Shai Goldman

Revolutionary

Jessica finished her CS degree at a top-tier public university in December with $174k in federal loans and a 3.91 GPA She's submitted 1,203 applications since graduation Got callbacks from exactly 7 companies. Made it to final rounds at 2. Both went with "no junior hires this cycle" The feedback is always the same: "We're looking for someone who can hit the ground running with AI tooling" Last week she interviewed at a Series B fintech that posted an "Associate Software Engineer" role The engineering manager was honest: "This role used to be for bootcamp grads and new CS majors. Now we need someone who can manage 3 AI agents and review their output at senior level" The salary range dropped from $95k to $68k because "the AI does most of the actual coding" Her algorithms professor still brags about 98% job placement rates from 2019-2022 Jessica's working retail at Target while her loan payments kick in next month $1,847 monthly minimum on a $16/hour Target salary She keeps getting LinkedIn ads for "AI Bootcamps" promising to make her "recession-proof" The same bootcamps now cost $24k because they know desperate CS grads will pay anything Her former classmates who got hired? They're all at consulting firms or doing product management The ones still coding are mostly maintaining legacy systems at banks, waiting for those to get automated too Yesterday she got an email from her university asking for a donation to the new "AI Ethics Research Center" But sure, keep telling kids that computer science is a stable career path

A buddy from college hit me up last night out of nowhere. Dude was a senior product manager at Google. Pulled $320k+ TC no problem. House in Austin, three young kids, wife who stepped back from her career to handle the family chaos. Got cut in the latest restructure wave. Now he's watching the savings bleed out at $5,800+ a month just to keep the lights on and the kids fed. Mortgage, daycare for the toddler, school supplies, two car notes, health insurance COBRA kicking in soon. He crunched the numbers stone-cold: maybe four months before it's game over. He was always the loud one in the group—bragging about the stock grants, the remote flex, how Big Tech was bulletproof forever. Last night on the call he was quiet. Shaky. Admitted he's waking up at 3 a.m. staring at the ceiling thinking about what happens when the account hits zero. He's blasting applications. 250+ out the door. A couple recruiter DMs that fizzle. Screens that end with "we'll be in touch" and then silence. The market is ice-cold and every job posting gets 500+ applicants overnight. He said flat-out: "We thought we had it figured out. House, kids' college funds starting, vacations planned. Now I'm refreshing job boards at midnight wondering if we'll have to move in with my in-laws." You never think it'll be you. Until the access gets revoked, the calendar turns into a ghost town, and the mortgage statement shows up anyway. If you're still collecting fat TC at a FAANG or big tech shop thinking the golden handcuffs and network will always catch you… wake the fuck up. The runway disappears faster than you expect. DMs open if you're in the same spiral or watching someone you know crack under it. No judgment. Just real talk.

REINDUSTRIALIZE 3.0 WAITLIST NOW OPEN Where: Detroit, Michigan When: June 16–17 Be in the room where it happens👇