Why today's graduates are screwed | Hacker News Reader

Why today's graduates are screwed

economist.com

32 pointspetethomas16 comments

This is surprisingly low effort for the economist. It makes a lot of incorrect points, and a lot of really obvious vague ones. The thing about smartphones making tech skills more common is borderline nonsensical though.

I've been told on and off my whole working life that tech jobs will dissapear because kids today all grew up with internet/computers/phones. Lol. If anything I think many are less competent than avg boomer. At least the boomers were scared into learning. The net generation just seems to assume things and don't actually understand what they are doing. The second something goes a little wrong they are helpless.

I kid you not I said "check the monitor" to some twentysomething and they said "i don't know tech jargon" so I said "display, screen?" " IDK" so I went and pointed this part you look at with your eyes and they said " oh the glass"

Classic. Reminds me of the Seinfeld bit where George is describing an outlet to an electrician and the electrician goes “the holes.”

Great so real life is turning into a Seinfeld episode. My opinion that we have reaced

https://archive.today/YPPXU

Also note that for young people, the fabric of trust is shredded, cheating is rampant, gambling and sex work are common, drugs are promoted, suicide by doctor is promoted, mental illnesses are the norm, housing is out of reach, young men and women can't stand each other, thought policing is everywhere, etc.

> Until relatively recently, many people could get to grips with a computer only by attending a university. Now everyone has a smartphone, meaning non-graduates are adept with tech, too.

Sorry but, that's just hilarious (being able to ride a bicycle doesn't mean you can casually get in an F-35 and take off!), and must stem from a lack of understanding of computers. No wonder the author is grumpy about AI vs journalism, the AI would do a far better job here.

Anecdote: my first computer came with QBasic, and I taught myself programming basics from its excellent help; what's shipping with every mobile phone teaching Gen Z+ about programming, or even basic understanding of how files and directories work?

For some more substance to that argument, if a little dated (2021): https://www.theverge.com/22684730/students-file-folder-direc...

I don't think it's because Google or Apple don't have enough resources to ship programming tools and expose more of the underlying OS, rather a deliberate decision to reinforce passive consumption.

> Across the EU the number of 15-to-24-year-olds employed in finance

As a German, I'm dying to hear more about these 15-18 year olds illegally employed in finance! Shouldn't they be finishing high school (18) or Abitur (19)? I'm not kidding, please tell me more about these 15 year olds employed in finance, in particular!

> As a German, I'm dying to hear more about these 15-18 year olds illegally employed in finance! Shouldn't they be finishing high school (18) or Abitur (19)? I'm not kidding, please tell me more about these 15 year olds employed in finance, in particular!

It seems that you are oddly unfamiliar with the German apprenticeship system, for a German. Nothing illegal here: https://www.sparkasse.de/karriere/schueler-und-schulabgaenge...

I'm familiar with the apprenticeship system of course, but AFAIK 15-18 year olds must still attend normal school 5 days a week- that doesn't equate to normal employment, right? At the very least it seems to not have anything to do with the degree vs no-degree argument.

Actually I just looked it up and found that you can legally start working from age 13 in some circumstances! :O

The exact schedules will vary, but typically they'll have full days of either school or work. They're definitely employed and work there. Those are real jobs, even if they're not full-time. Not all adults work full-time either.

I think they mean "get to grips with a computer" to mean stuff like Word, Excel, Outlook or being able to fill in online forms and the like.

Between say 1990 and 2005 the average 20 year old might never have used a computer for anything beyond playing games.

Hence the University Degree requirement for any sort of white collar job.

Yes, they are some of the worst affected in every downturn. There are articles about it every time, too.

Screwed is the millenial term. Kids these days would say "cooked"

I sometimes lay awake pondering the similarities and differences of “cooked” and “let him cook.”

One is cooking the other apparently.

I've mentioned this in on other posts, but I think there are a few things that are getting missed here, and this is how we're hopefully helping grads and students in our start-up.

We have the duality of people complaining that there aren't enough good jobs, while at the same time suggesting that as boomers are retiring, there aren't enough people to fill the jobs they are leaving.

Good senior people are very expensive. Often worth their costs, but when we look at software engineering, there is also the ageism of hiring older developers.

So, everyone is screwed??

We're a bootstrapped neurotech start-up, and we quite frankly can't afford to hire senior people, yet we've had a bunch of university students (our office is at USyd) and graduates ask to come work for us.

In some cases, like marketing, though I have experience in marketing, it was ages ago, and so I don't feel I'm the best person to mentor a junior marketing person.

We're contracting with more experienced marketers who have time in the schedule to work with us part-time and guide the junior. We can't afford the more experienced person anyway, and they've got a more stable job, or young kids at home, and so they don't want the full-time work.

I suspect, and somewhat hope, this trend continues. Even for myself, I don't see myself "retiring" in the next 20 years (I'm 50), I'm sure I'd like to stay active, but perhaps not full time, and I could very much see myself enjoying engaging with the next generation and helping them transition into exciting work.

Having said that, as someone without a university degree, I also think the term "graduates" is loaded in this article. What the article doesn't discuss is that we've assumed that a university degree is necessary to enter the workforce. I am fortunate I had very few walls thrown up in front of me for not having a degree, but it did happen.

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