With AI tools like ChatGPT writing code, a lot of Irish students are asking the same question before filling in their CAO: is a Computer Science degree still worth it, or is the whole field about to be automated away?
The short answer is yes (but the reasons have changed). Here is what the data actually says.
What do CS graduates earn in Ireland?
Computer Science graduates from UCD start on around 35,000 and are earning close to 49,000 within five years. That is one of the stronger salary trajectories of any Irish degree.
Ireland's tech sector, home to the European headquarters of Google, Meta, Apple and Microsoft, means demand for CS graduates remains consistently high. These companies are not leaving Dublin anytime soon.
What about AI taking CS jobs?
This is the real question. AI is genuinely changing what software engineers do day to day. Tools like GitHub Copilot can write boilerplate code in seconds. But this has not reduced demand for developers. If anything, it has increased it.
What AI is replacing is the most repetitive, low-skill coding work. A CS degree teaches you how to think about systems, architecture and problem solving, none of which AI can replace yet.
The ROI numbers
For UCD Computer Science, the 5-year ROI is 462% with a payback period of just 1.1 years. That means you recover the full cost of your degree in just over a year of working.
That is one of the fastest payback periods of any Irish degree, faster than Medicine, Law and most Engineering courses.
Is it worth it for you?
CS is worth it if you are genuinely interested in building things. It is a bad choice if you are only doing it for the salary: the workload is heavy and AI is making the easy parts disappear, which means you need to be good at the hard parts.
If you enjoy problem solving and can see yourself working with technology every day, the Irish job market for CS graduates is about as strong as it gets.
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