Tech market slowdown from a Berkeley POV

FWIW - Sharing this compilation of data from the First Destinations Survey.

There are some clear indications of the slowdown in the FAANG hiring #s below but it also looks like the net result and salary outcomes seem pretty comparable indicating other emerging tech firms like Databricks and other industries such as Finance absorbing many of these grads.

All Majors 2022 2023 2024
Working 50% 53% 53%
Looking for Employment 24% 25% 22%
Grad School 20% 17% 21%
Other/Looking for Grad School 6% 4% 5%
Median Salary $87,000 $94,000 $95,000
COE 2022 2023 2024
Working 52% 57% 54%
Looking for Employment 18% 16% 22%
Grad School 26% 23% 20%
Other/Looking for Grad School 4% 3% 4%
Median Salary $120,000 $120,000 $120,000
EECS 2022 2023 2024
Working 63% 62% 57%
Looking for Employment 18% 14% 24%
Grad School 17% 22% 15%
Other/Looking for Grad School 3% 2% 4%
Median Salary $129,000 $128,000 $134,000
CDSS 2022 2023 2024
Working 62% 63% 54%
Looking for Employment 19% 21% 27%
Grad School 16% 14% 17%
Other/Looking for Grad School 2% 3% 2%
Median Salary $125,000 $129,000 $120,000
Employer 2022 2023 2024
Amazon 70 112 66
AWS 8 27 20
Apple 24 29 28
Google 64 36 26
Meta 43 <5 25
Microsoft 34 38 15
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“Looking for employment” percentages did increase for EECS and CDSS graduates in 2024 compared to 2023.

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Ya I mean the median outcomes were similar while it probably got harder for people in the bottom half of the class.

Generally speaking it’s much harder to recruit since a lot of students still have 2022 level expectations.

I’m surprised there hasn’t been an increase in the number of engineering and CS graduates going to grad school. That’s the usual response to a lack of jobs. Perhaps it relates to the lack of jobs being concentrated in the bottom half of the class, and these people wouldn’t get into a decent graduate program?

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In the context of this chart, Cal seems to have held up well despite the massive slowdown in the market. So this sample may be slightly less desperate and I think people may still be holding out for jobs and perhaps later apply to grad school post graduation if they aren’t able to succeed in getting a role they want.