Great article, Jacob. As a college student, I completely resonate with everything you said. AI has become my personal tutor and mentor, but I have to emphasize that it often hallucinates. Instead of admitting its lack of context, it sometimes provides misinformation and can lead us in the wrong direction. I’ve noticed this happens most in abstract, logic-heavy subjects like Theory of Computation, Data Structures, and some Economics concepts. But having to fact-check AI every time isn't ideal—at that point, I might as well just Google the information myself, duh!
That being said, AI does offer a solid overall understanding and context, which has been a massive help in my college journey. It’s honestly the most valuable tool I have as a student. As you said, swallowing my pride and not being afraid of AI "roasting" me has become my mantra, lol! A lot of us can relate to that fear of asking dumb questions in front of TAs and professors.
Another thing that’s really overwhelming for a lot of us is the expectation that we need to know EVERYTHING just to land internships or entry-level jobs. It’s crazy that new grads are applying to 500–600 positions just to get a foot in the door, or that we’re expected to have built “platforms” and mastered ML and Deep Learning straight out of college. The job market right now is brutal. Internships are insanely competitive, and even after landing a job, the constant waves of tech layoffs are terrifying. I can’t imagine grinding Leetcode for hours every day, barely securing a job, only to have zero job security.
Just my thought, nothing too serious! I’ve been following your LinkedIn posts for a while now, and you always have an interesting take on things. Keep going! I really appreciate a leader like you empathizing with Gen Z and sharing your best advice.
The job market is brutal right now for new entrants. Seniors and principals are still heavily sought after, and even new entrants with specific differentiated skillsets are doing all right.
One strategy that still seems to be working when I'm chatting with new entrants is applying to become the most technical person on a non-technical team. The person who knows industry or function + technical skills is differentiated. I think this is likely to persist over the long term because as AI become more integrated, having a higher level of baseline technical talent to interact with it is like to pay off. It's just a guess though, and I know it varies from the narrative "anyone can now build a full app!"
Your point on hallucination is really important. Some fields I find it getting 100% of answers right. With other fields I feed in a chapter or some specific relevant text to base itself on, and I find that the hallucinations are kept in check that way. I also found reasoning models more willing to communicate uncertainty, at least for the situations that I care about.
Great article, Jacob. As a college student, I completely resonate with everything you said. AI has become my personal tutor and mentor, but I have to emphasize that it often hallucinates. Instead of admitting its lack of context, it sometimes provides misinformation and can lead us in the wrong direction. I’ve noticed this happens most in abstract, logic-heavy subjects like Theory of Computation, Data Structures, and some Economics concepts. But having to fact-check AI every time isn't ideal—at that point, I might as well just Google the information myself, duh!
That being said, AI does offer a solid overall understanding and context, which has been a massive help in my college journey. It’s honestly the most valuable tool I have as a student. As you said, swallowing my pride and not being afraid of AI "roasting" me has become my mantra, lol! A lot of us can relate to that fear of asking dumb questions in front of TAs and professors.
Another thing that’s really overwhelming for a lot of us is the expectation that we need to know EVERYTHING just to land internships or entry-level jobs. It’s crazy that new grads are applying to 500–600 positions just to get a foot in the door, or that we’re expected to have built “platforms” and mastered ML and Deep Learning straight out of college. The job market right now is brutal. Internships are insanely competitive, and even after landing a job, the constant waves of tech layoffs are terrifying. I can’t imagine grinding Leetcode for hours every day, barely securing a job, only to have zero job security.
Just my thought, nothing too serious! I’ve been following your LinkedIn posts for a while now, and you always have an interesting take on things. Keep going! I really appreciate a leader like you empathizing with Gen Z and sharing your best advice.
The job market is brutal right now for new entrants. Seniors and principals are still heavily sought after, and even new entrants with specific differentiated skillsets are doing all right.
One strategy that still seems to be working when I'm chatting with new entrants is applying to become the most technical person on a non-technical team. The person who knows industry or function + technical skills is differentiated. I think this is likely to persist over the long term because as AI become more integrated, having a higher level of baseline technical talent to interact with it is like to pay off. It's just a guess though, and I know it varies from the narrative "anyone can now build a full app!"
Your point on hallucination is really important. Some fields I find it getting 100% of answers right. With other fields I feed in a chapter or some specific relevant text to base itself on, and I find that the hallucinations are kept in check that way. I also found reasoning models more willing to communicate uncertainty, at least for the situations that I care about.
Good luck on the job hunt.