Natasha Singer

I thought, I mean, I've been told my whole life that computer science is a good place to be in.

I mean, math as well, but computer science always felt stable to me.

So yeah, at the time, that was my mentality.

And he does really, really well.

Summa cum laude, he's on the dean's list.

He's worked as a teaching assistant for the more basic computer science courses.

He did all the right things.

And yet, as he starts applying to internships, reality hits that, in fact, coding is not going to magically produce a host of job options.

Starting fall of 2023, I believe I applied to 90 positions before that summer of 2024.

Probably got, I think, three or four interviews and no offers.

Wait, sorry, can I just interject for a minute here?

Sure.

In the fall of 2023, you applied to 90 different internship programs for the next summer in tech.

You got a couple of interviews, but no internship offers?

What kind of companies were you applying to?

This was anything in Columbus, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, anything around kind of Midwest area, probably midsize, I'd say.

Right.

The thing that's striking is many students I spoke to applied to 90, hundreds, maybe even thousands of jobs and didn't get a single offer.

And neither does Nathan.

Yeah.