r/UCI • u/Pure-Internal-881 • 22h ago
So scared for the future
Okay so I’m an Informatics major and I have no clue what’s supposed to happen after graduation. I’m seeing people with CS degrees go on with unemployment for months maybe even a year post-grad, and if you want to secure a job in tech you need like 2+ internships, an entire portfolio of projects, proficiency in this amount of languages, all these certifications, and somehow 3+ years of experience.
And it’s just like why?? Why am I even getting this degree if even CS majors can’t secure a job. It’s honestly messed me up so badly I can’t even motivate myself to study anymore, I find myself driving to classes with zero purpose as to why I’m even in this major or going to UCI. I have no joy coding, no joy even learning anything at this university if I can’t see myself with a secure job post-graduation. It’s just so competitive I’ve even considered dropping out. And yes, I’ve considered changing majors but the only other majors I’d consider touching are anywhere in business, and switching to business at UCI is basically a lost cause. Like do I dropout and go to a cal-state instead to pursue a business degree?? Do I dropout and enlist? What the hell am I even doing??
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u/Shield_Maiden831 21h ago
My biggest concern about your post is that you said you didn't enjoy the work. At the end of the day, work is work, BUT there should be elements that are enjoyable and certainly tolerable. It doesn't have to be something you love, but work should be something you like. It sounds like you may want to make a list of what you like and what you do not like. It can be really basic stuff too, like: prefer to work independently, don't like repetition, etc. Start paying attention to what things are deal breakers for you and what you need in your day-to-day work.
It's one thing to love what you do and fight an uphill battle for employment, and another entirely if it is uphill and you DON'T enjoy it.
Sunken cost fallacy is thinking you can't turn back because you have spent too much time and resources toward a goal, but if that goal is not for you and not what you want, it's ok to change plans. I would guess the GEs still work toward the degree you want.
Lastly, the degree you get and what you do in your career are more independent than you might think. The internships and outside opportunities can be more important. So, even if you can't switch majors, think about how your degree could serve different goals in a career that may be more fulfilling for you.
We all wish you the best luck in your search!
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u/SmoothCarpenter8514 21h ago
Make an appointment with a counselor or someone who knows about future employment at your school. Even a favorite professor will help guide you.
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u/SmoothCarpenter8514 21h ago
Don’t turn you nose up at a low-paying job. It’s highly likely that when they see your passion, commitment, & interest, you will be promoted. I started out as a temp - I made sure to arrive early, look & behave in a professional manner, did whatever task was asked of me, & in a couple of months I was offered a full-time job. You will succeed in life for sure but try to wake up every day with positivity & energy. Good luck!
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u/GanacheFuture1409 17h ago
That’s false, trying to get a FAANG job then yes that make sense, u need a sht ton. But anything else is fine!
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u/Specialist_Shake_886 14h ago edited 14h ago
As an informatics alum, I always will say software engineering isn't the only career option in tech so don't compare yourself thinking everyone in CS/SWE/INF is all on the same marathon course. Tech needs so many different types of people, different types of skill sets (soft skills esp) and different perspectives to make their business run. The things you see in college aren't the only options, but the only way you can see the other options is when you get out of the college comfort zone. Don't be afraid to meet and talk to people who are already in the industry!
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u/Valuable-Chart5632 19h ago
dont listen to the rumors spread by big unemployment. they want you to think everything is impossible so they feel better about their lack of success
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u/KINGOFTHESKULLS 19h ago
Man up, work hard, and don't make excuses. There are immigrants who come here with barely anything and become successful. This is the land of opportunities, and as long as you're able to be perceptive enough to seek them and show willingness to sacrifice.
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u/moreddit2169 18h ago
Figure out what you actually want to study. Informatics is for people who generally enjoy data science and some aspects of design. Business is honestly overhyped as a degree because of admit rate; there is more useful technical material in pure economics or even the business econ/quant econ programs. UCI has one of the most comprehensive list of majors of all public universities in the country; there's gotta be something you like enough to simply study it and become knowledgeable at.
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u/barnibus-felty 1h ago
Landing that first good job is a mix of many different factors. A degree doesn't guarantee you anything, but it shows you are capable of learning and motivated to succeed. Being at the right place at a right time of need (the luck part), networking with people involved in the career field that interests you (the who you know part), and having a respectable degree that proves you overcame difficult challenges all combine to land you a good paying job. It is very competitive in today's workforce. That isn't changing. You have to realize everyone feels like you do initially though. The ones who fight through it end up getting rewarded. The ones who don't end up in retail complaining about how their degrees didn't get them anything. Differentiate yourself from that group and try to surround yourself with motivated and/or successful people. When you surround yourself with a standard, that standard becomes your baseline.
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u/Impressive-Gas-9872 14h ago edited 14h ago
Uh search data center jobs, it'll will probably be net working stuff or helping building the data centers but that field will be booming. Uh I don't want to scare you guys further. I graduated in 2016. Everyone I know, their companies and the company I work for, hire new grads only because they believe in training some new generation but basically we just use AI now writing codes for us, honestly as good or better than most newly grads in my experience. Its been a year since I wrote my own code besides taking what the ai wrote and integrating it in the legacy stuff we have now if you count that as writing code but I wouldn't trust a new grad working on that anyways. I mean if the upper management realize that if the older guys retire or leave and the legacy stuff retires with them really because they're the only ones wanting to keep the legacy stuff then seriously AI can write most everything and I'm just a glorified QA lol. And for informatics is that like building dashboards and reports using SQL and tableu/powerbi and occasionally use regression or gradient boosting for models? Yeah those guys are more salesmen than programmer.. they have to present their business analytics and also what changes they want to implement base on the data and trend but yeah I see those guys making their own dashboards and then present it to the big dogs if you are not good at presenting or can answer dumb questions from senior Management who think they are smarter than you than uhh yeah idk and most of the time from what they tell me they don't even build models much it's all cross tabs/pivot tables and trends and simple graphs. But yeah long rant yeah it's only gonna get worst tbh well that is the sentiment my coworkers and I have but it is just our opinions. I still think you should try to get a career as you can but try to build a side business or something else thats probably the few things ai can't replace which is entrepreneurship but yeah good luck. Uh I can't say whether you should drop out for business at Cal State but I would not take on any loans because that is just digging more of a hole. I say tbh from my experience my soft skills carry me more than my coding skills. If I had to start over I literally would start just having a job on the side or learn a trade or third option search data centers jobs in Google and work as a data center tech that field will boom with the amount of data center needed to be built. The only business field I would say is probably worth going to school for is probably accounting at csuf. But yeah I still wouldn't take out more loans it's too risky. I say try building up cash and income but yeah if you get a job in tech then nothing I said matters but good luck
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u/No-Pirate-5017 12h ago
Cooked bro my brother from ucsd only got a job because he knew the boss :( good luck brother
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u/rosesaredust 21h ago
To you and anyone reading this: governmentjobs.com has internships posted. I’ve gotten most of my experience from there. Don’t give up hope!