好英语网硅谷陷裁员寒冬，“码农”不再是“金饭碗”？
Ever since she was a 10th grader in Seattle, Annalice Ni wanted to develop software for a prominent tech company like Google. So she went to great lengths to meet the internship and other résumé criteria that make students attractive hires to the biggest tech firms.
在西雅图读十年级的时候，安娜莉斯·倪（音）就想去谷歌这样的知名科技公司做软件开发了。因此，她竭尽全力满足作为一名学生的实习和其他的履历标准，好让大科技公司对自己有兴趣。
In high school, Ms. Ni took computer science courses, interned at Microsoft and volunteered as a coding teacher for younger students. She majored in computer science at the University of Washington, earning coveted software engineering internships at Facebook. After graduating from college this year, she moved to Silicon Valley to start her dream job as a software engineer at Meta, Facebook’s parent company.
高中时，安娜莉斯·倪参加了计算机科学课程，在微软实习，并自愿为低年级学生担任编程老师。她在华盛顿大学主修计算机科学，在Facebook获得了令人羡慕的软件工程实习机会。今年大学毕业后，她来到硅谷，在Facebook的母公司Meta开始了自己梦寐以求的软件工程师工作。
22岁的安娜莉斯·倪是一名软件工程师，上个月Meta公司解雇了她，她很失望。现在，她正在利用这个机会拓展自己的职业视野。
Then last month, Meta laid off more than 11,000 employees — including Ms. Ni.
上个月，Meta裁掉了1.1万多名员工，其中就包括她。
“I did feel very frustrated and disappointed and maybe a bit scared because all of a sudden, I didn’t know what to do,” Ms. Ni, 22, said of her unexpected career setback. “There’s not much I could have done, especially in college, more than I already did, better than I already did.”
“我确实感到非常沮丧和失望，也许还有点害怕，因为突然之间，我不知道该怎么办，”22岁的安娜莉斯·倪在谈到这个意外的事业挫折时说。“我能做的都做了，尤其是在大学里，我已经没法再做得更多，做得更好。”
Over the last decade, the prospect of six-figure starting salaries, perks like free food and the chance to work on apps used by billions led young people to stampede toward computer science — the study of computer programming and processes like algorithms — on college campuses across the United States. The number of undergraduates majoring in the subject more than tripled from 2011 to 2021, to nearly 136,000 students, according to the Computing Research Association, which tracks computing degrees at about 200 universities.
在过去的十年里，六位数的起薪、免费食物等福利，以及为数十亿人使用的应用程序工作的机会，让美国各地大学校园里的年轻人纷纷涌向计算机科学——研究计算机编程和算法等过程的学科。根据计算机研究协会的数据，从2011年到2021年，计算机专业的本科生数量增加了两倍多，达到近13.6万人。该协会跟踪了大约200所大学的计算机学位。
Tech giants like Facebook, Google and Microsoft encouraged the computing education boom, promoting software jobs to students as a route to lucrative careers and the power to change the world.
Facebook、谷歌和微软等科技巨头鼓励计算机教育的蓬勃发展，向学生宣传软件工作是一条通往丰厚收入的职业道路，也是改变世界的力量。
But now, layoffs, hiring freezes and planned recruiting slowdowns at Meta, Twitter, Alphabet, Amazon, DoorDash, Lyft, Snap and Stripe are sending shock waves through a generation of computer and data science students who spent years honing themselves for careers at the largest tech companies. Tech executives have blamed a faltering global economy for the jobs slowdown.
但现在，Meta、Twitter、Alphabet、亚马逊、DoorDash、Lyft、Snap和Stripe的裁员、招聘冻结和计划中的招聘放缓，给计算机和数据科学专业的一代学生带来冲击波，他们花了多年时间在最大的科技公司经营自己的职业生涯。科技公司高管将就业增长放缓归咎于全球经济疲软。
The cutbacks have not only sent recent graduates scrambling to find new jobs but also created uncertainty for college students seeking high-paying summer internships at large consumer tech companies.
裁员不仅导致应届毕业生难以找到新工作，也给那些想在大型民用技术公司寻求暑期高薪实习的大学生带来了不确定性。
In the past, tech companies used their internship programs to recruit promising job candidates, extending offers to many students to return as full-time employees after graduation. But this year, those opportunities are shrinking.
过去，科技公司利用他们的实习计划来吸引有前途的求职者，并向许多学生提供毕业后返回公司成为全职员工的机会。但今年，这些机会正在减少。
Amazon, for instance, hired about 18,000 interns this year, paying some computer science students nearly $30,000 for the summer, not including housing stipends. The company is now considering reducing the number of interns for 2023 by more than half, said a person with knowledge of the program who was not authorized to speak publicly.
例如，亚马逊今年雇佣了大约1.8万名实习生，向其中一些计算机科学专业的学生支付了近3万美元的暑期工资，这还不包括住房补贴。一位未被授权公开发言的知情人士透露，该公司目前正在考虑将2023年的实习生人数减少一半以上。
Brad Glasser, an Amazon spokesman, said the company was committed to its internship program and the real-world experience that it provided. A Meta spokeswoman referred to a letter to employees from Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s chief executive, announcing the company’s layoffs last month.
亚马逊发言人布拉德·格拉瑟表示，公司致力于其实习项目及其提供的真实世界经验。Meta的一名发言人提到了该公司首席执行官马克·扎克伯格上个月宣布裁员的致员工信。
Hiring plans are also changing at smaller tech firms. Roblox, the popular game platform, said it planned to hire 300 interns for next summer — almost twice as many as this year — and was expecting more than 50,000 applications for those spots. Redfin, which employed 38 interns this summer, said it had canceled the program for next year.
小型科技公司的招聘计划也在改变。热门游戏平台Roblox表示，计划在明年夏天雇用300名实习生——几乎是今年的两倍——并预计这些职位将收到五万多份申请。Redfin今年夏天雇用了38名实习生，并表示已经取消了明年的项目。
There are still good jobs for computing students, and the field is growing. Between 2021 and 2031, employment for software developers and testers is expected to grow 25 percent, amounting to more than 411,000 new jobs, according to projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But many of those jobs are in areas like finance and the automotive industry.
计算机专业的学生仍然可以获得很好的工作，而且这个领域还在不断发展。根据美国劳工统计局的预测，在2021年至2031年期间，软件开发人员和测试人员的就业岗位预计将增长25%，新增就业岗位超过41.1万个。但其中许多工作岗位都在金融和汽车行业。
“Students are still getting multiple job offers,” said Brent Winkelman, chief of staff for the computer science department at the University of Texas at Austin. “They just may not come from Meta, from Twitter or from Amazon. They’re going to come from places like G.M., Toyota or Lockheed.”
“学生们仍然收到多份工作邀请，”得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校计算机科学系主任布伦特·温克尔曼说。“它们可能不是来自Meta、Twitter或亚马逊。它们将来自通用汽车、丰田或洛克希德等公司。”
College career centers have become sounding boards for anxious students on the cusp of entering the tech job market. In career counselors’ offices, the search for a Plan B has heightened.
对于即将进入科技行业就业市场的焦虑学生来说，大学就业中心成了他们集思广益的地方。在职业顾问的办公室里，寻找备选方案的呼声越来越高。
Some students are applying to lesser-known tech companies. Others are seeking tech jobs outside the industry, with retailers like Walmart or with government agencies and nonprofits. Graduate school is also an option.
有学生开始给不太知名的科技企业投简历。还有的则在科技领域之外寻找技术岗位，如沃尔玛等零售商，或是政府机构和非营利组织。读研也是一种选择。
“This particular class has been a lot more savvy than previous classes,” said Hazel Raja, senior director of the career development office at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif. “Even those who have secured job offers, they’re still making sure they’re networking and staying engaged in campus recruiting opportunities.”
“这届学生要比以往精明得多，”加州克莱蒙特波莫纳学院职业发展办公室高级主任黑兹尔·拉贾表示。“即便已经得到工作邀请，他们仍要确保为自己建立关系网，并继续参加校招。”
Helen Dong, 21, a senior majoring in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, interned at Meta twice, in 2021 and 2022. So she was surprised at the end of this summer, she said, when she did not receive a job offer from the company. Meta’s recent layoffs prompted her to apply for jobs outside tech, at automotive and financial companies. Last month, she posted videos on TikTok advising her peers to adjust their job expectations.
21岁的海伦·董（音）是卡内基·梅隆大学计算机科学专业的大四学生，在2021年和2022年曾到Meta实习两次。因此，当今年夏末没能收到该公司的工作邀请，她感到很惊讶。Meta近来的裁员也促使她把简历投到了科技行业之外，包括汽车和金融企业。上个月，她在TikTok发布视频，建议同学们调整自己的就业预期。
“I chose to major in computer science so that I could get a ton of offers after college and make bank,” Ms. Dong joked in one TikTok, as she sang along to “Reduce Your Expectations to 0.” In this job market, she wrote at the bottom of the video, “be grateful with 1 offer.”
“我选择了计算机科学的专业，就是为了毕业后得到无数工作邀请赚大钱，”她在其中一段TikTok视频中开玩笑道，同时还唱起了《将你的期望值降到零》(Reduce Your Expectations to 0)。她在视频底部写道，在当今求职市场，“能得到一份邀请都谢天谢地了。”
In interviews, 10 college students and recent graduates said they were not prepared for a slowdown in jobs at the largest tech companies. Until recently, those companies were fiercely competing to hire computer science majors at top schools — with some students receiving multiple job offers with six-figure starting salaries and five-digit signing bonuses. An entire genre of TikTok videos had sprung up dedicated to young techies extolling their job perks and their annual compensation, with at least one highlighting a $198,000 package, complete with stock options and relocation expenses.
接受采访的10名大学生和刚毕业的应届生均表示，他们没有为大型科技企业的就业寒冬做好准备。就在前不久，这些企业还在竞相争抢顶级学府的计算机科学专业人才，有学生收到的多份起薪六位数的邀请，签约奖金则达到五位数。TikTok上有大量面向给年轻科技从业者的视频，内容就是吹嘘自己的工作福利和年薪，至少有一条强调了19.8万美元的待遇，包括股票期权和搬家费用。
Dozens of people who were recently laid off, or whose tech job offers were rescinded, have posted details of their plights on LinkedIn. To alert recruiters, some have added the hashtag #opentowork to their LinkedIn profile photos.
许多近来被解雇或是科技公司工作邀请被取消的人已经在领英上发布了他们所遭遇困境的细节。为了提醒招聘方，还有人在领英资料照片中加上了“#愿意工作”的标签。
Tony Shi, 23, who majored in computer science and business at Western University in London, Ontario, is one of them. After graduating this year, he began working as a product manager at Lyft in August. In November, the ride-hailing company laid off about 650 employees, including Shi.
23岁的托尼·石（音）就是其中的一员，他在安大略省伦敦市的西安大略大学主修计算机科学与商务。今年毕业后，他于8月开始在Lyft做产品经理。11月，这家网约车公司解雇了约650名员工，包括托尼·石。
Now he is on a tight deadline to find a new job. Shi is Canadian, from Waterloo, Ontario, and obtained a visa to move to San Francisco for his job at Lyft. Under the visa, he has 60 days to find a new job. He said he had become more sensitive to the businesses and balance sheets of potential employers.
现在，他得抓紧时间寻找新工作。托尼·石是加拿大人，来自安大略省滑铁卢市，因为在Lyft工作才得到了移居旧金山的签证。按照签证规定，他需要在60天内找到新工作。他说自己现在更关注潜在雇主的业务和资产负债表了。
“I need to be a little more risk-averse. I definitely don’t want to get laid off again,” he said. Instead of his taking a company for its word, he added, “now, the product needs to make a lot of sense.”
“我更要注意规避风险。我绝对不想再被解雇了，”他说。他还补充道，与其相信公司的一面之词，他现在更在意“产品是否足够合理”。
Some recent graduates did not get the chance to start their new tech jobs.
一些刚毕业的应届生得到了技术职位却没能入职。
Rachel Castellino, a statistics major at the California Polytechnic State University, worked to land a job at a major tech company. During college, she interned as a project manager at PayPal, received a data science fellowship funded by the National Science Foundation and founded a data science club at her school.
蕾切尔·卡斯特利诺是加州理工州立大学统计学专业的学生，得到了一家大型科技企业的职位。大学期间，她曾在Paypal实习，担任项目经理，获得了国家科学基金会资助的数据科学奖学金，并在母校创立了一个数据科学俱乐部。
Castellino, 22, knew she would have to grind to pass companies’ technical interviews, which typically involve solving programming problems. Last year, she spent much of the fall job hunting and preparing for coding assessments. For four days a week, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., she studied probability concepts and programming languages. Even so, she said, the interview process was brutal.
22岁的卡斯特利诺知道，她必须竭尽全力才能通过公司的技术岗位面试，此类面试通常涉及编程问题。去年秋天，她把时间基本都投入到找工作和编程评估准备之上。一周四天，每天早八点到下午四点，她都在学习概率概念和编程语言。尽管如此努力，她说面试过程还是压力极大。
In November 2021, Meta offered her a job as a data scientist, starting in December 2022. Last month, Meta rescinded the offer, she said.
2021年11月，Meta为她提供了一份数据科学家的工作，2022年12月正式入职。她说就在上个月，Meta取消了邀请。
“I worked so hard for those interviews. It felt really good to earn something of a high caliber,” she said. “I had so much to look forward to.”
“我为面试付出了那么多努力。能挣得高质量邀请的感觉真的很好，”她说。“我曾有那么多的期待。”
The setback has been disheartening. “I was upset,” Castellino said. “It wasn’t good to hear.”
这样的挫折带来了很大打击。“我很沮丧，”卡斯特利诺说。“听到这种消息很难受。”
As for Ni, she now views losing her dream job as an opportunity to broaden her career horizons. Over the last month, she has applied to midsize tech firms and startups that she finds innovative — potential employers she had not previously considered.
至于安娜丽丝·倪，她如今已把失去梦寐以求的工作视为拓宽职业道路的机会。在过去一个月，她向在看她来具备创新能力的中型科技企业和初创企业都投了简历，那是她以往不会考虑的潜在雇主。
“I’m exploring opportunities that I didn’t before,” Ni said. “I feel like I’ve already learned some things.”
“我正在探索以前被自己忽视的机会，”安娜丽丝·倪说。“我感觉已经学到了一些东西。”