AI is changing how Texas universities teach computer science

https://sanantonioreport.org/ai-texas-universities-computer-science-job-market/

Publish Date: 2026-04-25 14:00:00

Anxiety is in the air at computer science programs on university campuses across Texas.

Universities are incorporating artificial intelligence into education more every year, while admissions to computer science programs are down roughly 20% in Texas and nationally as hiring slows for software engineers.

Students are experiencing those changes in real time as they prepare to enter an uncertain job market in a rapidly changing industry.

“At the very beginning, it was a joke,” said Derek Do, a third year computer science major at the University of Texas at Austin. “The industry took it seriously, but a lot of the students didn’t.”

A computer science degree, previously seen as a reliable path to a well-paying tech job, doesn’t seem like such a sure thing to many students who worry that they will be the first victims of a future built around AI.

“I’ve applied to a billion jobs, as everyone has too,” added Do, who was recently able to secure an internship with a top tech company.

Some of the highest unemployment rates for recent college graduates are degree holders in computer science and computer engineering, at 7% and 7.8% respectively, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York study.

Postings for software development jobs in the U.S. have plunged since a 2022 hiring boom, according to data from Indeed compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

This uncertainty comes on the heels of a golden age for tech in the U.S. following the Great Recession of 2008, when six-figure starting salaries were almost a guarantee for students graduating from top computer science programs. The demand was such that major U.S. tech companies launched a campaign in the early 2010s encouraging high schoolers to learn to computer code, promising lucrative, stable careers once they finished college.

Now, Texas universities are reworking their computer science curricula in response to the fast-changing job market.

Computer science…

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