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Comment by sean-duffy | Hacker News Reader

After just the other week observing a few articles on HN regarding the situation with jobs for CS graduates in the US, one article stating a 2:1 ratio between the number of available jobs for developers and the number of developers, this came as much of a surprise to me, as well as being pretty disconcerting since I'm in the UK and planning to study CS next year.

I'm very interested to hear the opinions on this from those actually in the industry, is the situation really that polar opposite between the US and the UK?

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Your real education starts after you graduate, but nobody wants to invest in employee's education, regardless of their age.

Things only get better after a couple of years of experience. You have a better idea of what you're doing while being very cheap to employ.

If you study at a good university, and learn useful things while you study, and build cool things in your spare time, then you will have no problem finding a job. The company I work for routinely pays £100k+ ($160k+) per year to fresh computer science grads if they're really good.

I find this figure hard to accept. £100k+ a year for a developer with no experience?

I've been doing software development for a while now, and know more than a few developers, and I guarantee you not one of them started on anywhere near £100k a year.

£100k a year is around what I know experienced contractual developers earn working for big Canary Wharf banks.

If this is true, then please let me know the name of the company and I'll apply right now.

That number includes bonus - but it's certainly accurate. These guys might have no commercial experience, but they certainly have plenty of programming experience (and are typically top 1 or 2 in their year at university).

I've emailed you the name of the company using the contact form on your website. We look forward to your application!

Well you've successfully called my bluff....

Unfortunately I have no particular interest in that industry, and more importantly, if I'm honest, wouldn't have a chance of getting through the application stage.

Really? Even my friends (from Cambridge) who went into finance aren't earning nearly that much in base salary. Is that including bonuses and other benefits?

It's including bonus, but no other benefits.

As long as you gain some experience in addition to your CS degree there are plenty of programming jobs around, though they are largely concentrated in London and Cambridge (Quant jobs in London, other more general programming in both locations, quite a bit of hardware around Cambridge too). The larger employers often recruit directly through University career fairs.

There's still a high demand for good developers in the UK, main issue in recruitment is sifting through the many applicants for positions who, even with experience, show no aptitude for the job.

The job market for developers is pretty good in the US, but graduates will have a tough time landing that first job. That's the way it's always been, though.

The article is two years old. I wouldn't read too much into it.

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