Hi everyone, I’m not really sure who talk to about this, so I thought why not come to Reddit lol. I’m in my 3rd year as a CS Major and I genuinely feel the most confused and lost I’ve ever been in my whole entire life. That is due to the fact that I’m rapidly losing interest and overall passion in CS. When I first started my cs major I was actually having a good time. I had a great calc 2 professor and learned so much from him, it was genuinely really fun going to school everyday and learning things from him. I also had a good intro to programming professor which made coding fun for me (it was the basics though). Now fast forward to now, I’m taking upper division classes and my entire world feels like it got turned 180. Never used chatGPT before but now I feel like I always have to use it or Google things to look stuff up and even copy/paste the code because the coding assignments are too complex for me to figure out. I feel so guilty and unworthy knowing that I have to do this to pass a class. It’s so demoralizing. They don’t really teach coding anymore, a lot of my professors have the “go figure it out yourself” mentality, which is fine since I know many other universities do this aswell but I just don’t think I learn well off that.

I’m always a person who loves a same old routine. So being a CS major and always having to think outside the box or figuring out different ways to solve complex problems, I just don’t think it’s for me anymore. But what do I do? I’m too deep in to fully switch out this major + telling foreign parents that I gave up software engineering isn’t really the best idea. Plus scrolling through tiktok and Reddit, all I see are these amazing projects people have done while I’m here being a below average cs student. It’s also just been affecting my overall mental health feeling this lost in life. I can probably type all night about this but my phone is dying so I’ll end it here. Any advice or just overall thoughts would be nice. Please don’t roast me too much my mental is already down lol.

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?

I received a 165k base plus 50k offer, but had a late stage interview with my first choice firm (my former employer) today for a role that would be about 300k all in. I spoke to 5 people and got great feedback. The offer expires in 48 hours and I already communicated this with my first choice firm, but their process is structured and even though I have gotten great feedback, I still need to have 1-2 more conversations with senior leaders who can’t interview me on short notice. I really like my chances, but given how senior the role is, there is a more drawn out process.

My first choice firm said that they would understand if I took the other offer given my short turnaround time, but I would rather see things through. Should I update them and say that I negotiated a week to accept the other offer, or should I say that I rejected the offer (all while actually accepting the offer as insurance) to go all in? I cannot tell HR that I will renege on the other offer, given they would assume I’d do the same to them.

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?

I’m a new junior at a big tech co a month into the job. Here is my first assignment:

The team has plans to basically update / migrate this old application with cobwebs on it. I have been tasked with documenting how it currently exists, where my teammates themselves don’t have a detailed understanding of how it works, just some hunches. The idea is, my documentation will catch everyone up to speed and get us to understand just how we can start contributing to it.

The codebase that has this little app is vast and difficult to sift through. In an ideal world, I can find the clear call chain, see what objects are returned, how they are packaged, and outline the whole flow smoothly and visibly.

But that’s not how it is at all. There’s so so much intermediate objects abstracting everything, objects are buzzword named, some of them aren’t visible, and MY OWN teammates at SDE2+ often basically say “idk for sure, but it probably makes sense to look [insert place] to find [insert objective]”. Places one would expect to find things don’t have those things.

So there’s of course a lot of dead ends I find myself in, which is fine. In fact, my manager did tell me “good work” before and my deliverable is almost done.

But, regarding the last bit of info I need to find, I got some negative feedback from my manager and I want you guys to help me see if I fucked up.

I’m almost done but have been struggling to find this last thing that the intuitive location they should be in the codebase do not deliver. This led to me contacting a bunch of engineers tasked with helping who all collectively put me way in the wrong direction. Because I’m a new grad and figure I have worse intuition than these seasoned developers, I bought the direction they pointed me and followed their expertise.

My manager basically said I’m looking in the wrong place, wasting time, should be looking in a more relevant place, and should have used my resources more efficiently. He asked me why I am not checking in the obvious places where it should be.

I told him several times I HAD THE SAME EXACT INTUITIONS HE DID, but the teammates point me to places that did not give and I did not know it was the wrong direction at the time. He asks me to be “big picture oriented and don’t spend too much time on unfruitful pursuits”. I haven’t gone a single half day without consulting a handful of other engineers for further questions as I did this. Everyday I try to check myself for a dead end. I don’t do a single thing without a “big picture” in mind.

When we fleshed it all out, it was basically down to me asking the dev a slightly inferior question to the question I should’ve been asking. I tried pinging all I could, the dev clearly knew what I was looking for and did not point me to someone else who can provide what I needed. He said I should’ve pursued the question anyway.

He phrased it as a teaching moment where I should basically be “more, organized, methodical and ask better questions with devs”. I usually consider myself highly organized, but this massive repository with these confusing engineers made my process a bit more sporadic and I don’t know how I can do any better in the future without superhuman hindsight abilities.

I start feeling like shit after trying to explain why things are they are rn and I apologize.

He noticed I started really stressing out and apologized, to which I told him it’s all good. I guess I can’t do anything right and I fucking hate my useless self.

Hi! Is there a group for those attending AfroTech this time?

My sister has a video inter-view at a pretty large company on Friday. I work at that company. Different team and location, have never met or heard of the people she'll be speaking with before.

I could message them on slack, introduce myself, and put in a good word about my sister before the inter-view. Is that advisable? Or a red flag?

This is the job application process for a small API company posting. They do not advertise the salary, and they have multiple technical rounds. The HR team believes they are Google, and this role expects a C.S. degree or equivalent, paired with extensive experience. This market is an absolute shit show.

Application process

• We can’t wait to read your resume and (hopefully personality-filled) cover letter! Let us know what excites you about full-stack engineering, and help us get to know you better!
• If we think we might be a good fit for you, we’ll set up a 1-hour phone chat with Moses, a Back End Engineer on the team! He’ll tell you more about the role, and get a chance to hear about your experiences
• Next will be a second 30-minute phone interview with Greg, our CEO & Founder, where we’ll dive a bit more into your background
• We’ll then do a technical assessment with a couple of ReadMe engineers
• Finally, we’ll invite you to an "onsite" interview conducted over Zoom! These usually take 3.5 to 5 hours including an hour break in between. We are able to be flexible with the schedule and split it up over two days if that works best for you! We start with a 15-minute get-to-know-you with the people you’ll be interviewing with, and then have you talk with people one-on-one later on
• We’ll let you know how things went within a week! If it still seems like a good fit all around, we’ll extend you an offer! If not, we will update you to let you know so you aren’t left hanging

Currently have a job for entry level .NET backend developer as a hourly contractor. I consider myself lucky to have gotten a job at all when I graduated (2023), but threat of being tossed aside as soon as the company doesn't want me anymore as well as barely being able to keep my head above water ($55,000 a year with student loans in Seattle) is overwhelming. For every hundred jobs I apply to, I'm lucky to get one response.

Webdev is just too unstable and even though I have predominantly backend experince, everyone and their mother is fullstack and its a employers market right now. I just don't know what I should be spending my time learning on the side to increase my hireabillity. Its seems like oh yea the obvious choice is to improve my frontend knowledge, but it truly seems like that'd be a waste of time given the market and my response rate would be just as bad.

Currently getting my masters in CS. I’m 25% done but it’s an accelerated program.

How do I figure out where I want to work after graduating? Such as cloud, AI, front/back end etc.

Is there any place I can go to figure this out and learn more?

Sorry if this has already been asked.

Would doing a Phd in AI + healthcare limit my career opportunities after graduation to a health tech company? Will it be harder to switch to big tech as an MLE / DS / RS afterward? Would doing a PhD in general ML give me better opportunities?

Healthcare + AI feels like meaningful PhD topics, but I worry this will limit my opportunities in the healthcare/biotech/pharma industry after graduation and even during internship searches. There are many more opportunities in tech / general companies than in the healthcare/biotech/pharma industry. I would really like to have the opportunity to work at Google, FAIR, or potentially even quant trading companies in the future.

What do you guys think of AI + healthcare as a PhD thesis topic? This assumes I will still be making fundamental advances in AI, e.g., publishing in CVPR/ICCV/ECCV, but at a slightly lower frequency than a pure AI student due to additional papers in healthcare-related journals. Or maybe I would just publish at health AI conferences and journals. Do you think this will limit my career options at all?

The alternative would be to try to pursue more “pure” AI research, without healthcare applications. Would AI + Healthcare just be a 5 years+ of opportunity cost while I can straight up focus on "pure" AI research? I guess AI for healthcare is more meaningful whereas pure AI research is more stable in terms of opportunities and money. I believe AI + healthcare is also less competitive than pure AI research in terms of PhD applications.

I am currently in university, and I got accepted to work with a startup through our schools startup center. Its not full time, minimum 5-10 hours to put in along with normal class schedule and stuff like that. I know people usually say unpaid internships are scammy, but this seems like a good way to boost my resume and learn some new skills before I (hopefully) get a real internship this summer. What do ug think

I have a pretty stress free software development job right now, but unfortunately it does not pay very well. And in this economy, that is making my life outside work stressful. So I've decided to start looking for a better paying job, but I'm not in a rush, and I would really like it if I could find one that wasn't overly stressful. If I increase the stress at work, to decrease the stress outside of work, then I'm just moving the stress rather than improving on it.

So when I'm doing interviews, what questions could I ask to determine the stress level of the job? Or are there any other tells to look out for? Thanks in advance for your help!

What I am trying to ask if someone today starts their backend journey, would do tell to them to start with minimal framework(express, flask and etc) which forces to build from ground up or learn with frameworks that abstracts all that configuration(spring boot, .net or nestjs) and makes learn about IoC and Dependecy Injections?