Replit CEO: Don’t Study CS Just for a Google Payday
▼ Summary
– Replit CEO Amjad Masad advises young people not to study computer science solely for money, comparing genuine interest to being “drawn to it like a fly drawn to a light.”
– Masad notes that CS became a “hyped up” subject after the early 2000s, causing college departments to expand as people pursued it for easy money, but AI has changed this dynamic.
– He states that interested individuals can still contribute to tech through machine learning and AI, working at big labs or companies like Replit.
– Masad emphasizes that fundamentals like data structures and algorithms will remain relevant, and tech will always need people who understand CS “underpinnings.”
– Affirm CEO Max Levchin and AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton affirm that a CS degree remains valuable, with Levchin calling good code “an art” and Hinton describing CS as “a wonderful major to learn systems thinking.”
Pursuing a computer science degree solely for a high-paying job at a tech giant is a mistake, according to Replit CEO Amjad Masad. In a recent appearance on the “20VC” podcast, Masad argued that students should only enter the field if they have a genuine, intrinsic passion for the subject.
“If you don’t feel like you’re drawn to it like a fly drawn to a light, then don’t go into it because someone told you you’re going to make a boatload of money working for Google,” Masad said. He called it “pretty dumb” to encourage people into computer science without a real interest in the material.
Masad cofounded Replit in 2016, originally as an integrated coding environment. The company has since evolved into an AI-agent-driven application builder, competing with major players like Microsoft’s GitHub, Cursor, and vibe-coding platforms such as Lovable and Emergent. Replit is backed by prominent investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue, and Y Combinator.
On the podcast, Masad noted that in the early 2000s, people entered computer science because they were fascinated by computers and programming. Over time, however, the field became “hyped up,” and college CS departments “exploded” as it became the easiest path to financial success. With the rise of AI, that dynamic has shifted.
“Now, if you’re interested in it, there’s still ways to contribute. You could get into ML and AI and go work at the big labs or a company like ours,” he said, referencing machine learning. He emphasized that even as AI models advance, core concepts like data structures and algorithms will remain essential. The tech industry will always need people who understand the “underpinnings” of computer science.
A ‘wonderful major’
Masad is not alone in defending the value of a CS education. Venture capitalist and Affirm CEO Max Levchin said earlier this month that writing good code is an art that AI cannot replace.
“I don’t think the LLMs are going to naturally always deliver beautifully crafted, elegant, and yet scientifically correct code,” Levchin said on a podcast. He added, “As a programmer, without having a solid foundation in computer science, I wouldn’t be able to have that.”
AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton echoed this sentiment in a December interview with Business Insider. While acknowledging that AI is automating some coding tasks, Hinton stressed that a CS degree remains valuable. “Many people think a CS degree is just programming or something,” Hinton said. “There’s a lot more to coding than writing the code. Computer science is a wonderful major to learn systems thinking.”
(Source: Business Insider)