this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2026
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My Parent doesn't want me doing CS, or CE, because they feel the job market will disappear come 7 years. (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 days ago by aunchers@lemmy.world to c/cs_career_questions@programming.dev
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Basically Title.
I love CS, I love designing systems, programming, some cyber and math.
The problem is, I am due to admit into CS this year (4 year program). My Parent's will be funding a majority of it (~2 years, + RESP). And one of my parents, thinks CS won't have many jobs come 7 years?
Why? Because AI will take them all (or is more likely to take them all). That AI is expanding at a rapid pace, and they will slowly but surely take the hardware designing jobs, the programming jobs, and pretty much all the jobs except the administration ones. I have a poor time putting into words what I would like to do in the future (cause I love lots of things related to CS) but I say thing a bit on the technical side, and this parent says that if I cant explain it to them than I don't understand it and that they understand (more to me) what will happen to the market due to their age

I am not saying they're wrong to any of this by the way, I'm just looking for advice on if they're right, and if not, why?

I don't think I'll ever give up doing CS because its something I love with all my heart.
But if I'm not able to convince them, they want me to take a gap and get a different degree (in a less likely to be taken job).
I might be rambling here, but I am genuinely soooo lost.

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[–] tiramichu@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

You definitely should do some degree, but it doesn't have to be a compsci one - is my personal take.

I did myself personally do a compsci degree, but to get into software it turned out to be quite unnecessary - if you are already building things and contributing to projects then just like being an artist the strength of your experience and your portfolio matter far more than your on-paper qualifications.

There's also the consideration that in computing especially, the industry moves so fast that a lot of what you learn at uni may already be old by the time you learn it, making actual experience and portfolio even more valuable.

In the company I work for, there are brilliant software engineers who have degrees in music and language, and even a former medical doctor!

Point is, if you want to get into software a compsci degree isn't the main factor. You should do some degree, but study whatever you believe will bring you the most joy and personal fulfilment - and if the answer to that is actually compsci then great.