I’m currently a junior CS student and I am rapidly losing interest in this major. A little bit of backstory, I went to community college for CS and during that entire time I actually really enjoyed the process. I had an amazing calc 2 professor and was excited to learn from him everytime I stepped in his class. My intro programming professor was also really helpful and it made me want to get better at coding (it was just the basics tho). Now fast forward to my 3rd year, I feel like I know nothing and am a complete idiot. My professors in university usually have a “go figure it out yourself” mentality which I don’t mind since I know many universities do this but I feel like I don’t learn well off that. My assignments are also 100x more complex and complicated so I have to constantly use ChatGPT and Google everything in order to submit an assignment. I sometimes get so overwhelmed that I just copy/paste code into my assignment and submit it. I feel like so guilty and a complete failure doing this. I feel like I’m just unworthy of becoming a software engineer in general. But what do I? I’m too deep in to this major to completely change and also telling foreign parents that their son is no longer pursuing engineering isn’t the best idea. I feel like I’m constantly hitting a brick wall everytime I go to school now and don’t really know which direction I’m going in life. I’m also someone who loves having a same old routine. So pursuing a CS degree and having to constantly think outside the box or solve complex problems, I just don’t think it’s for me. Any thoughts or advice would help out a lot. Thank you

...And I'm completely clueless where this gets me. I don't know if I should pursue a masters in data science or just get a job straight after my bachelors...

I have no projects under my name (except a game I did as a uni project). I know basics of Python, C# and JS and thats about it. I'm struggling to even start making my own projects as to make a website or some kind of an app, I need some SQL knowledge and even though I had a good grade in databases using SQL, its literally not even scratching the level of knowledge I need to make a project of my own.

I find myself just blindly watching youtube tutorials and online guides on how to make a website (I know basics of html and css) but after making a decent looking front end I struggle with adding functionality to the website. I feel like an idiot while watching the tutorials.

I tried landing an internship and failed the entry test which morally broke me even more, basically this is what made me believe I'm trying to work towards something that doesn't really want me 🤣

I always loved the idea of making video games and being able to create something with my own imagination and creativity and just have people enjoy the product of my hard work but man... being in my last year and feeling like I have absolutely nothing to show for it is just outright devastating. Who is going to hire a fresh out of college CS bachelor with practically no real commendable experience to his name?

I can't find any other internship offers, I can't find any practical class offers. I'd literally want to work for free just to get any experience.

I'd love to start something serious with either JS or C# but I feel so lost. I really need some advice right now.

Is it going to be enough to invest 3-4 hours a day programming and creating projects for like 6 months (Theres a lot to study in uni so thats probably my max time possible) in hopes of an employer hiring me? Do I just spend another two years in college?

If it matters, I'm from the EU.

Thanks everyone in advance, hoping for some advice and I'm open to constructive criticism...

I'm currently starting an application/interview process with a company. They have two personal/social interviews and a take-home assignment. The take-home assignment will be in a language/stack I'm not familiar with and is self-paced. I was told, "Please don't use AI during the interviews but once hired you are more than welcome to use AI." Were they saying not to use AI during the personal interviews or during the take-home assignment? I'll admit it struck me as a bit odd and made me wonder why the a separation between the two. I'm tempted to use AI during the take-home assignment, not to write the entirety of the program, but to help me grasp shortfalls, test the code, point me in the right direction, and learn how certain components work. What are your thoughts?

I just finished my final project in my third year computer graphics class that I’m really proud of. It’s not the best scene ever created but I think it’s ok. Would it be weird to put it on LinkedIn as a post or something? I want to show it off.

I put around 20 hours into and it has 900 lines of code. I’m kinda proud of it. It has fog, light sources, cars, and a textured background. I dunno. The cars could definitely use more detail but I’m still proud of it. So do I put it on LinkedIn?

To keep this short, I'm a freshman in college with little experience. I have been applying for internships and I was lucky enough to get a personal referral for an internship at a company a family friend works at.

Here's my question, I was sent a codility assessment to do but truthfully I am under qualified, I have been studying and practicing leetcode and data structures recently but l'm not far enough into my degree to really be truly proficient.

Should I just cheat on it so I don't throw away this opportunity? Or could that just make me look like a fool in later interviews?

Am I better off putting in an honest performance and hoping they'd still be willing to consider me in the future?

Any advice would help,

Just make friends. Keep in touch, treat people like they’re more than just a referral and you’re golden. Am I missing anything? Besides staying up to date on tech.

Forget the whole binary tree, linked list, etc. nonsense.

I'm talking about questions that actually come up in non-big tech companies like actual situations "you have employees with timelogs, find overlapping time for 2 employees" (random off the top of my head).

I'm just talking about actual situations or snippets of functional/work-related code, instead of mental masturbation in a vacuum with lists and trees and graphs.

I work as an electronics technician, I'm currently working on making a robot arm from scratch for a capstone degree project (Engineering Technology Degree in Mechatronics) and am combing through the communications protocol and hardware registers documentation for my servo motors to plan my approach. I've been pretty dissatisfied at work lately and realized it's because I despise fixing things (the fact this is in electronics and I studied mechatronics also doesn't help), which is basically the entirety of my job, I faultfind and fix issues with really complex, poorly documented devices.

What I just realized is that I fucking love optimizing the shit out of things and understanding nitty gritty details. I find working with lower level logic and figuring out the most concise and efficient way to do things satisfying and engaging. I can sit down for like 6 hours, become fully absorbed in it, and skip meals without noticing, any time I've dabbled in programming I've tended to gravitate to wanting my program to be as small and efficient as possible and really enjoyed investigating how to do so, I dislike doing something "the sensible way" and just making it work as quickly as possible even if it's ugly and non-performant.

What are the niches where this is a strength? I'd suspect embedded systems given you're working with limited memory and CPU resources. I'm aware the majority of programming jobs want code to be safe, readable, and produced quickly, not small and efficient.

For those of you working in Bank of America, what are your current role(s), YOE, and how much you making yearly ?

I have been mind-numbingly applying to jobs while doing some leetcodes and working on a certificate for nothing. It has been over a year since I graduated and I can't even get a $13 an hour IT role. I'm thinking of going back to school for a masters in cybersecurity or cloud computing and networking like crazy and joining clubs and doing all of that. Is it even worth it at this point or do I just completely pivot and learn something else like a trade? My mental has completely died out and I have stopped doing the things I like to do since I feel like I can send out more applications or practice more code. I sincerely do not know what to do with my life at this moment.

Which one has more resume value if I want to job hop later on in my career? Currently considering picking between the two. Any advice would be appreciated

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of posts saying CS is a waste of time, that people regret studying it, and so on.

Historically, we were a pretty stable industry before COVID, as far as I can tell. Things might be rough right now, but what industry isn’t facing challenges? After tough times, there are always better times ahead. We’re professionals who aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, since we’re still in demand. Our tech is advancing fast, and while our day-to-day as software engineers will change, we’re not being completely replaced.

I totally get that some fellow engineers are struggling to find jobs and have to send out thousands of applications. It’s crazy, but like I said, there are probably better times ahead and there are worse industries. We still tend to make more than most people, aside from doctors and lawyers.

Since I’m pretty new to this industry, what am I missing?

So the obvious answer for most people is no but i feel like I'm a bit of a special case so I wanted to know what other people thought, if maybe I could do my plan.

So for starters I've been programming for 1 year. The first 10 months didnt do too much but the last 2 months I've been programming alot more and learning alot more.

I've made a few games in python. 1 has a account and leaderboard system and is published on the app store. I also made 1 game in c#

I've made a few websites, most are just practice but I also made a few for some small businesses in my town. I also made a movie database site using an api.

I have a fair understanding of the computer science stuff and have done 70 problems on leet code.

I also have 4 months of experience at a internship where I program and develop software for government entities, when I graduate that will be 1 year of experience.

I'm advanced in python

Proficient in javascript html css gdscript

Understand the fundamentals of c# rpgiv rpgile sql and R

I also have a few certificates for hmtl css and javascript

I also have an associates degree with a minor in computer science. Have taken some classes on machine learning discrete mathematics and data analytics

So I have 7 months until I graduate

I go to a bit of a special school so I only spend like 2 hours a day working on school related stuff and I have the rest of the time to program. On some days i can also just spend the time in class doing leet code.

I'm very self motivated and a hard worker so I program around 6-9 hours on school days and 9-11 hours a weekend depending what I have going on. I also just have good memory and am able to pick up on stuff alot quicker than others.

I was thinking that if I continued what I have going and I'm able to learn react and some other frameworks and important web languages, as well as build some full stack and front end projects, then potentially once graduation comes around I could spend like 5 or 6 hours a day and apply to 10-12 jobs a day for 4 months. By the end of it I could've applied to 1000+ jobs and potentially one company would accept me and I could get a job and not have to go to college. Is this realistic given my circumstances or is the market that bad?

If this doesn't workout then I can just go to some colleges in my area. I already have some schools that will pay me to go to their school. I don't like school though and I just want to enter the workforce.

Hi,

I graduated from a mediocre university in Colorado in May 2024. I have applied to 900+ jobs. Of the 900 jobs I have only gotten like 10 interviews. Of these 10 interviews 5 of them would move me forward to the next round and then of these 5 I would only have gotten 2 final interviews.

The final interview was just meeting the team (Director of Engineering, Senior engineers, and tour of the company). After the final interview I never get any offer, mostly rejection. I can see signs I won't get the job (mostly emailing the recruiter and see if they respond with in 24 hrs, but they never do) I don't know why. Did I say something during the interview that they didn't want to hear? Or was I just not cut out for the position? Most of these questions are more or less behavioral. Such as "tell me a time ....", there are a few questions that are more "technical" : "What is the pro and cons of hashmap", "Why did you use a vector instead of a map", "How you link libraries in C++." "What is the size of a double vs a float" , etc.

Background: I have had 2 internship ( 1 SWE Intern and 1 System intern) and almost 3 years of Course assistant job (teaching students how to code while doing coding for the class assignments and projects assigned to the students).

I am kinda lost for ideas and what in the world is happening. Can someone explain to me what I might be doing wrong or why is this happening to me or anyone?

So I currently have a degree in engineering technology. I am looking to get another B.S. degree in computer science. I am lolooking for the right school right now to do online classes. I have noticed most of them are not ABET accredited. Does this matter much for computer science? I know for engineering it is very important but how important is it for a CS degree.

For reference I am looking at Oregon State University's Postbaccalaureate Computer science degree. It is a State University but does not have an ABET accreditation. Should I keep looking or would it be able to find a job just fine? I have no specific companies in mind so I cannot just look up that companies requirements.

Thanks

I feel like I can produce code much faster with Cursor + Claude, but still have to understand all the code in order to be able to maintain it like refactoring, optimizing and fixing if anything goes wrong.

What I am saying is, no matter how much faster I can produce code, I only have so much mental capacity to digest.

What are the most common interview questions you have received (excluding coding/leetcode questions)?

I've been recently applying for jobs. I've applied for about 150 jobs so far, and had numerous rejections and some callbacks. I've got analytics on my web portfolio and not a single person has been on it! I've labelled my portfolio clearly on my CV, my LinkedIn, and even asked recruiters and companies to check out it out when speaking to them. I spent a long time making my portfolio and no one has even bothered to view the website, even after I got to the first stage on some companies. It even made me think my analytics was broken, but it's indeed working.

Does anyone else have a similar experience?

"Any job that requires you to study for 6 months just to have a chance of getting through the interview is not worth it."

I heard the above quote a while back, but I cannot find the source. The "you" in it refers to an individual who has the credentials and experience, and can demonstrate that they can code. The absurd thing is that these type of individuals still need to study for months to crack an interview.

During the course of my unemployment, one thing that I keep hearing from those around me is that I should keep applying, but I should also enjoy my newfound free time. Most of the people telling me this are in the health care field, mainly nurses, and that's when it hit me, the difference between this career and virtually all other careers. I have no free time, none at all. I'm not making any money currently, but all my time is occupied, I am working more than I would be even if I was in a job. What am I doing? I'm studying or "grinding" as those in this career refer to it as. However, when virtually any other career-possessing individual is on the job hunt, they are able to just apply and go on with their life in the meantime. I keep getting asked "what and why are you studying?"

Yes, I can always pick up a low-wage job, fast food or the like, and none of that is beneath me, I have a mortgage and I will do whatever I can to ensure that my home is not seized, and people in other careers often can do that as well, but in the software engineering job hunt, doing that is a detriment to finding another software engineering position, because it severely limits the amount of hours you can put into studying algorithms, leetcode, system design, frameworks, or the like. All of my friends and family are in the health care field, and with overtime and holiday pay they made far more than I ever did, and they never had to open any nursing book again after graduating from their respective nursing programs, and their interviews were all one a done, a couple minutes just to see your personality. And if they ever want to switch jobs, they can do so or even pick up a second one in a matter of days, no preparation needed.

When I think about how the average Google employee quits in about a year, the idea of spending 6 months studying full-time just to have a chance of passing the interview (which you still might fail) seems all the more insane.

Although I do not regret studying computer science, I admit that becoming a software engineer was the wrong choice, but hindsight is 2020.

I’m dying here at work and was planning on quitting when my stock vests at the end of the quarter. I want to tell my manager I’m quitting ASAP because I feel it would be good to give an ample heads up and because I want them to stop piling work on me for 2,3,4 month commitments.

Is it weird to give a 4 week notice instead of a 2 week? I feel like it’s actually better that way so the company has more time to plan. My boss is not a dick and will not screw me over with stock so I don’t believe that’s a concern (even if they did you can sue so hard for that)

EDIT: Lol y'all are a bunch of paranoid freaks -- give me ONE example of when someone was fired after giving notice. They still have to create a case to fire you and put you on PIP which takes over a month.

I started my career with one.

In my experience, devs with 0 YOE (full time) do not contribute to a company until they have about 1-1.5 YOE, if you factor in lost productivity from their mentor(s).

Therefore in an average or down market, most companies (not flush with tens of billions of cash in offshore accounts) should not want to pay much for them. Maybe $40k/year plus multiplier for Bay / NY.

But years ago, this was almost impossible, since the hot market was making boot camp grads and new uni grads earn $80k-100k even outside big tech. And the idea of SWE apprentice wasn't really a thing. They just had "entry level" which ranged from 0 to 2YOE, even though the two are massively different in terms of useful output.

So in today's economy, if you were a company in a hiring position, do you think it would be mutually useful for your company and the applicants, to hire 0 YOE SWE apprentices for ~$40k?

Hello all!

I've been interviewing with a startup for a fullstack position and have been invited to the final interview with the CTO. So far it's been: an HR screening, a convo with a lead dev, a takehome, then another convo with another lead dev about the takehome.

What I got from HR: "This will involve an interview with our CTO, along with members of the product team, and some more time for you and I to chat. Plan for a 3 hour session just to be safe."

Does anybody have any tips on what to expect? I'm unsure if it's like a vibe check situation and they've decided already (barring me being completely insufferable as a human being) or if it's going to be 3hrs of technical grilling in which they have to take time to decide afterwards.

I talked to some friends who said for smaller startups, it'll be more of a technical conversation with the CTO and mentioned there may be a live coding portion. I did email back confirming a time and asking for clarification on what the interview entails, and I got back: "As of now, nothing specific to prepare for but if the team lets me know of anything I'll be sure to let you know! I do believe it will be more of a technical conversation."

This company seems awesome and I really don't want to mess this up, so does anybody have any tips? Thanks!

I'm a competitive guy who likes to grind and build stuff. I also love math.

I don't care about politics, titles, or prestige. Grinding the corpo ladder is not a true skill competition, it's just kissing ass and doing meaningless work that pleases random boss to make him please another random boss and get more money. Its correlation with actual problem solving, technique, or anything tangible is zero.

My personality is that I can easily do something over and over again for hundreds/thousands of hours if I see actual progress for a purpose. Going to the gym for 4 times a week for years on end without any big breaks is effortless. Getting top 1% in competitive video games is easy. Grinding hardcore MMO endgame gear is easy. In school I never cared about grades, but won first prize in many math/physics contests with thousands of participants.

I care about the actual thing, about understanding, not memorizing, about doing something in the world or expanding actual knowledge. About the actual skill and not how it's perceived (grades).

I also do enjoy teamplay, but only if the teammates are motivated and also care about winning. I like helping, teaching and learning from others a lot.

Sounds like I should thrive at work too, no? NO. NOT AT ALL. I managed to get a FAANG role because... grinding leetcode was easy... but the actual job is so fucked man. It's only politics and zero skill expression, only repetitive and mindless tasks for nonsense useless real life effects. I show my ML degree, build prototypes with good results, build libraries from scratch, get them to conferences, and then we can't put it into production because it would look bad given the territory expansion that was planned for this year. What? FUCK, back to dashboards.

So, I tried to join research roles, maybe there I can have skill expression and meet actual intellectually fulfilling challenges. But I need PHD from reputable university to join faang research. My past research projects/publications don't matter because it's not from university.

Sure, let's apply to those universities. WAIT, I need recommendation from professors and also the school I went to matters, but i just went to a shitty university and learned all on my own and taught myself what was important, not memorizing random algos and theory that does not explain any in depth concept, giving formulas from high above and not diving into the depths at all.

So I'm stuck. faang job is mindless, but I can do it in ~10 hours a week and focus on gym and videogames... but it gets boring... I want more challenge in my work and do something meaningful in my life. I did build ML projects in my freetime, but apparently if they're not published in top conferences it does not matter...

TL;DR: Tryhard, selftaught, non standard dude stuck in career. Can't get a research ML role because no phd, can't get reputable phd because selftaught. Wtf do i do?

I guess starting startups would be my only choice of having any kind of fulfillment?

As the title says, I’m working with 2 recruiters for the same swe position but both don’t know it. I already went through the HR call and will have technical interview soon.

Another recruiter reached about the same position at same company and wanted my availability for the next interview steps.

Is it okay for me to finish my interview and interview again with the second recruiter or will they find out I’m interviewing twice.

Should I tell the 2nd recruiter I’m already interviewing?

Also, only reason I’m entertaining 2nd recruiter is because they mentioned 10% higher pay range than the first recruiter.

TIA

As title says, been there for a year but cant take the pay anymore. 14 an hour is criminal, especially since I HAVE MY DEGREE SINCE LAST YEAR IN MAY, but enough is enough. My hours were 9:30am to 3:30pm until I started a 2nd job from 3pm to 11pm. So my new hours between both jobs were 9:30am to 1:30pm then I commute to my other job for the rest of the day. I only did this for 2 weeks and its taking a toll on me. I find it fucked up that they didnt even try to keep me. I just slacked my boss a 2 weeks notice, then I was told by the director of operations its fine for me to just go for the day if I wanted to so I did.

Apparently my other coworkers are sad to see me go, and the agree with my plight. I really tried to endure the low pay but im tired of not having savings. Im so fucking broke. Another factor of me leaving was they mentioned back in spring of bringing me into the company, but I did not hear one PEEP since then. I could type more but it will be a novel at this point. I know other people are STRUGGLING to get an internship, but this was an unpleasant experince and only did it for the experience. Was I right to do so?

EDIT: Coworker also told me in DMS i should have left earlier to find something else (in a supportive way) and other coworker told me about how this happened to them about getting a promotion. This co worker got a new job title with new responsibilites, but same pay.

I keep hearing (and this was own attitude in my career as well, to my detriment) that in order to progress in your career, it is good to focus on adding value, and understand how the company makes its money, rather focus on tools.

Then why does every job advertisement read like this one (not even the worst): Required Skills & Experience

• 8+ years of experience in the IT industry with a strong focus on Azure-based architecture, Machine Learning, and MLOps.
• Deep experience with Azure services, especially Azure Machine Learning, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Data Lake, and Azure Synapse.
• Hands-on experience with machine learning frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, or Scikit-learn.
• Strong understanding of MLOps concepts, including continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) for ML, model versioning, monitoring, and retraining.
• Proficiency with scripting and programming languages (C#, Python, R, SQL, etc.).
• Experience with containerization (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes) for ML models.
• Knowledge of data engineering concepts such as ETL/ELT processes and experience working with big data technologies (e.g., Apache Spark).
• Proven ability to lead architecture discussions and drive decisions in complex technical environments.

My interpretation: -they want a data scientist, machine learning engineer, MLops engineer, data engineer, data architect in one -you're not even told what the company does, you're just there to spin up some services and not think about the business

During Covid I took a Java introduction course in The Open University to test the waters ,and I have mixed feelings about programming:

My brain enjoyed solving problems with code, I feel like it was built for this kind of stimulation. I did not suffer doing hard things and it was satisfying. On the other hand, after completing long tasks, I felt a bit drained, empty, and depressed. This made me think this field is not for me and I wouldn't last a day in programming. I also do not have any interest in technology or programming in my personal life (unless video content creation counts), but many say you don't necessarily need that. I had a thought recently that maybe my mental state distorted my judgment- I do have chronic depression. Or maybe it's a sign to give up on this field completely. It's just that I don't see any better option for me. I only feel comfortable with pure logic problems.

Do you have any thoughts? Is my experience a clear sign to give up?

*English is not my first language

I think it would put a lot less stress on interviews so that it removes a stress factor from the application process.

I'm genuinely curious why people hate LC. It only takes a couple hundred hours to be passable, and maybe 1 thousand hours or so to become great at. Less for each depending on how recently you've been out of school / have strong algorithm skills already. Doing it means you can pass interviews at places that pay you stupendous amounts of money for work you're already doing anyway, that can absolutely change your life. It's a significantly smaller amount of time investment compared to a college degree. It is literally a life transforming hack. Why do people hate it so much? I do not understand.

I have over 3 years professional experience as a frontend developer. As a result of not landing better paying jobs after failing technical interviews, I'm starting think that studying for an it related degree could benefit my future. I really want to progress farther.....in life in general.

I live in South Africa, and many companies frown upon individuals without it related degrees for it jobs, I also feel I'm frowned upon by my superiors who have university educated juniors review my work, but not vice-versa, although I have way my more experience.

I'm looking to study, while working fulltime. I've heard industry professionals can get their degrees in less than 3 years, but I don't know how that is done.

2 questions.

1. Can someone advice what IT related degree would be beneficial.

Although I'm a frontend developer on paper, I've started doing backend work as well in my current role, and I have also been learning aws, in theory. I also touch a bit of gcp at work as well.

Below are a few it related degree I can perhaps think about

1. Information Technology and Information Systems

2. Computer Science

3. Information Science

4. Computer Animation

5. Software Engineering

6. Computer Engineering

7. Cybersecurity

8. Megetronics

9. How does a professional get their degree in less than 3 years. Never knew this option existed.