Computer engineering is a classic among the most in-demand jobs in recent years. In fact, without going any further, it was the university degree with the most job opportunities in 2025. However, it faces an abyss: that of a future with AIwhich we have already seen is beginning to wreak havoc among junior profiles. Generation Z seems to have noticed and after two decades of continuous growth, enrollment has begun to decline in the mecca of computing: the Universities of California.
Context. For decades, studying computer science has been a true bastion of employability, whether choosing for the race as in their variants in FP version. That is to say, if you wanted to study a career that would guarantee you a specialized job, something especially interesting for the middle and lower classes, in computing you would find real life insurance.
The San Francisco Chronicle has captured the data of the set from California universities in a graph showing that not even the 2008 financial crisis or the COVID-19 earthquake managed to undermine its appeal: computing seemed armored against crises.
Computer science enrollments on California public university campuses since 2000. Data: University of California
Something is changing in computing. More specifically, data from the University of California shows that 12,652 computer science degree students have chosen computer science this year, this is 6% less compared to 2024 and 9% less compared to 2023. It is true that it is almost double what it was a decade ago, but the decline is clear taking 20 years ago as a reference, the time when there was the last (slight) decline.
The data in question does not come from a specific university or from any group: we are talking about the small group made up of the public universities of California, which include illustrious ones such as UCLA, Berkeley or San Diego. Therefore, Stanford does not appear in these data as it is private.
Why is it important. Because the perception of computing as a choice that guarantees success is no longer what it was: on the one hand, because AI is taking away opportunities who starts to work and for another, for the big layoffs What we are seeing in big tech. Furthermore, it has brought a paradigm shift: parents no longer encourage studying computer science as much as they do other more classic and tangible engineering: electrical, mechanical… according to what personnel related to admission to these universities know, whose statements collects the Californian media.
And this is not just happening in California, but it is a global phenomenon. The Universities of California are leading the way: what happens at Berkeley or UCLA is a preview of what we will see soon here as well. Without going any further, the University of San Diego got ahead last year creating an AI career Let’s see how it goes. Spoiler: it was a total success, like acknowledges Steven Swanson for TechSpotthe department head and computer science professor.
kitchen ear. A deeper analysis of data from California universities shows that it is not that there are fewer technology students, it is just that they are changing their choices towards more specific and emerging ones. Between the success of emerging and specialized programs and these data, universities already have a pending issue on the table: carrying out a curricular transition.
Classical computing is becoming a transversal subject and not the final destination, that is, it is no longer so important how a tool is built (chopping code), but rather how to think and how to validate it in a future in which its students will have to work side by side with AI.
Cover | Vitaly Gariev
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