Should You Still Become a Software Engineer?: A Hiring Manager's Honest Guide to AI, Degrees, Career Changes, and Your First Tech Job

By Charles McQuain

One junior opening I hired for would regularly draw 500 to 800 applicants. I hired from that pile anyway. If you're deciding whether to go into software, you need both of those facts.

You've seen the headlines. AI writes the code. Nobody hires juniors. The degree is a waste. Some of that is true, some of it is a number read against the wrong year, and none of it is a decision. This book helps you make one.

I'm a senior software engineer. I came in late and sideways: ten years in retail, four in IT support, a master's done on nights and weekends, a first engineering job in 2019. Since then I've been a tech lead and an engineering manager, and I've hired more entry-level engineers than engineers at any other level. I haven't written code by hand in about two years, and I'm still employed. The book explains how both of those can be true, and what it means for someone starting now.

By the end you'll be able to:

Read a frightening jobs number with five questions, and see what it actually counted
Tell apart the task AI took over, the small job category that's shrinking, and the job that isn't
Decide whether the work fits you, with a worksheet you date and redo
Compare a bachelor's, a master's, a bootcamp, and teaching yourself on cost, time, and risk
Learn with AI tools without losing the ability to think without them
Turn projects into evidence a stranger can check in two minutes
Run a job search and an interview built for the market that exists now
Plan your first three years once you're in

Every number carries its date and source. Opinions are labelled as opinions. One of the three outcomes the book respects is "not this, and be at peace with that."

What it doesn't do: promise you a job, a salary, or safety from automation. Nobody honest can.

Six reading paths at the front: choosing a major, already enrolled, graduated and searching, changing careers, working next to software already, or the parent, teacher, or counselor helping someone decide. There's a page written for the person helping pay, and a worksheet counselors may photocopy. Nobody needs all thirteen chapters. Find your path and start there.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HKGN74BD
• ISBN13: 9798175926447
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 142 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.4" x 6.0"