Ask HN: What advice would you give to a CS student today?

I wanted to inspire and guide them since I felt overlooked when I was their age.

After yesterday's meetup at my coworking space on tech startup failures, my friend's 20-year-old son dropped by to chat. He is studying computer science in his third year of university.

It was a typical small talk, and he asked me about my business. “As I recall, you worked in technology and recruitment," he said. How's the market now?

He cleverly asked for advice about his future career. I quickly saw how important and valuable it was to him.

I always had the right words to say to kids like him, so I started talking.

I talked about how the market is changing, how demand is down, and how layoffs affected the situation.

Then I got fully paralysed, and I couldn't think of what to say. I was a bit pessimistic, but I wanted to motivate him. I didn't want to discourage him by telling him that the market is hard for junior developers.

I realized that I don't know what to tell him. I have NO clue what's "good" or "bad", or what the market will do, or which skills he needs. After working in tech recruiting for over 15 years, I don't know how to guide him.

I felt helpless. In his eyes, I saw my younger self from 20 years ago, seeking advice from someone I trusted.

After a brief pause, I realized that I needed to be practical. I promised him I would send him a written response via his father soon.

That was the best I could do at the time. Being honest about not knowing everything felt better than pretending I did.

Also, I gained some time to give this kid some thorough feedback.

What advice would you give to a CS student today?