America is currently in the midst of one of the most competitive job markets our nation has ever seen, with hundreds of thousands of graduates entering into an economy that simply cannot provide jobs for all those who are seeking them. According to projections made by researchers at Georgetown University, there will be more than 54 million job openings in the United States over the next decade. Yet, at least a third of those positions will go unfilled because there simply won’t be enough skilled workers to fill them.
Though a shortage of skilled laborers is a problem for just about every industry in our nation, few fields are feeling the crunch quite as hard as the world of technology. Companies in Silicon Valley and across the globe are in desperate need of talented programmers, engineers, and other advanced-skills graduates from colleges like San Francisco Bay University to fill jobs that often offer six-figure salaries with benefits packages worth tens of thousands more.
The good news is that there currently seems to be a surplus of Americans who are ready, willing, and able to pursue careers in the technology field. The bad news? Many of those people lack the education needed to secure high-paying, high-skill jobs as software engineers, designers, and other such roles.
According to figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics ( BLS ), about 770,000 people with bachelor’s degrees or higher were working in computer and information technology-related occupations in 2010. Unfortunately, that number is less than half of what employers were seeking at the time. In fact, the BLS expects to see more than 1.4 million people with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math ( STEM ) enter into their jobs over the next five years alone.
The good news is that the aforementioned STEM jobs are among some of the best options out there for students looking to secure gainful, long-term employment in an ever-growing sector of our economy. The bad news? There’s a lot more competition for those types of jobs than ever before. And while having a degree in one of the following STEM fields will go a long way toward ensuring that you’re one of the first people considered for an open position at your company of choice, having additional skills can help differentiate you from the pack even further.
For this reason, we’ve taken a look at the most in-demand STEM degrees and put together a list of the best college majors for 2022. Students who earn degrees from one of these programs will have an excellent chance of finding work in their fields upon graduation, while others who enroll in these kinds of programs may find it easier to transition into the tech industry at some point down the road.
Now graduated from college and working as a software engineer at Google, Megan Smith once said that “finding something you love is key” to an engaging career. This sentiment remains true today. Students who are thinking about pursuing one of these degrees should first take some time to think about what they’re really passionate about, then do their research to find the program that will help them develop the skills and experience they’ll need to turn their dreams into a reality.