Is coding dead? This professor doesn't think so
Seattle Now
KUOW News and Information
4.7 • 670 Ratings
🗓️ 25 November 2025
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, we have an episode from our friends at Booming. In a recent episode, they reported how young people are choosing trade school over college out of fear of white-collar jobs drying up. Companies appear to be making big bets that AI can replace huge chunks of their workforces. It seems like “go to trade school” has become the new “learn to code.”
But Dan Grossman, professor and vice director of the UW's Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering -- says the outlook isn’t so bleak for students who still want a career in tech.
On today's episode: Are reports of AI driving a “white collar bloodbath” greatly exaggerated?
Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Support comes from the Gates Foundation Discovery Center's Giving Marketplace, December 5th and 6th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with holiday gifts from over 30 vendors and proceeds supporting local and global causes, art making, activities, and more for all ages. More at discovergates.org slash giving marketplace. |
| 0:20.2 | On the latest sound politics, the election of a Democratic socialist as mayor of Seattle has made |
| 0:25.4 | national headlines. |
| 0:26.7 | But the story we haven't heard is how she won the moment Katie Wilson decided to enter the race |
| 0:31.8 | against an incumbent who had racked up every endorsement in the book and how progressives |
| 0:36.1 | plan to build an enduring coalition in a city |
| 0:38.5 | with a famously fickle electorate. We take a look behind the scenes of Katie Wilson's campaign |
| 0:43.4 | with the people who ran it on the latest sound politics wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:53.2 | Hey, good morning. I'm Patricia Murphy. It's Tuesday. This is Seattle Now. Today we're sharing a recent |
| 1:00.2 | favorite episode from our friends on the booming podcast. You may have heard their episode on how |
| 1:05.4 | tons of young people are choosing trade school over college out of fear of white-collar jobs drying up. |
| 1:12.3 | Now, another story on uncertainty in the white-collar workforce. |
| 1:16.7 | Companies appear to be making big bets that AI can replace huge chunks of their workforces. |
| 1:22.8 | It seems like go-to-trade school has become the new Learned to Code. |
| 1:26.3 | But Dan Grossman, professor and vice director of the University of Washington's Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, |
| 1:34.2 | says the outlook isn't so bleak for students who still want a career in tech. |
| 1:39.3 | On today's episode, are reports of AI driving a white collar blood bath greatly exaggerated? |
| 1:45.9 | Here's Monica Nicholsburg. |
| 1:52.5 | Did you get it to Stanford? |
| 1:54.2 | Yeah, and this is totally going to get my dad off my back, and they said they liked my story. |
| 1:59.3 | So I'm going to take a CS class there. |
| 2:02.2 | And they're so nice. |
... |
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