The Daily Big Tech Told Kids to Code. The Jobs Didn’t Follow.
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Sep 29, 2025 Natasha Singer, a tech reporter for The New York Times, delves into the false promises of coding careers. She reveals how thousands of graduates, urged to learn coding, are facing disappointing job prospects and rising unemployment rates. Natasha examines how tech giants promoted coding in schools while exposing systemic hiring biases that favor elite students. The influence of AI on job markets and shifting priorities in tech hiring also come to light. Recent grads share their struggles, painting a stark picture of today's job landscape.
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The Broken Golden Ticket
- Silicon Valley sold coding as a guaranteed golden ticket to high-paying tech jobs for a decade.
- That promise has broken down as many grads now face high unemployment in CS fields.
Tech Framing Of Coding As Urgent
- Tech leaders publicly pushed computer science as urgent for national competitiveness and jobs.
- Their messaging framed coding as an accessible path to wealth and influence for any child.
Code.org’s Viral School Push
- Code.org created viral campaigns like the 2013 video and Hour of Code that mainstreamed coding in homes and schools.
- Millions of students tried these lessons and schools adopted fun, large-scale coding events.
