During the 2010s, coding took the spotlight as one of the most desired skills in the job market. The coding craze spread quickly, with parents badgering their kids to drop the English major and opt for a STEM degree. Even former President Barack Obama urged people to learn to code; Obama also became the first president to write a line of code as part of the “Hour of Code”—an online event to promote Computer Science Education Week.
On the flip side of this phenomenon, English and liberal arts majors became subjects of scrutiny, some dubbing them “barista” degrees in the belief that pursuing those majors would inevitably confine one to a job at a coffee shop, assuming such degrees have limited career prospects.
