Aspiring tech professionals are finding themselves struggling in a job market dominated by AI, with a fresh graduate who once hoped to earn a high salary only securing an interview at Chipotle.

Manasi Mishra, 21, believed that excelling in academics and mastering coding would ensure a prestigious tech position with a hefty pay right after college.

“The belief was that if you learned coding, worked diligently, and earned a computer science degree, you’d start with a six-figure salary,” the San Ramon, California native shared with The New York Times.

But the bright-eyed young coder – who created her first website when she was in elementary school – was in for a rude awakening. 

She spent a year scrambling for jobs and internships and still found herself graduating from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, without a single tech offer.

In a May TikTok outlining her increasingly uncommon dilemma, Mishra declared: ‘I just graduated with a computer science degree and the only company that’s called me back for an interview is Chipotle.’

To her dismay, she did not secure the job. 

‘Of course, the year I graduate is the year the tech industry goes downhill,’ she elaborated in the ‘get ready with me’ video. 

Manasi Mishra (pictured), 21, was under the impression that if she worked hard in school and mastered coding, she’d have a prestigious tech job with a cushy salary lined up straight from college

Mishra did not land the job at the popular fast food chain (file photo of Chipotle)

Mishra is just one of the discouraged young adults finding themselves with a virtually meaningless computer science degree because of AI’s growing prominence in the tech industry. 

People aged 22 to 27 who graduated from college with aspirations of scoring a tech job are facing some of the nation’s highest unemployment rates. 

According to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the unemployment rate among those who majored in computer science is 6.1 percent. 

The rate is even more alarming for computer engineering majors at a staggering 7.5 percent. 

Last year alone, more than 170,000 people majored in tech-related fields. This number is more than double what it was 10 years prior, according to the Computing Research Association, which collected data from more than 200 US universities.  

For comparison, the unemployment rate for the same age group of people who graduated with art history and biology degrees is just three percent. 

These troubling statistics are the result of the disastrous combination of AI programming tools and sweeping layoffs from industry leaders such as Amazon, Microsoft and Meta. 

AI bots can write thousands of lines of code in a matter of minutes – making humans with coding and software engineering skills obsolete in the eyes of employers. 

AI bots can write thousands of lines of code in a matter of minutes – making humans with coding and software engineering skills obsolete in the eyes of employers (stock image)

These troubling statistics are the result of the disastrous combination of AI programming tools and sweeping layoffs from industry leaders such as Microsoft (file photo)

‘I’m very concerned,’ Jeff Forbes, former program director for computer science education and workforce development at the National Science Foundation, confessed to The New York Times. 

‘Computer science students who graduated three or four years ago would have been fighting off offers from top firms.

‘And now that same student would be struggling to get a job from anyone.’

Young people have been encouraged by executives and even US presidents to pursue coding, claiming it would help them stand out and land high-paying positions. 

‘Learning these skills isn’t just important for your future, it’s important for our country’s future’ then-president Barack Obama said in a 2013 partnership with Code.org.

‘If we want America to stay on the cutting edge, we need young Americans, like you, to master the tools and technology that will change the way we do just about everything.’

This call to action was reflective of the general sentiment of the industry at the time – before the rapid expansion of AI. 

In 2012, top Microsoft executive Brad Smith said most starting salaries hovered around $100,000, paired with a $15,000 sign-on bonus and about $50,000 in stock grants. 

Mishra (pictured) ultimately decided that software engineering or consulting was not in the cards for her

Young people have been encouraged by executives and even US presidents to pursue coding, claiming it would help them stand out and land high-paying positions (stock image)

These financial incentives, coupled with a feeling of importance surrounding the field, created a sense of industry stability that may soon disappear entirely. 

Discouraged graduates reported to The New York Times that over the last few years, they have applied to hundreds – some thousands – of jobs and have been hit with nothing but rejection. 

Mishra ultimately decided that software engineering or consulting was not in the cards for her.

But through her hobby-turned side gig as a beauty influencer – garnering more than 15,000 followers on TikTok – she decided she was better suited for the marketing side of the tech industry. 

On a whim, she applied for a tech sales position and last month she was offered the job. 

‘Last week, I was hunching over my bathroom toilet, nauseous over the anxiety I had from being unemployed in this horrible economy,’ Mishra said in a TikTok about the successful interview, which she shared on Monday. 

‘And this week, I’m walking into my first onsite interview…Praise God!’

The New York Times reported that she will start her new job this month.