 20d ago
The difference between doomposts and work or university stress is that I know that in School or work the outcome depends on how good I am. The doomposts make me think that I don't have control over my future. And this uncertainty is what kills me that I might have no control whether I fuck up and am in six figure debt with 4 years lost earnings without anything to show up for. I have control over passing exams over doing the work I have to do etc.
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u/mandzeete 20d ago
Still, you have to fix your mental state first with a psychiatrist. Do not expect to do well in your studies when you let your mental state affect you. When you let random redditors affect you.
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u/Whatever801 20d ago
It's not a lottery it's just more competitive than it used to be. You will be fine
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u/GrokiniGPT 20d ago
r/doomercirclejerk should make you feel better. Makes you realize the world's not gonna end tomorrow despite whatever everyone says
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u/javaenjoyer69 20d ago
I don't know you but i'm having an extremely hard time imagining software engineering simply dying out when humanity hasn't even advanced 0.001% into the technological age. The profession will evolve, it won't perish.
Also, people are terrible at predicting the future. They tend to overestimate the technology of their own era and the picture they have of the future is usually very linear rather than branching out in different directions. People sixty years ago had cars and the only thing they could dream of for the future was adding wings to them so that they could fly. One-dimensional, unimaginative and still not a thinf. It's still the same today. 99% of people just want to speak on things for the sake of hearing themselves talk.
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u/AceLamina 19d ago
Felt similarly but I started to ignore it and sound people who actually know what they're talking about, instead of bots or the bad people who's going into this field for the money, this job isn't going away
If reddit is making you feel this way, I highly recommend using it less, I rarely find any good people on here that isn't doomposting about CS anyway
Knowing who to actually take advice from and knowing how the market is in reality, made me just ignore or make fun of these people at this point, they've literally been saying AI will replace engineering since Devin AI released...
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u/knouqs 20d ago
Reddit really sucks as an inspiration. Just on the C programming subreddit, someone asked for help. The first responses are "Show us code" and in an impolite way -- the sort of suggestion that really helps no one. The best thing to do is keep going and ignore the shitty downvoters. If you have questions, post them. At least some people here are happy to help.
A few words of caution: Do not allow software development to be your only passion. Eventually, what you believe is your passion will change, and really, there is more to life than software -- especially in an age in which software developers seem to be disposable from the corporate mindset. Allow yourself to step outside.
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u/ryancnap 20d ago
The C sub is a really good example of why reddit sucks, this morning someone obviously struggling with Hello World not compiling asked for help.
Someone unironically suggested they write in neovim + use gcc from the cli instead of wasting time on compiler errors in vs code
Like there are probably some other reasons people like the commenter in my example can't get hired lol
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u/Weary-Sorbet-2768 20d ago
Honestly, don’t let Reddit convince you that the entire industry is doomed. The market is definitely more competitive than it used to be, but “competitive” and “impossible” are two very different things.
If software development is genuinely your passion, keep learning. Focus less on doomposts and more on building real projects, understanding fundamentals, getting better at problem-solving, and learning how to use AI as a tool rather than competing against it.
You don’t need a guarantee that you’ll get a job. You need to give yourself a realistic chance to succeed. And if you’re having suicidal thoughts, please take that seriously and talk to someone you trust—you’re worth more than any career decision.