Latest news with #JonathanKim
South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
As AI eliminates entry-level software engineering roles, coding boot camps are on decline
Jonathan Kim, a would-be US software engineer, began his job search over 50 weeks ago, tracking his efforts on a spreadsheet. He applied for more than 600 software engineering jobs. Six companies replied. Two gave him a technical screening. None have made him an offer. That was not the plan when Kim paid nearly US$20,000 in 2023 for an intensive part-time coding boot camp he thought would equip him to land a software engineering job. 'They sold a fake dream of a great job market,' said Kim, 29, who works at his uncle's ice cream shop in Los Angeles while continuing his job search. Without a college degree, he believes his chances are low, but boosts his résumé by contributing to open-source software projects. 'I see so much doom and gloom throughout everything,' he said. 'It's hard to stay positive.' Kim decided to attend the coding boot camp just as artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT were taking off. By the time he graduated in 2024, AI – which started off with simple party tricks like writing poems – was on its way to reshaping the economy, with perhaps its most significant impact in coding. It began eliminating the kind of entry-level developer roles that boot camps have traditionally filled, in what has been dubbed one of the fastest job shifts in any profession ever.
Reuters
3 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
From bootcamp to bust: How AI is upending the software development industry
Jonathan Kim, a would-be U.S. software engineer, began his job search over 50 weeks ago, tracking his efforts on a spreadsheet. He applied for more than 600 software engineering jobs. Six companies replied. Two gave him a technical screening. None have made him an offer. That was not the plan when Kim paid nearly $20,000 in 2023 for an intensive part-time coding bootcamp he thought would equip him to land a software engineering job. 'They sold a fake dream of a great job market,' said Kim, 29, who works at his uncle's ice cream shop in Los Angeles while continuing his job search. Without a college degree, he believes his chances are low, but boosts his resume by contributing to open-source software projects. 'I see so much doom and gloom throughout everything,' he said. 'It's hard to stay positive.' Kim decided to attend the coding bootcamp just as artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT were taking off. By the time he graduated in 2024, AI — which started off with simple party tricks like writing poems — was on its way to reshaping the economy, with perhaps its most significant impact in coding. It began eliminating the kind of entry-level developer roles that bootcamps have traditionally filled, in what has been dubbed one of the fastest job shifts in any profession, ever. Coding bootcamps have been a Silicon Valley mainstay for over a decade, offering an important pathway for non-traditional candidates to get six-figure engineering jobs. But coding bootcamp operators, students and investors tell Reuters that this path is rapidly disappearing, thanks in large part to AI. 'Coding bootcamps were already on their way out, but AI has been the nail in the coffin,' said Allison Baum Gates, a general partner at venture capital fund SemperVirens, who was an early employee at bootcamp pioneer General Assembly. Gates said bootcamps were already in decline due to market saturation, evolving employer demand and market forces like growth in international hiring. At the Codesmith bootcamp Kim attended, just 37% of students in the 2023 part-time program secured full-time technical jobs within six months of graduating, down from 83% in the second half of 2021, according to the Council on Integrity in Results Reporting, which aims to make education outcomes transparent. Codesmith acknowledged the industry-wide challenges graduates face. "Today's market is tough," it told Reuters in a statement, while noting that it continues to offer lifetime hiring support to its alumni. 'This is the story of one graduate out of over 4,000,' the company said, adding that 70.1% of those enrolled in its full-time program secured in-field employment within a year of graduation. It is unsurprising that coding is the prime example of generative AI's prowess. Unlike more subjective tasks like writing jokes, code either works or doesn't. This black-and-white distinction makes it the perfect subject matter for training AI models. In addition, a wealth of coding examples provides widely available training data. With AI now excelling at coding, entry-level coding jobs have shrunk. Signalfire, a venture capital firm that tracks tech hiring, said in a May 2025 report that new grad hiring has dropped 50% from pre-pandemic levels in 2019. AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs in the next one to five years, Dario Amodei, CEO of AI developer Anthropic, recently told Axios. Nowhere is that collapse more evident than in the coding bootcamp industry. Bootcamps began to appear around 2011 in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Demand for software engineers was growing, and many workers were eager to retrain for high-paying technology jobs. Dev Bootcamp, launched in 2012, was among the first to offer courses on web development coding languages such as JavaScript and Ruby. In an intensive 19-week program, attendees would learn during the day and practice nights and weekends. Competitors soon emerged, and by 2018, in-person bootcamps in the U.S. and Canada had mushroomed to nearly 100. As companies started to embrace diversity hiring goals, they found partners such as the women's coding bootcamp Hackbright, said Michael Novati, co-founder of Formation Dev, which helps experienced engineers prepare for job interviews. Diversity hiring is no longer a priority for tech companies, he said. While the entry-level software engineering job market has collapsed, the opposite is true for experienced AI researchers who create generative AI models and now command staggering pay packages, with bonuses up to $100 million a year, thanks to an escalating talent war driven by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. AI company valuations are soaring as well, though their employee footprints remain small. Anysphere, the company behind coding tool Cursor, has a valuation of $10 billion and about 150 U.S.-based employees, according to its LinkedIn profile. OpenAI, with a few thousand employees, is valued at $300 billion. Novati said this trend represents a return to the traditional model of recruiting primarily from elite universities, a system bootcamps were created to disrupt. The top-tier Silicon Valley companies are doubling down on these classic ideas of using signal from universities to vet the smartest people in society,' he said. 'They're sending their recruiters to MIT and Stanford and wining and dining the top students.' Codesmith founder Will Sentence said he is changing the school's curriculum to meet the AI shift, including developing an AI technical leadership program to help mid-career software engineers learn to use AI. For bootcamp graduates like Kim, this offers little comfort. He expects to continue working at the ice cream shop for the foreseeable future, and has expanded his job search beyond software engineering. 'I had some friends that went through a bootcamp that were able to find jobs, but that was during the golden era of 2020,' he said. 'Had my timing been better, I think the outcome would have been different.'
USA Today
17-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
The five best transfers in Michigan State football history
The five best transfers in Michigan State football history The transfer portal has become synonymous with college sports these days, with schools starting to look at the portal like free agency, almost. It's become imperative to be able to find high-level talent in the portal. Michigan State football hasn't had a ton of high-profile transfers, but the ones who have hit, have hit well. We put together our list of the top five transfers in school history below, and interestingly, three of them, and both honorable mentions, transferred to MSU before the quote-unquote transfer portal era truly began. Honorable Mentions Keith Nichol Keith Nichol might not have put up the biggest numbers in the world, but the former Oklahoma quarterback recruit was responsible for some of the biggest plays in MSU history and earns a mention on this list. DeAndra' Cobb DeAndra' Cobb made the All-American team for his spectacular kick return skills, of which he returned four kickoffs for touchdowns in his career, one shy of the Big Ten record. He still holds the MSU record for three kickoff returns for touchdowns in one season. 5. Jonathan Kim You probably didn't think you'd see a special teams player on this, huh? Well, Jonathan Kim won't be the last, but he is the first we'll talk about. Jonathan Kim was a major success story for Michigan State. Coming in and setting a school record and making the All-Big Ten team was very impressive for a kicker who was largely resigned to kickoffs at North Carolina, and he earned himself this spot. 4. Domata Peko Domata Peko was playing NFL football as recently as 2020. That's pretty insane considering he was a John L. Smith recruit, transferring in from the College of the Canyons. Peko was a beloved Spartan and sneakily one of the better MSU alumni in the NFL in recent history. 3. Bryce Baringer Now, we get to the second special teams player on our list, and it's a doozy. Bryce Baringer isn't just a good punter, he is the best punter in school history, which is saying something, because MSU has had some great ones over the years. I almost forgot that he started his career at Illinois, but thankfully, he made his way up to East Lansing, and the rest is history. 2. Jayden Reed Before Jayden Reed became one of the most exciting players in the NFL, he started his career, believe it or not, at Western Michigan. His transfer to MSU was one of the last great acts from legendary MSU coach Mark Dantonio. Reed made two All-Big Ten teams before heading to the next level. 1. Kenneth Walker III Was there ever a doubt who was number one on this list? Kenneth Walker III isn't just the best transfer in MSU history, he is one of the best transfers in modern NCAA football history. Disgruntled Michigan State fans will still tell you that the man they called K9 should have been the Heisman Trophy winner that year, and if he wasn't banged up by the time the Spartans played Ohio State, who knows what could have happened that year. It's one of the great what-ifs in MSU history. Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Andrew Brewster on Twitter @IAmBrewster.
USA Today
11-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Five questions facing Michigan State football heading into 2025 season
Five questions facing Michigan State football heading into 2025 season Michigan State football is about to enter Jonathan Smith's second year as head coach of the team. The Spartans had a disappointing season in 2024, going 5-7 in Smith's first season, and will be looking to rebound behind former top recruit and starting quarterback Aidan Chiles, along with a restocked roster of young players and transfers. Below, we took a look at five questions that will be facing MSU football going into the season: 1. Is Aidan Chiles elite? In 2024, Aidan Chiles showed that he has a huge arm, speed, and plays with a lot of fearlessness. He also threw 11 interceptions and fumbled the ball four times. We all know that ball control, especially in college football, is paramount and a big part of what separates a talented quarterback and an elite one. You can make all the flashy plays, but if you are turning it over at that rate, you aren't breaking into that 'elite' category. Chiles will need to limit the negative plays and increase the positive ones and truly become the elite quarterback he has the potential to be if this team wants to reach its ceiling. 2. Will the offensive line hold up? It can be argued that the offensive line was the biggest weakness last year for the Spartans. This year, MSU has reloaded with some very interesting transfers: Luka Vincic, Matt Gulbin and Conner Moore. They will also be getting Kris Phillips and Ashton Lepo back from injury, and Stanton Ramil will be a redshirt sophomore and should continue to improve with another offseason under his belt. That all begs the question: Will the offensive line hold up? The running backs' room is almost entirely new faces, and Aidan Chiles will need a chance to make some plays. MSU's offensive line will be one of the biggest stories of the season. 3. Can MSU generate a pass rush? Not to beat a dead horse, but Michigan State's pass rush was not good last year. In fact, a lot of the time it felt like they didn't even have a pass rush at all. The Spartans' leading rusher was Khris Bogle with four sacks. Their second leading pass rusher was a linebacker, Jordan Turner, who had a whopping three sacks. MSU used to be known for their defense, and they will need to find some pass rush because the Big Ten isn't getting any easier. 4. Does MSU have enough depth to weather injuries? No team wants to prepare for injuries, but a lot of times, a college football season becomes a war of attrition and you need to be able to weather the storm. While the Spartans have added some nice pieces this offseason through the portal, they are still a little thin at some positions and if there is an injury, it will be interesting to see how they handle that. 5. Is Martin Connington ready to take over for Jonathan Kim? Is it crazy to say that Jonathan Kim was MSU's best weapon last year? In a year where the Spartans' offense often sputtered, Jonathan Kim was a bright spot, hitting over 90-percent of his field goals. Heck, Jonathan Kim basically won the Iowa game by himself, hitting a school record six field goals against the Hawkeyes, including a 55-yard bomb. While kickers aren't the usual position of note in the offseason, the Spartans are now replacing Kim, one of the best kickers in school history, with a freshman, Martin Connington. While Connington is coming in with a lot of hype (a top ten kicker in his class), he is being asked to replace a lot of production, and I suspect this team will need to be able to take those supposedly easy points when they can get them. Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Andrew Brewster on Twitter @IAmBrewster.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
How many Michigan State football players signed as NFL undrafted free agents?
Michigan State football had one player selected in the NFL draft, offensive lineman Luke Newman going in the sixth round to the Chicago Bears. He was the only Spartan taken in the three-day, seven-round, 257-pick draft that wrapped up Saturday in Green Bay, Wisconsin. However, two former MSU players who left the program also got drafted: defensive tackle Derrick Harmon (Oregon) was taken by Pittsburgh in the first round with the No. 21 pick, and wide receiver Ricky White (UNLV), who was the star of MSU's win over Michigan in 2020 before transferring to UNLV, went to Seattle in the seventh round. Advertisement But the draft isn't the only path to a pro football future. Here is a look at another MSU player who is attempting to make the NFL as an undrafted free agent. Jonathan Kim, K: Chicago Bears Michigan State's Jonathan Kim makes a field goal against Iowa in the second quarter on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. The North Carolina transfer, who handled place-kicking and kickoff duty at MSU for the past two seasons, signed with the Bears and will join Newman in the Windy City. Kim earned second-team All-Big Ten last season after making 19 of his 21 field-goal attempts (90.5%), with a career-high six in the Spartans' win over Iowa on Oct. 19, the most in a single game in the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2024 and also a modern-day Big Ten and MSU single-game record. Advertisement In 2023, the native of Fredericksburg, Virginia, was an All-Big Ten honorable mention after making 13-of-18 field goal attempts (72.2%), which included a 58-yarder at Iowa that is a Kinnick Stadium record and the fourth-longest field goal in MSU history. Contact Chris Solari: csolari@ Follow him @chrissolari. Subscribe to the "Spartan Speak" podcast for new episodes weekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State undrafted free agents: Tracking signings for Spartans
