The tech hiring rules have changed. A Silicon Valley founder explains what’s actually working for young talent in the AI eraThe text message that stopped Xiaoyin Qu mid-scroll wasn’t from a recruiter or a VC. It was from a friend — Stanford CS degree in hand — asking if she knew anyone hiring interns.“A few years ago, that would’ve sounded absurd,” says Qu, a Stanford dropout, former Meta product manager, and founder of two venture-backed startups. “Today, friends are texting me asking if I know anyone hiring interns. The resumes? Stanford. MIT. Top-tier CS. All struggling.”For students betting their futures on a computer science degree from a brand-name university, that’s a wake-up call worth taking seriously.The Old Safety Net Has a Hole in ItFor years, a CS degree from a top school was practically a job guarantee. Signing bonuses, exploding offers, recruiters camped outside campus career fairs — it was a seller’s market for students.That market has quietly collapsed. Big tech pulled back sharply on junior hiring. Meta reduced intern and entry-level intake. OpenAI, despite its sky-high profile, mostly recruits senior and specialist talent. The message filtering down to campuses: the credential alone no longer closes the deal.“Most companies aren’t adding headcount,” Qu notes. “They’re trying to extract more productivity from existing teams.”But Some 22-Year-Olds Are Getting Paid More Than Senior EngineersWhile many graduates are stuck, a smaller group of young tech workers is thriving — not despite the AI disruption, but because of it. Qu has watched them closely, and she says the separating factor isn’t where they went to school.“The credential filter is weakening. Proof of execution is replacing pedigree,” she says.What does that look like in practice? These are students who publish research before they graduate, ship real products — not just coursework — and show up to hackathons ready to compete. One 19-year-old won xAI’s hackathon and was hired by Elon Musk on the spot. “AI companies are looking for people who explore, build, and execute fast,” Qu says. “Hackathons are becoming live auditions.”The Build-in-Public PlaybookThere’s a third lane gaining traction that no campus career centre has fully caught up with yet: building in public. Young technologists who document their work online, explain AI tools, and grow an audience are landing roles in marketing and developer relations at AI companies — sometimes over candidates with years of traditional experience.“If you can use AI well and communicate clearly, you’re suddenly more valuable than someone with a decade of silent experience,” Qu says.What Students Should Actually DoFor students watching their senior peers struggle, Qu’s advice is blunt: stop waiting to be picked.“The old playbook was: get the degree and wait to be picked. The new playbook is: build, ship, compete, publish.”The gap between those who can’t find jobs and those fielding multiple premium offers, she says, has never been wider — and it has very little to do with GPA.Xiaoyin Qu is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree, former product lead at Facebook and Instagram, and founder of Run The World, a virtual events platform acquired in 2023.
