Amendment To Course Introduction

Unfortunately, the job market is not so great at the moment, so we need to amend the lecture a bit, though the general message is still the same, though a bit more critical!

The Original Content

In the course introduction lecture, I showed some job market data in the hopes that I could encourage you to work hard. At that point in time, they were giving jobs out like candy to anyone with at least the most basic skills. These jobs were offering life changing salaries.

What Happened Next?

Unfortunately, the economy has been seeing a lot of problems, interest rates have increased (which reduces the amount of “free money” companies have to hire with), and there is now a lot of uncertainty about the role that large language models will play in the future of development.

For senior level developers, this means that salaries will be a little lower and job searches will take a little longer.

For recent graduates, though, the impact is considerably more severe. With less money to spend, companies are focusing their hiring more on senior developers with demonstrated histories of success and less on junior developers who take a few years to ramp up and have a greater likelihood of simply not working out.

There also seems to be some sentiment in the industry that the types of work one would have previously given to a junior developer being mentored by a senior developer may be addressable with a senior developer using large langage models.

What Does This Mean For You?

This means that you will all likely be facing a very challenging job market, though opportunities will still exist. The salaries will likely be quite a bit lower, but still possibly life chaning for many of you.

So, the real amendment to the lecture is, essentially, that working hard and becoming highly skilled was previously a necessity if you wanted to break into a life changing career, but now it is a necessity to obtain a job in the industry at all.