I recently got accepted to a Software Engineering bachelor's degree. Since then idk why my feed on social media was full of "software engineers not being real engineers", that a bachelors in Computer Science is way better, etc. So I've been a bit worried.

A bit of my background: Right now I have a business where we help other businesses automate their processes with AI (basically just using no-code tools to plug APIs/webhooks with different software and ofc OpenAI's API) I like it, but I found that some client projects require actual code and coincidentally I was wanting to switch careers (from 3D animation, I picked this because meh) and now I had a real purpose to pursue software engineering. So I applied and got accepted. Ideally I want my business to grow so I can start building cool stuff and this degree will help, but I also want to have a job as a software engineer, which is why I picked that degree. But some people also mention to pick CS because it's broader and if I change my mind and don't wanna be a SWE anymore I could branch out to other job types. So what if I want to be a machine learning engineer or AI engineer (I think these are also pretty cool but I'm more interested in the hands-down building stuff so I prefer SWE, but who know, maybe I could change my mind in the future), would I still be able to easily switch with a bachelor's in software engineering? Do hiring people really prefer CS grads over SWE grads?

Classes start on September, I already paid for the first month (non refundable, parents paid and my business doesnt make a lot so if I decide to change I cant pay my parent back) so this puts some stress on me if I made the right decision.

I would appreciate any answers. My english is cheesy. Thanks!

Hey all...want to hear some outside advice from people in a bunch of tech subs. I know this sub is mostly for Computer Science related stuff but I know pay gets talked about a bunch here.

I'm in a predicament here. I am currently a junior sysadmin. I just got offered a 60% increase from my current salary at another company.

My thing is, I will most likely be learning less stuff at the new job, with not as many tools to play it, and will probably stunt my learning growth with on the job stuff. I would need to work very hard off the clock to keep up with skills and learning new ones, especially if I want to go higher than sysadmin (which I want to do asap).

Current job, I get underpaid. Im salary and still put in 12 hour days pretty much all the time. I knew that once I took the promotion to junior sysadmin. But saying that, this is a much bigger company that i currently work for, with more access to new tools, more projects, stuff of that nature, so im nervous that I wont be learning as much at the new place than now.

What do you guys think? Stay? Or go? Obviously the $$$ will help me out TREMENDOUSLY, but I am super worried about plateauing at the new job quickly.

Whoever reads this, thank you very much for taking ur time to read it!

I am about to come up on the 2 year mark at my first software engineering/devOps job. Although I like my current job a lot and could happily stay for another year, I thought it may be time for at least applying and seeing whats out there.

Many jobs I see have specific requirements such as Azure, AWS for DevOps jobs or C# .Net etc for software engineering. Currently at my role I have mostly worked automating processes with Python and Bash, creating pipelines using Docker and Jenkins, just started using Kubernetes but not enough to put it on my CV yet. I also spent the first 2/3 months getting trained in web dev (Spring boot, javascript etc) but as I never touched this stuff again I don't feel confident putting on my CV.

So my main questions are really:

1. Is it time to start training myself on gaps being missed by my current work (AWS for example) or look to learn these at a new job that actually uses them?

2. Should I just start applying to jobs where I don't hit all the requirements anyway?

3. Although I like DevOps work I would also like moving into a more standard software engineering role, how is this possible when there is never a chance for me to use C# .Net or any stacks/languages other than python and some C at my current job?

Excerpt from my CV:

Software Engineer, Company, 2022 – Present

• Completed an intensive training course in C development for embedded systems.

• Transitioned to a DevOps role, leveraging automation tools to streamline development processes.

• Created and maintained CI/CD pipelines utilizing Jenkins and Docker, reducing release time and allowing for automated testing.

• Designed and contributed to inhouse Python/Bash packages used by hundreds of developers across Company and Parent Company, enhancing version control with Git and optimizing Docker container use.

• Developed Ansible playbooks for server configurations, improving configuration consistency and reliability.

• Created an employee database using MySQL and Django to store systems accessed by each employee, improving security by streamlining offboarding.

Hello, for the past two years I've been in college trying to get a degree in Software Engineering or Computer Science because I want to get into Web/App Development. I recently dropped out though because I couldn't even get through precalculus in two years (yes even with tutoring 😓), and I would need to pass very complicated math classes to get either of those degrees. I got all A's in my CS classes though! I thought those degrees were the only way I could get a job in web/app dev, but recently I was told I can get a job in that field with degrees that compliment it (like marketing or graphic design) as well as certifications/classes in programming. I have had a passion for programming and web/app development since high school, and I think I would really enjoy going into that field! I just really really struggle with math...

I asked my dad if getting a marketing degree and some programming/cs certifications would help me get a job in web/app development. He's a principal engineer and has been programming for yearsss so I thought he would know best. He kind of scoffed and said that won't work- he said that I need to just keep studying math and get a computer science degree- and if i cant do math i should change career paths. He told me to change career paths before hence why I dropped out (to figure out what i want to do instead)

I'm confused... should listen to my dad or can I go back to school and change my major to marketing + get certifications?

I work at a big 500 corp that isn’t a tech company but I came from a smaller tech company that used things like jira and followed a somewhat normal SDLC.

My current job the processes are much more bureaucratic. We don’t have access to ssh into the dev environment and we aren’t allowed to run the sql we write on these environments either. I’m really struggling at times to work here as there are always roadblocks. For example today today I had to create request tickets to simply look up what an application properties is set to. I then had to explain what the properties was for each service because serviceName.client.secretkey was to confusing to understand as a pattern to apply for each service. At my old job I could just ping someone to get something like that.

Does the above sound normal for a big company that isn’t a software engineering focused company. I’ve been here for a year and a half and this is my second job in software. I’m struggling at this place because of all the misunderstandings and I’m not sure if it’s the environment or me. I’m honestly trying really hard but I feel like I have nobody to rely on. My manager in our 1-1 the other day told me not to rely on testers and that I’m making too many mistakes.

TLDR; idk wtf is going on right now, man

I was lucky enough to move up within my former company to a software engineer position (3YOE), however it was more maintaining existing code and adding some functionality here and there. I’ve never actually built anything from the ground up.

After getting hit with the big LO and reading through other’s experience in the job market I feel like I need to build something fully from the ground up and get more in touch with the end to end process to actually get another job.

In the process of trying to build something and I can’t help but think “how tf was I able to get that job” because I feel like a caveman right now trying to get something off the ground.

But that’s my plan for right now. Build something and get a better foundation of how things work together and then leetcode. Hopefully, something clicks during the process and I’ll feel more comfortable applying again.

Just wanted to vent a little, so if you read through that, thank you. Any words of encouragement will also be monumental to my mental health.

Wish me luck. ☮️

I'm preparing for a big interview process within the next couple weeks - brainstorming ideas of how I could improve my answers for some of the common questions I've heard over the past year+ of unemployment. Eg:

"Talk about a time you had to make a difficult decision?"

While I've had recent contract projects to keep me afloat, there werent any real difficult decisions I had to make. But, I can think of a very recent coding test, where I made some decisions on my approach given a lot of ambiguity - the 'difficult' in this situation are all the external pressures - i got kids to feed, my finances are shit, which bill do i pay this month, I should have submitted this the other day like i said i would, etc

Given the length of my unemployment, the examples above, the ambiguity of some of the test's requirements - some design decisions had to be made at the risk of not moving to the final round/offer. "I know they'll see this, I hope they read the notes first, I hope they will give me a chance to talk in depth about this."

Would this be a good example to use? Or are they looking for an experience that involves actual work?

I’m not looking for any kind of “easy way.” I did well in all my classes but I messed around in college too much and I never gave my actual career a thought.

What should I do now and after graduation to prepare myself to get a job? I know I need to refine my LinkedIn, get a really impressive project going, and study leetcode. Is there anything else I should know?

I’m aware that the market is tough rn and I’m most likely not gonna find a job soon after graduating. I’d really just like some sort of direction. I live in the DC area if that affects anything

Hi all,

Recently, I was offered a summer internship position at ZTE, a telecommunications company.

Seeing as how I’m a Canadian student and have resided in Canada all my life, would this, as my first internship in computer science, turn some heads when being employed in Canada/America?

Seeing as how ZTE is not known to have job postings in North America, would it be clear that I worked internationally/was offered this position through personal links?

Moreover, how useful would this internship be for future tech internships in computer science — even if they are more related to software/programming?

I will be working in a pre-sales team in either the energy or wireless network divisions.

Hi all, I’ll try to keep this brief. I graduated with a BS CS in 2021 and got a job at Microsoft. Great pay, WFH, can’t complain. But I’m miserable. The job is not growing my engineering skills, and my day to day is mainly admin work with some dev tooling. It’s hard for me to do anything more than the minimum required. Not due to skill, but lack of motivation. I’ve had some great internships so my resume is strong but I can’t get a single interview elsewhere. Even internally. I know the market is awful right now, but I feel so stuck. I want to have a creative role, one that I can be proud of and give 110%. I would love to run my own business and make products that people love, but leaving behind this salary is a dealbreaker. For those of you that have been in similar positions, what do you recommend I do? Thanks :)

Hello!

I'm currently 1.5 years into my career, but I've been looking to move out of my country due to economic and deteriorating political conditions of my country. This is my second cycle of applying to US universities, and I've finally got an admission offer at a good public university. I've been praying to get an opportunity to finally leave, but now I am not sure I can do so easily given the circumstances.

Given the US market circumstances and my own current set of experience, I've been leaning towards the decision to defer my admission until the next year due to my financial reasons, but majorly due to my professional exposure so far - I believe I'm taking a very huge risk going into a recessive job market.

Currently, I'm really doing well. I've recently got into a new role where I finally have started to get exposure on things that I did not get in my last role (switched in Feb). I've gotten into a helpful and supportive environment. My team appreciates me. I have a very healthy relationship with my manager. I get paid well by the standards here and have currently a very stable life. Other than that, I live comfortably and don't have much to worry about that would cause me too much mental pressure.

I understand that going abroad is a risk which would help you grow, but given the circumstances, I don't really have faith leaving to first study for a 2 year degree, meanwhile trying to get part time roles in a unfamiliar market, society/culture - trying to simply maintain my life. Now, I honestly think that deferring my admission till the next year is a better choice, where by the time I finally leave, I'll leave with 3 YoE and have a better chance to get roles and opportunities more quickly.

There's also the factor that comes in with age.

I feel unsure. I believe I am taking a calculated risk move that will pay off by not going this year, and instead going the next year. I don't to delay moving by a lot, but this one year should be enough for me. During this time, I want to stick to one of a few things I have in mind, like freelancing or open source.

Any thoughts?

Thank you.

Hello! I received an offer for an internship this upcoming summer that I went into believing that I can graduate by Spring 2025. However, after being admitted to a different institution where I want to do my masters, my graduation was delayed to Spring 2026. I was aiming to receive a Full-Time return offer, but I would still love to receive a internship return offer if possible next year because I have loved my experience with the company, and it can be extra security for the next recruiting season.

Does anyone have experience or advice on how best to communicate to HR on changing the Full-time return offer into a return internship offer? I have seen other channels like Aman Manazir who have interned twice at the same company, and was wondering if anyone has any advice on how to do the same thing. Thanks!

-How many applications did you send?

-How long were you looking for work?

-This is the important one: If you feel something in your process gave you an edge, what was it?

-How much networking did you do?

-Where do you feel the job market for SWEs is headed?

-Any advice for an uncommon strategy that can help job seekers get noticed? A cold outreach strategy? Video cover letters? Publishing an ad for your SWE services in a local newspaper?

So I recently got a job offer for a remote software engineer position without even having an interview. I have no recollection of applying to this job as I can't find any email receipts of applying there. The recruiter did give me a bunch of screening test/interview questions to answer which I did respond back to, and he also said that they are moving forward with the final stage of the interview process tomorrow. But the very next day after sending the email of my responses, he just gave me a job offer acceptance email without even setting up a virtual interview?? I'm very skeptical lol this doesn't sound legit. Does this sound like a scam? Is there a way where I can confirm that the email domain is legit?

I was recently accepted into an MS in CSE program at an R1 university. I'm interested in getting a PhD broadly studying data science, ML, and social computing. I already have had two internship experiences as a SWE, but my thinking is that getting an internship as a research scientist would be great for my career and would help with moving on to my PhD.

Does anyone know it takes to get a research scientist/researcher intern positions? What companies hire the most? Do they usually require PhD's or are MS students also considered? Is a lot of previous experience required? For example, I've done some research in ML (one small arXiv paper) but mostly in social computing and have one paper published and another on the way -- is this enough to get a research intern position related to data science or ML? It seems a lot more daunting than getting a SWE internship. Are these positions more competitive than SWE? Lastly, is the hiring timeline the same as SWE internships, i.e., should I start looking in August onwards? Thanks!

There is a company, let's call it 'Company A,' and within this company, a startup is formed where I am hired. This startup is in its initial phase and is not yet on the market, and I receive my salary from the so called Company A.

So, I'm working for the startup and everything is normal, but my salary is coming from Company A, because the startup is incubated. My only connection to Company A is the fact that I get my salary from there.

If I want to put my experience on my LinkedIn, should I put the startup's name or the Company A's name where i get my salary from?

I’m 3.5 years into my career and debating going to grad school. I like the idea of going into AI but not sure if it is a smart move career-wise vs getting a degree in general software engineering. I took a class on AI in undergrad (CS major) and enjoyed it quite a bit. I appreciate any insight that you may offer!

Lol, they named their company FA*ANG. That is all.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/99488310

So my mental health has been really bad over the last few years, and its been paralyzing in a lot of ways over the last year. Work is the dominating factor that contributes towards this. I used to love my job, but org changes and top down pressure have made it a really toxic environment.

I have 8+ months of savings. I have 10 years of experience (the last 5 as an engineering manager and a larger tech company). I don't have kids or dependents.

Do any experienced folks in the field have any experience in this market? I hear a lot of complaints about it taking over a year to find a job, but I feel like that may be for entry level? I'm nervous about quitting without another option, but my mental health needs to be taken more seriously than I've probably been taking it. So I'm curious to hear what peoples experience has been.

I'm wondering what projects would be good for trying to get an internship. I've come across some posts from a few years ago but I'm wondering if there have been any big changes to the market recently. In addition, do companies favour certain types of projects over others? For example, could my resume be stacked with only games to get me an internship? I'm aware probably not but what other things would be more beneficial?

When companies were losing money it makes sense but I see many with high profit margins still thinning their workforce and threatening the remaining employees.

Something isn't adding up.

Long-term they either are making the prediction that they don't need people or that the economy is going to tank soon.

I feel so lost in this age of AI amidst all of the doomposting about the job market and what the future might hold for CS majors. I just finished my first year in uni and I'm extremely stressed out about whether or not I've chosen the correct career path. Do I chase prestige and money by going after the hottest new trends in tech like AI or ML, or go after a (somewhat) time-tested job like SWE? What should I even do to ensure that I have a stable job? Is that even possible in tech? There's so much conflicting advice online... I just feel so overwhelmed by everything and I really need some career guidance right now. I have literally had sleepless nights over this. What should I do this summer to figure things out for myself?

So I have 3 questions about cold emails, let's say I want to get an internship/job for a company but they didn't post about any vacancies. How to utilize cold emails in this case?

1. Should I send cold emails through the email, or is it better to message the HR of said company on LinkedIn? How about messaging the engineers/technical staff?

2. is it better to ask for a phone number/irl meeting instead of straight up asking for the job/internship?

3. Should I send a generic message or is it better to show that you did some research on the company? In that case do you tailor the resume for each job?

I started college in 2022 and am graduating early in spring 2025 with what is essentially a BA in computer science (but is very similar to the BS curriculum and I took most of the same courses, just more flexibility with what is required). I started working as a part time web developer for my uni early last year, temporarily becoming the manager of the team for a semester, and I'm still keeping the development job until I graduate. I also got involved in various CS community-related organizations like the uni's ACM chapter.

After my freshman year I got a SWE summer internship at a F50 company. While I made connections there and was able to extend my internship into this summer, I was forced to give up the internship as they changed their company policy to not allow full time remote workers anymore, and the nearest office is 3 hrs away from me. The company did not offer housing and I did not have the money to find a place by the office for the summer, and I wasn't willing to spend 6 hrs of my day driving. They did this a few months ago, and with such short notice I wasn't able to find a new internship. My manager there did mention that they would keep in touch with me for full time positions when I'm graduating.

This summer I'm returning back to a part time PC technician job I've held since early 2021, which is pretty hardware oriented but I'm also tasked with developing the in-house inventory management software so it's not a total loss in my eyes. I plan to work both the PC tech and the uni web development jobs until graduation.

With that being said, I'm approaching my final year of college and I feel a bit nervous for lack of better words, especially in this market. While I think I have a decent amount of work experience in tech for a new grad, I'm worried I haven't had the time for competitive programming, side projects (not to say I haven't started any, just found them difficult to continue between school and work), open source contributions, etc. I think I've done maybe one Leetcode problem in my freshman year of college.

Aside from work and school, I plan to spend my senior year polishing my resume and some interview prep done. What else would y'all recommend for someone in their final year of their CS degree?

Someone has taken my work at my job from within the company that I have done and can prove that it was mine that I have done and put their name on the top of it within my division and is taking credit for my work. Would I be an ass for taking this to a high level to report this at my job?

basically as the title says. and there is no one like CIA FBI that can come and check those codebase.

I think they’re both pretty good schools, my primary concerns are name recognition and price. Does name recognition matter that much in CS-related industry? The top 30 one has greater national name recognition and cheaper, but the top 100 is smaller, in my hometown, and I think is more student-oriented? Let me know what you guys think.

I work in a small company where things like Laravel and Drupal are seen as the gold standard of web development. And I see facts that suggest most of the Internet is based on PHP. But this is not how it seems when it comes to the wider world of tech.

Every job posting I see requires years of work experience in Java, C#, Python, or JavaScript, and their associated frameworks. I'm not expecting to get hired in this market necessarily, but looking ahead, I'm worried that by only having experience in PHP with my first job, I'm not going to be able to job hop into these tech stacks, nor can I find higher-paying jobs in the tech I know.

Hello everyone, so I'm debating going back to school to go for an Electrical Engineering degree or Computer Engineering degree.

I'm currently a SWE at a F500 company so not sure if it's worth it, but with how bad this market is and constant pressure I thought about following it since it's always been a passion to do more / learn more of the hardware space. Especially with how oversaturated the market is with CS.

I have an undergrad in CS and currently am going for OMSCS with GT (4th class in so far).

Thoughts or opinions?

I was debating completing OMSCS then going directly for it, or not sure what to do. OMSCS for me is hit or miss if it's even worth it since the field is so oversaturated.

I have a CS degree with 10 YOE in full-stack and I've been fired 5 times before I hit my mid 30s. It took a toll on my confidence given that I had no other point of reference early in my career, but deep down, I knew it wasn't me, because I had completed several complicated full-scale applications historically and I knew what a normal process looked like, but redditors kept saying it was me, and that I needed to see a therapist. I knew it wasn't true because these jobs were just not normal.

• Firing someone literally one day after you complain about a psychopathic OCD boss who rejected everyone's code was not normal.
• Firing someone so they could use you as a scapegoat to protect government funding was not normal.
• Firing someone 2 weeks on the job because they aren't coding on day 1 and not completing 85 use cases using their internal custom syntax within a week is not normal.
• Firing someone because their manager doesn't understand the roadblocks of their own business, grills you if you don't have jira activity within a 2 hr window, sets a 1 on 1 if you're 5mins late to a 7am meeting, and insults, yells, and cusses everyone out on meetings is not normal.
• Firing someone after one of those caste-loving Amazon-type managers takes over, corrupts jira metrics, threatens your employment if you show signs of medical illness or attend doctor's appointments, and demands 2 month features completed in 2 hrs, is just not normal.

But hey 'at will' right? who cares about our well being these folks know better right? When I explained my situations in details, a few experienced developers told me that either I was stuck in 'dev hell' where there was no way out but bite the bullet and lose the job, or that they have never experienced those situations in the last 30 years of development.

I understood what they meant now ever since my last job and most recent one, where I am seen as a god. The team is appalled at how fast I deliver quality results on features considered complicated, or at how I need no ramp-up, or how easy I am to work with. I reciprocated the surprise, that I can't believe a company actually has a team that you don't need to argue with, or has a stack that is so reasonable to support.

I give no credit to my recent successes from my firings, my firings didn't teach me anything, I'm doing the same full-stack delivery I did since the beginning of my career, It just showed me how unlucky you can sometimes be in this industry, and how some managers truly have a hard time being normal, have a real hard time just not being an asshole. That's blood on their hands, not mine.