Comment by 9rx

> Many employers now expect their javascript frontend developers to have a CS degree

They don't actually – but when faced with long lines they will have to apply a filtering mechanism to get the numbers down to something manageable, and a degree is most legally accepted way to do it. Filtering by gender, race, etc. is off limits.

But if there are still too many in the queue even after applying that filter, employers will have to move on to something else, like credit score. So more and more getting a degree to evade the filter is a bit of a fool's errand. It might be okay if you are one of the few with one, but it isn't 1950 anymore. At this point one is late to the party.

A better marketing strategy is your best bet if you truly still want to work in a field that is oversaturated. Metaphorically, you don't have to bundle Android to capture market attention if you can stand out like the iPhone. Life will be a lot easier if you move on to a career that needs more people rather than getting caught up in the intense competition, though.

> At the same time, employers are pressuring universities to be "more practical" because "graduates come to the first day on the job useless".

College has sold itself as the place to give people awareness of the world, which is what employers truly seek. Employers don't want robots to carry out rote tasks, they want people to be able to think through never-before-experienced situations and deliver the best outcome.

When someone shows up useless, college has failed them. Not because college didn't teach them how to use some specific tool, but in allowing them to graduate without being able recognize that one shouldn't show up to a job completely useless. Naturally, employers are going to be "WTF?"

The response to that shouldn't be to double down on teaching tools to hide the real failing and avoid putting in the work to actually deliver on what is promised, but as long as the students keep showing up I suppose there is no reason to care about doing better.