Speaking as the mom of a computer science student:
Fewer young people are entering the field, and the ones that do are increasingly focusing on specialties that offer geographically-tied jobs. Crypto has got to be the absolute worst field for new cs hires, as there are zero entry-level positions, zero job security, zero geolocation, and zero on-ramp. The whole space is completely dominated by a handful of experienced devs running 194710 agents, and there is no room for advancement. Not to mention that the whole thing is a political mindfield.
It's better to just work in a hospital programming prosthetics, or something, or manage drones for excavators, take your income in fiat, and stack sats.
The only thing more of a dead-end career than crypto is AI.
Replies (4)
> The only thing more of a dead-end career than crypto is AI.
Acceleration of your own end.
there will always be _some_ money filtering tech out to the normies. Ie 3d laser scanning for contractors, diagnostic systems for automobiles, manufacturing repair parts etc. The downside to these fields is that it's highly competitive, close door, and enshittified too. Have to be ready to take it on yourself.
I think one of the most valuable skills I learned while also in school was reverse engineering. I'm no expert, but its a massive competitive advantage in a field where most things are trade secrets and locked down. Im sure you know this from your logistics days. You really have to build and network and not be afraid to lean on it.
Unfortunately my career path was decimated by the weaponization of the EPA but you'll have that on the fringes.
you mean AI research jobs? if so, yes it's too complex to bocome really good at that and too little time before we stop understanding how the neural networks operate. Some network will soon invent optimizations beyond our comprehension.
then they will start design HW and automation to build it. And they will move to supply chains.
I think there's a good opportunity now (may be next couple of years) as consultant for agentic AIs implementation in companies.
then this job will get replaced by agents too.
As the father of a CS Sophomore, I am trying hard to get him involved in the university's efforts at implementing AI (which have yet to really begin).
Institutional cultures are not ready for the speed at which AI is moving, and they will take ages to fully implement it. New companies will use it from day 1. So, I try to get him to know systems thinking with his engineering electives, and push him to just start working with AI on his own time. Of course, he's 19 with a girlfriend, so I am rather ineffective. 😄
You could use those tools to create years your own thing. Sky is the limit with a cs degree
