Ask HN: What is it like being in a CS major program these days?

Hacker News Discussion ↗

Impact of AI on CS Education

  • AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Gemini, etc.) are widely used by students to complete assignments, labs, reports, and even exams.
  • Many feel AI makes coding “too easy,” undermining deep learning; others see it as the best tutor they’ve ever had.
  • Professors are divided: some ban AI for core courses, others encourage it in practical/project courses, many allow it but worry about learning loss.
  • There’s broad uncertainty about what now counts as a “hard” or “complex” programming assignment, given rapidly improving tools.

Curriculum, Fundamentals, and Pace of Change

  • Most programs’ core content (math, theory, data structures, algorithms, architecture, compilers, OS, networking) has changed little; many see this as appropriate and “timeless.”
  • Recurrent theme: CS should teach fundamentals, not the framework/language of the month or “prompt engineering.”
  • Some programs are adding many ML/AI courses or even stand‑alone AI degrees, but degree-change processes are slow and often lag current capabilities.
  • Several posters argue real value comes from “struggling” through building things by hand (e.g., malloc, compilers, filesystems) before leaning on AI.

Student Behavior and Academic Integrity

  • Many students heavily rely on AI, leading to homework averages near 100% but falling exam performance and weaker independent coding/writing skills.
  • In some places, cheating (including AI‑assisted) on exams is described as “widespread,” with specific phone/LLM workflows.
  • Some faculty are tightening assessment: more oral exams, in‑class coding, version‑control history checks, multimodal evaluation, zero‑width “AI canaries” in prompts.

Job Market and Career Anxiety

  • Strong sense of doom among students about internships and new‑grad jobs; big‑tech campus recruiting appears reduced in some regions.
  • Hedges: some still land roles at large tech firms and finance/quant companies; others see outsourcing and wage pressure, especially outside the US.
  • Debate over whether AI will mainly wipe out junior roles or most developer roles altogether; no consensus.

Motivations for Studying CS

  • Split between people driven by curiosity/“nerd” interest in computing and those driven primarily by high salary expectations.
  • Several argue CS is becoming more like math/physics: best suited to those who genuinely like the subject, not just the pay.