Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™.

Learning how to code has been centered as the most probable path to prosperity since Mark Zuckerberg rang the bell as Facebook went public in 2012.

After the success of Zuckerberg and Meta, being able to learn how to code was marketed by the public and private sectors as a path to not only financial stability but also outsized prosperity.

The number of computer science graduates has more than doubled over the past decade from 51,696 to 112,720 when comparing the 2013-2014 academic year to the 2022-2023 academic year, according to the National Student Clearing House, a nonprofit organization that serves as the central source for educational reporting, verification and research across the U.S.

The increased focus on computer science makes sense when you learn that computer science graduates also have an average starting salary of $77,000, while the average recent graduate is $68,400, according to ZipRecruiter survey data.

Not only were college students focused on computer science, but startups, with the goal of educating the next generation of technical professionals, also received funding.

General Assembly, which started as a co-working space, became one of the first well-known coding boot camps and pioneered the immersive boot camp model.

The company was founded in New York City by Jake Schwartz, Adam Pritzker, Matthew Brimer and Brad Hargreaves, initially as a space for entrepreneurs and creatives to connect and build community.

Quickly, the team learned that their members needed technical skills to properly take advantage of the internet for building their businesses and brands.

General Assembly then began teaching digital skills, ranging from digital marketing to coding, to its cohorts and saw success, raising $120 million in venture capital, TechCrunch reported.

The startup was sold to Adecco Group for $412.5 million, as reported by Forbes. Computer science graduates and self-taught coders experienced a golden age over the last couple of decades when it came to income and opportunities, but then life after the pandemic arrived.

Following the pandemic, there was an uptick in layoffs that tech executives blamed on overhiring during the pandemic, as well as interest rate spikes, which made operating their businesses more expensive.

Data from Layoffs.fyi, a tech company that tracks layoffs throughout the industry, shows that in 2023, tech employers laid off over 264,000 employees. When combining the numbers from 2024 and those seen so far in 2025, close to 220,000 employees have been laid off.

While layoffs have affected both technical and non-technical employees, the advent of AI and the popularity of “Vibe Coding,” created by Anthropic through Claude.ai, which enables users to create software by typing sentences, have also had an impact.

Replit, Bolt, and Loveable are a few of the most popular names driving the” Vibe Coding” revolution forward. This breakthrough has started a conversation about the durability of coding as a pathway to outsized financial opportunities and broad job security.

Futurism reports that the unemployment rates for computer science and computer engineering graduates are 6.1% and 7.5%, respectively. Could this be a blip due to the current economic climate, or is this a sign of a larger labor displacement trend that could continue to take hold for years to come?

AFROTECH™ reported that the current decline in venture capital could impact Black investors, but it could also impact opportunities for employment of current and future computer science graduates if the startup ecosystem continues to contract.

What this tells us is that going forward, it will take more than just knowing how to code to land a high-paying job; you will have to go deeper than previous graduates have had to when it comes to technical knowledge.

While there is an employment crisis for coders, there’s a gold rush currently taking place for AI PhDs. So much so that Zuckerberg and Meta are allegedly offering $100 million bonuses to OpenAI’s talent, as reported by the BBC.

Meta has also invested in Scale AI to bolster its AI efforts and has hired away its CEO, Alexandr Wang, AFROTECH™ previously reported.

Coding itself will become less important, but specialized skills in computer science will become more essential as artificial intelligence becomes deeply intertwined with our physical and digital worlds.

Understanding how software works still makes sense for many people, but it does not make sense to learn how to code yourself unless you plan on specializing in your skill set.

As AI upends the way we view labor, having and applying knowledge that cannot be easily found online, and connecting the dots across pools of information to create insights, will become an even more valuable skill as AI enters our workforce.



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