hello everyone,so I'm interested in tech and coding,and I'm also interested in video editing,but I don't know which one to get into first,do you think coding and tech is worth it now? and could i land atleast some side gigs without a cs degree?

Basically title.

Have been working at the same job for close to 5 years where I’ve been given roughly 10k in raises in that time frame. Boss said he could probably get me another 15k. Job is super chill and requires about 5 hours a day at work. Easy to take off and pretty much 2 days off for every holiday. However there is no progression and not much fulfillment. I also don’t have a family so the time off is often spent gaming and not on being productive.

Wasn’t really looking for jobs but a buddy pushed me into applying and after an interview I was offered a position 12.5k higher than what my current job has promised. This position will however require 8 hours a day but will be challenging and offer progression. I will likely also counter offer for a bit closer to what I asked which is about 8k more.

I am also currently working on some personal things and considering a move sometime in the next year.

I realize money isn’t everything but am torn. The schedule and flexibility of job 1 are unmatched. But the job is easy and boring and slowly wasting my brain away. Job 2 will pay more and offer a new challenge, but require more of the corporate 8-5 work life.

I Welcome any advice!

Hello everyone.

I will give some details on my particular situation.

Motivations for the switch:

• Broader scope
• Depth
• Variety

Current situation:

• 3 yoe as a developer
• only high school diploma
• only superficial level of knowledge about cybersecurity

Possible drawbacks:

• Lower salary
• Barriers of entry

Life story: (you can skip this part)

I have been interested in computers my whole life, like many others here. Initially I did not want to go into it professionally because it was a hobby for me and I didn't want to ruin it, but life happened and eventually after a failed attempt at a business management degree I decided I would enroll in a computer science degree, not for the jobs but because I wanted to go DEEP into the material and learn in depth about how computers work. After starting, however, I was quickly disillusioned by what I was learning. Most of what they were teaching us was way too focused on preparing us for the job market. Even the more "theoretical" subjects were oriented around what we would find in our future work, which imo is great but not exactly what I was there for, so I just kind of "dropped out" where I would attend class, learn the material and just do my own things to practice it instead of the coursework, sometimes even going to specific professors in their office hours just to ask them about topics that interested me. Then COVID came, quality of the classes dropped a lot and I just completely dropped out.

After that I had to work however, and since I did quite a few personal projects during the time I was studying I landed a job as a developer, and three years later I am encoutering the same issue as before. I am bored out of my mind. I am learning a lot, but it's just too superficial. I could continue down this path and could spend my life working in this because it's better than many other jobs, but I don't see myself becoming any more passionate about it.

Recently, however, I have been checking out cybersecurty learning material and it scratches that itch for low level knowledge, creativity, unexplored topics and overall broad range of topics that it touches in the tech world. It started as simple curiosity but lately I can't stop thinking about it.

Now, I am married and I am the sole financial provider of my family, so I have a few things to consider.

First one would be if this is a good move considering my reasons for a switch. Obviously I am idealizing the job to some degree. I am aware most jobs will be staring at logs and making reports 90% of the time, and I am fine with that as long as I have time during the work day to just browse the web learning material related to cybersecurity and put to practice what I learn on the job (obviously after obtainig permission to do so). This is IMPORTANT. I am willing to spend time now studying after work to get into the field, but I am not willing to spend my whole career sacrificing family time just to stay afloat.

Second one is salary. Currently I make double of what I made in my entry level job as a developer (inside the normal range in the country I live in) and I can't really afford a pay cut at the moment. Will the experience as a developer matter at the negotiating table or is a pay cut guaranteed with this kind of switch? Also taking into account that I did NOT graduate.

I am willing to spend a year or two diving deep into the field and getting certified, but only if I know these two expectations will be fulfilled once I do it.

I don't understand how or why workday still exists. Why do I need a separate account for every company

I think the overwhelming number of negative posts here are being posted by people who are trying to deter others from working in this field.

It’s so obvious that they’re trying to take out the competition.

Just something to remember as you doomscroll on this sub

I am a freshman and I really want to prepare my future years while studying for data science but I am feeling like I will be unemployed because 65 percent of data scientist in faang companies have masters degree and 30 percent have PhD. I can't really afford a PhD. or masters degree after graduation. What would you recommend to me? I also studied for data science by working on Python, math subjects like statistics and probability

The market has been bad for 2-3 years now

I still see bulk of job postings from different companies, but recruiters/HR reach out only to collect details and never reach back.

What's up with this? Is the job of recruiter/HR just building their pipeline and not converting to employee? Or I am missing something?

Now it's probably not a good time as most big tech are finalizing the hiring for the year.

What is the best time (month) to apply to big tech then?

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Hi, i am a electrical electronics engineering student who is aiming towards software field. In my country a high GPA for this field is considered literally a 2.5 GPA because our classes are so hard compared to other countries. I want to join our school's program that sends for an internship abroad but i wonder if job hirers directly eleminate me because of low GPA. Can't my software knowledge or projects make it up for the GPA? Would companies understand me if i explained them our classes are much harder?

I'm in a unique situation and I'd appreciate some advice from the community. My former undergrad supervisor, who I worked with on LLM-related projects when I was undergrad, has offered me a full-time remote position. The supervisor works with a prominent professor from a foreign country, who has a company in their country (established in 2012). The professor has multiple government contracts and research projects, and my supervisor has been working with them on these projects.

The reason for this job offer is that the professor and my supervisor want to move away from working with part-time undergrads and instead have a full-time employee dedicated to their projects. They've offered me this position because of my previous experience working with them, and I'm excited about the opportunity to work on projects I'm passionate about.

I'm currently in an embedded engineering job that I don't enjoy, despite the good pay. This new offer would allow me to work on LLM-related projects, which aligns with my interests and skills. The position is also fully remote, which is a big plus for me.

I want to mention that I have a high level of trust in my supervisor. However, I also know that they're academics without extensive industry experience, which makes me a bit cautious about the arrangement.

The arrangement is a bit unconventional, as the professor's company would employ me full-time, but they wouldn't be directly involved in the day-to-day work. My supervisor would be my point of contact for HR and team lead, and they'd pay my salary directly (not from a company account). If I leave the company, they'd provide an official experience certificate.

I've asked for an official offer letter outlining the key details (salary, position, joining date, bonus, and benefits), but they've asked me to draft it myself, which they'll review and make official. They're proposing a 6-month contract with a guarantee of employment, followed by a performance-based evaluation.

I've researched the company, and it appears legit, with a track record of publications and projects. However, I have some concerns about the arrangement:

1. Is an official experience certificate sufficient to prove my work experience?
2. Could the fact that my salary is paid directly by my supervisor, not from a company account, create issues when proving my employment later?
3. How important is it to have direct contact with the company via their official email?
4. What else should I be looking out for in this unusual setup?

I haven't accepted the offer yet, and they're eager to address my concerns. I'll be having an official meeting with them soon, and I'd appreciate advice on what essential questions to ask to protect my future career interests.

Thanks in advance for your input!

I saw this post on X:

"Software that once took days to ship can now happen in hours or minutes, enabling people to ship 10-20 times faster than before. This all changed on the day Claude 3.5 Sonnet came out.

But it’s hard to get this speed-up with remote work. Even short communication delays have become significant bottlenecks in an AI-accelerated workflow. What used to be acceptable async delays now represent a material slowdown in potential productivity."

More here: https://x.com/shl/status/1851590388898759037

I personally think it's BS.

Currently my resume is in Microsoft word, was wondering if repsonse rate would increase, decrease, or stay the same if I moved it to an overleaf template? Trying anything out here LOL

I have two internship offers, one for META and one for NVIDIA. I live on the east coast, and Meta seems more appealing as I would not have to relocate in case of a return offer. However I’m not sure which company has a higher return offer rate. Any advice?

If I only have a bachelors (masters while working), how much should I expect base/TC to be for pay negotiations? Remote + unicorn, bay area based company. HCOL. Thanks!

Like what am I supposed to do?

I'm a new grad from a mediocre school with no internship.

I've held tons of jobs before but none programming related.

Every single job posting has 100+ applicants already even in local cities.

The job boards are completely bombarded and cluttered with scams, shitty boot camps, and recruiting firms who don't have an actual position open, they just want you for there database.

I'm going crazy.

Did I just waste several years of my life and 10s of thousands of dollars?

Which looks better on resume Epic Systems or JP Morgan new grad?

I'm currently a new grad working at a Fortune 500 tech company. It has honestly been terrible. I got assigned a project where I'm taking over the only dev. The current person in charge of this project worked on this project for many years and has unsuccessfully tried to get multiple other devs to take over for them. I guess I'm the third attempt.

This project has been an absolute nightmare. I'm assigned tickets with literally no written acceptance criteria or details.

There is zero documentation for the project and, to be honest, the code seems very complicated for no good reason. Obviously, take that with a grain of salt since Im just a new grad. My only way to learn is by speaking to the senior dev who used to be in charge, but I am finding it impossible to understand what they are saying. I don't have a problem understanding the other coworkers, but this dev in particular I can't understand at all. We spend hours to transfer information which boils down to probably 10 sentences.

The developer is obviously very smart and hard-working and has been working here for,

In the short time I've been here, I feel like my programming skills have become worse rather than better. I haven't had the chance to do anything challenging programming wise. I'm spending all my time figuring out needlessly complicated code to do something I can do in a quarter of the time if I coded from scratch. I've literally got more actually work done in my first internship as a freshman that my entire 4 months as a full time here.

Ive tried to tell my manager and asked to switch teams/projects, but the senior dev keeps lying and saying I'm doing really good (I'm not) so that I can't get taken off this project.

Where do I go from here? I'm looking for other jobs, but I don't know how to explain why Im leaving my first job after only 4 months.

Tldr; first swe job, working on a codebase made by one dev with no documentation. I don't get acceptance criteria on my tickets and no proper code reviews.

TIA

https://preview.redd.it/kgohp4lgb0yd1.png?width=1770&format=png&auto=webp&s=b150fdd4b3bb9f608b81b3a53bcffe4f55666344

'Why yes I have worked extensively with MangoDB, I was in charge of extracting the pulp'

EDIT: fixed the link

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/10/google-ceo-says-over-25-of-new-google-code-is-generated-by-ai/

I’m not trying to be a doomer like everyone else here, but I’m curious to hear thoughts from senior devs.

I have 15 years of experience as an iOS engineer and consultant. I’ve always gotten hired through my LLC. Business was booming for over a decade but now companies almost never hire 1099 contractors (mostly for legal reasons).

I spent 7 months last year applying for jobs and was rejected dozens of times. I often failed the leetcode style coding questions. (Yes I studied the whole time).

The one company that ended up hiring me was for a contract role - a rare and great gig - but they did not ask leetcode questions. I did system design, project presentation deep dive, multiple behavioral, previous client references checked. I nailed all of that so of course they hired me but I know if they asked me some random leetcode question I’d almost certainly fail it.

Anyway, contract is almost up so I’ll be back in the job market. What do you do if you’re just plain bad at live coding challenges? I’ve been responsible for several successful greenfield projects with millions of users. Is there a way for these accomplishments to speak louder than a live-coding problem? Or do I just have to get lucky?

It all feels like a bait and switch, play into the feer mongering of Ai replacing us, when in reality all Ai is right now is just a shoddy search tool, that is years away from doing any of our jobs, but somehow right now a lot of people cant seem to land a job in a field that is in supposedly severe shortages

Hi there! I recently started a new SDE job that required extensive effort ramping up, thus I only have very limited spare time per day; however, I discovered I have interests in other broader topics (e.g. optimization, electronics, etc) that might be tangentially related to CRUD-type software engineering.

In this circumstance, should I continue learning something irrelevant to my current tech stack or to most general SDE? Thanks!

No, i'm not dooming. I wish I was fearmongering. After six months of analyzing data, it’s clear to me: up to 95% of CS jobs will be outsourced.

1. Massive Cost Savings Overseas: A developer in India makes $10,000–$15,000 annually, compared to $110,000+ in the US. Companies now have easy access to skilled offshore talent through platforms like Upwork, so why pay a premium for US workers?

2. Tax Codes Favor Outsourcing: US tax codes, especially section 174 (implemented in 2022), actively incentives companies to offshore jobs. By moving operations overseas, firms often reduce tax liabilities and avoid high payroll costs, making it even harder for US developers to compete.

3. Tech Giants are Leading the Way: IBM, Accenture, Microsoft, and Google are investing heavily in global tech hubs. IBM, for instance, has 70% of its workforce outside the US. Layoffs you’re seeing? They’re not cuts; they’re replacements with cheaper offshore talent.

4. Salaries Stagnating: Entry-level salaries have been declining since 2022, and demand for US-based roles is shrinking. Companies are cutting costs with offshore teams and AI, so US salaries are falling.

Ultimately, big tech needs to keep turning an increased profit for investors. They'll continue to cut costs. Year over year, the layoffs will continue until there are no more devs to lay off: there is no bottom, the US will outsource us all.

Listen to me. Many of you are reading this and assuming you are the exception. You are not. I promise you won't survive this. Eventually they'll come for you too.

No matter how talented or connected you are, this shift will impact everyone. Even the most senior engineers will have to face the music eventually.

Remember, it will happen gradually and then all at once. Many will look at this post and scoff then be blindsided when reality hits.

My advice: If you're in undergrad: switch majors; jobs won’t be there when you graduate. Juniors with jobs: consider changing careers—layoffs are coming, and only senior roles are in demand. Mid-level? Push to senior ASAP. Seniors: make your money, but have an exit plan—you’ll be in the hot seat until the end. Good luck, everyone.

Ok, guys I don't give a fuck about politics. I have graduated with a masters in data science and have been going through hell trying to find a job. Between Trump and Kamala, who will bring back jobs. I am leaning towards Trump because he is against the offshoring.

I've been working as a software dev for 4-5ish years. Come to the conclusion after all this time and in my 4th job (1 part time game dev, 1 full time junior dev, 1 full time game dev, current full time dev in medical software) that I'm tired of software dev and want to transfer to other career paths. I'm decent at coding new things, but dislike and am bad at debugging and dealing with code that isn't my own. And the latter is the majority of being a software dev.

I have a 2:1 degree. I have multiple years of experience in software dev (c#, python, vb.net, msql, mysql). I have some community management experience. I have some organisational experience from volunteering for running events. I have research experience from when I did 1/2 a PhD.

i've specifically worked with backend and databases in terms of code. Done Agile development. Just not sure what jobs are out there that I can transfer to that stay within tech. Currently been investigating project management as a place to go towards but want to know other options that might be easier for me to get into, as I believe project management doesn't have a large number of jobs available for it.

I'm currently year 2 of cs. Will most likely be choosing secure systems for my masters.

Are there ways to have an edge so that I can focus better on things that will be of value for me?

For example, I saw a c++ advanced course in the list of courses for the last year or so. We currently have a c++ course, this motivated me to learn it better.

Anything similar?

I'm wondering what working at slack is like? I know it was purchased by Salesforce a while back and I'm curious if the work culture is good/bad or what. Have an interview coming up and want to compare with others (amzn, msft)

cheers

Hi, I’ve seen this question in slightly different contexts but not in this exact situation, so I figured I’d ask for input.

I’ve been doing a cybersecurity internship with a large, multinational (non FAANG) company for about a year now. I’m a full time CompE undergrad, junior year, so i do part time (5-10hrs/wk) except May-August I did full time (40hrs/wk).

I didn’t entirely realize when I began my internship with them, but there wasn’t really an end date. I was paired with a mentor who’s a fairly young guy who did my same internship and then got hired right out of college, so I’m thinking that’s the path for me. My manager also keeps mentioning hiring me and when I will be done with school.

I do some pentesting and some development of security software. Overall, I do really enjoy the work they have me do, the company is great, they’re not super demanding of me, and my pay is decent. However, as this is my first internship, I’m still shooting my shot with the FAANG, since they also offer similar positions and now I’d be coming in with experience, so I feel like I have an actual shot in the application process.

That said, I love that my current internship offers the part-time work during the school year, which I have not seen anywhere else. So if I were to get an offer from one of these FAANG companies I’d be pretty conflicted.

TLDR: All of this said, if I got a higher paying (I know from posted salaries that they pay $10-20/hr higher, in same COL areas) internship offer, would it be okay to use this as negotiating leverage with my current employer to get paid more? Or is this a bad idea, letting them know that I’m looking elsewhere?