A Princeton PhD Applied to 2,300 Jobs. He Still Can't Get One

The discussion was overwhelmingly about the opacity of hiring, the limits of elite academic credentials, and whether the profile leaves out decisive information such as interview performance, referrals, or a poorly targeted application strategy. It barely engaged with AI itself. The one clear AI-related thread treated the market for AI and machine-learning researchers as a sharp exception to the broader STEM slowdown: readers argued that firms still compete fiercely for proven AI talent, with senior researchers commanding extraordinarily high compensation. That contrast mattered because it undercut any simple reading of the story as evidence that every advanced technical degree has lost its value. Commenters implied that a prestigious doctorate alone is not interchangeable with scarce, commercially valuable AI/ML expertise. But they did not establish whether the job seeker had relevant machine-learning skills, publications, or industry experience, so the AI comparison remained illustrative rather than diagnostic. No one debated model quality, safety, training methods, or AI products; the AI angle was strictly about labor demand and the premium placed on specialized researchers. The thread therefore offers little basis for judging AI sentiment beyond recognition that frontier AI hiring remains unusually lucrative and selective.