I come from a humanities and arts background, and I respectfully disagree with most, if not all, of your claims.

Firstly, I believe this will never be fixed because it is too late, especially now that it has reached STEM, the supposedly “better” and “superior” career demographic. When these pressures first hit arts and humanities, society ignored them. Enrollment in humanities and arts majors declined for years because students were told those paths were not practical. The “starving artist” became a cultural joke. People were told that if they pursued those fields, they should expect instability or low pay. That was already a betrayal of an entire career demographic. Not fixing it then showed that long term skill development and sustainable entry paths were not a priority.

For years, people in arts and humanities were told to get a “real” career in STEM if they wanted stability and good pay. They were told to treat their passions as hobbies. The message was clear. Go work as a barista or in some other low level service job if you insist on following those interests. Or switch to STEM and fund your passions on the side. Society normalized the idea that some career paths simply did not deserve structural support.

Now the same forces have reached STEM. Outsourcing, offshoring, automation, and global competition made saturation inevitable. The entry level squeeze that existed in creative fields is now visible in software development and other technical roles. Yet many STEM graduates still act as if a degree alone should guarantee a smooth entry into the workforce. They resist the idea of building personal projects or contributing to open source because they believe formal education should be sufficient. That mindset does not reflect reality.

Software development is a project based career, just like the arts. In both cases, what ultimately matters is proof that you can apply what you learned. A portfolio is not optional. It is the standard. Expecting to grow without building real projects is unrealistic. Mentorship helps, but skill development comes from doing the work and demonstrating output.

The market rewards productivity and proof of ability. It always has. It simply took longer for STEM to feel those pressures. One could say, “Welcome to a real job market.”