Like cable television, Labubu dolls, and kids shouting “6-7,” computer science degrees may be slowly but surely going out of style with young people. However, tech leaders aren’t too worried about how they will lure future employees just yet.

The popularity of computer science degrees, once viewed as a ticket to a high-paying job, has seemingly begun to falter in recent years. Late last year, a Computing Research Association pulse survey, based on respondents from 130 academic institutions, found enrollment in bachelor’s degree programs for computing fell 62% in the 2025–2026 school year from the previous year. Meanwhile, data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that enrollment in similar programs fell 3.6% at Planning Accreditation Board-accredited undergraduate institutions in Fall 2025.

Dave Lewis, 1Password’s global advisory CISO, told IT Brew the new hesitancy among students is driven by the rise of AI and its disruptions to the labor market.

“They’re a little bit reticent to get into comp sci because they don’t know that they’re actually going to have a career,” Lewis said.

What changed?—BM

Remember the ol’ toilet paper shortage of 2020? Some IT pros are reliving that conundrum—except this time, instead of two-ply rolls, they are struggling to find storage devices.

As AI companies and data-center builders continue to gobble up available storage and high-bandwidth memory for training the latest AI models, IT pros shopping around for hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), and RAM are seeing higher prices and a crunch in availability.

The big short. Executives from WD (formerly Western Digital), and Seagate, the two players with the most market share in the HDD industry, recently disclosed on their respective quarterly earnings calls that they have sold out HDD units for the 2026 calendar year.

Freezing out.—BM

For IT pros, proving that you’ve developed the skills necessary to understand and work with AI may be a leg up on the competition in a volatile job market.

AI certifications can help you prove your skills—but they’re not everything. Some experts argue that showing your ability to learn is arguably more important, as is work experience.

Signs, signs. Sam Ransbotham, professor of business analytics at Boston College, told IT Brew that he sees AI certifications as just one indicator of a prospective employee’s capabilities—and not even necessarily a particularly helpful one.

“Whatever you know today will immediately start to decay,” Ransbotham said. “With AI, that’s bound to be a bit faster than even some of the fast-moving technologies we’ve seen in the past.”

Take the portal to more action.—EH

Attackers are increasingly going after vendors instead of enterprises directly. Here’s why plug-ins and fourth-party relationships can weaken security—and what IT teams should review.