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Comment by ghaff | Hacker News Reader

Correctly or not (probably to some degree correctly) new grads are hearing AI is a major reason why they're having trouble finding jobs which is simultaneously 1.) Probably mostly has always been the case--I no longer have the vast sheaf of rejection letters when I ever got one at all and 2.) Is anecdotally actually the case for a variety of reasons that also include pandemic overhiring and probably an out-sized AI effect on junior engineers, probably especially programmers.

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I think the overhiring sentiment is largely accurate, but not as it’s frequently presented.

It’s not purely over hiring, it’s that many of these companies are doubling down on AI spend(in terms of model creation, hardware investment, etc), and need to allocate their funds differently.

So it’s not AI efficiency causing the layoffs, it’s AI resource allocation.

And the reason they don’t have the funds to invest? Overhiring.

A lot of the companies doing layoffs (META, Microsoft, Amazon) aren’t just using AI coding tools, they’re trying to be the hardware and be the models behind the AI.

And they see the failure to do so as an existential threat.

I think it's more than that. They've heard for most of their lives that college is the way to a good job. Now they're graduating, many of them with debt, and as they do, they're hearing that AI means that the jobs won't be there. And now, at their commencement, someone is talking about AI. One of the people responsible is talking about AI!

Who thought that this was going to go well?

this isn't the first instance of society failing to deliver on its promises - I'm almost 40 and still no house. What makes this time different, I think is the question?

did you have a real estate developer come and visit your school and talk about how the surging house prices were really helpful for them

I think this is just it being blatant. it doesn't necessarily mean anything will come of it but of course tensions will be high if you get an ai pitch instead of a congratulation speech

That's all fair. Whether or not AI is the/a primary factor in the challenge in getting entry-level/junior roles especially in tech and especially in relation to the milk and honey situation the past decade+, I'm sure a lot of grads struggling to get interviews believe it is. Which makes a commencement speaker associated with Google and AI a rather tone-deaf choice.

Agreed, AI is a convenient excuse. If we had covid level interest rates these graduates would have a lot easier time finding a job. Companies are downsizing their bets and counting pennies to cash flow to invest in AI infra, which they wouldn't need to do in a low interest environment.

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