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CSCareerQuestions protests in solidarity with the developers who made third party reddit apps. reddit's new API changes kill third party apps that offer accessibility features, mod tools, and other features not found in the first party app. More importantly however, the behavior of reddit leadership in implementing these changes has been reprehensible.

This sub will be private for at least a week from June 12th.

For more info go to /r/Save3rdPartyApps/

https://redd.it/144f6xm/

CSCareerQuestions protests in solidarity with the developers who made third party reddit apps.

reddit's new API changes kill third party apps that offer accessibility features, mod tools, and other features not found in the first party app.

More importantly however, the behavior of reddit leadership in implementing these changes has been reprehensible.

For more info go to /r/Save3rdPartyApps/

https://redd.it/144f6xm/


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1

Not sure what this status means for Amazon application

I checked my application today and it says "Under consideration" for a job I applied to at amazon. Normally when I apply to a position at amazon, it would just say "Application Submitted". Is there any significance with this or is it just a normal thing?

0 Comments
2024/04/26
20:43 UTC

1

Do you feel like Americans are pushed harder than their overseas counterparts, in American based companies?

Ive worked for almost all of the FAANG companies for sprint or two, and this was always the impressions I got. Is it because they are generally paid the most?

0 Comments
2024/04/26
20:41 UTC

0

Why are web developers such assholes?

Hey!

I'm not sure if it's the right sub for this, but for real, why are web developers such assholes? They're like narcissistic, egoistic, think they're the smartest and have weird personalities. Even back in 2018 when I was studying I switched from web development to game programming (mainly Unity (C#) and design) and people there were much more friendlier and nicer and welcoming.

The same goes for the jobs. I've worked in one web dev company and everyone there were such assholes and everyone has "I'm the smartest attitude. Also, don't ask me anything" and if you prefer something else and think that PHP is an okay language then some of them go insane and start calling you a moron and if a customer wants something done in PHP then they're like: "Boo, outdated technology. Morons working there" and I don't know. They're always so negative to be around and it's not any different on reddit either, meanwhile App developers and game developers are very welcoming and nice and great at teamwork.

Why is that? When I was little I used to dream about becoming a web developer / designer. I was so impressed by Rockstar's websites and Fort Minor's website back in 2005 was the best, but that dream instantly faded away when I saw what those guys are like and also based on my experiences people don't even want websites anymore. There are so many companies, bands etc that only use social media. I feel like the art of web is dead and apps have replaced the websites, so I really don't get why the web developers are so cocky, meanwhile others are happy that someone's interested in app development or in a game development. Has anyone else experienced the same?

7 Comments
2024/04/26
20:31 UTC

0

How busy are you guys?

Generally curious to know what kind of things does everyone have on their plate at any given point of time. Mostly also asking to sanity check myself. Last couple of months to a year has felt like a death march.

At any given point of time - I’m working on atleast 2-3 key features on average. Working on managing and setting up environments for testing, unfortunately we do not have a good system in place - and there is a lot of grunt work and talking to different people and teams to make sure we have the environments wired up correctly. Chasing users and preparing results to share with users. What I work on requires me to meticulously share the results of a change with the stakeholders. Actively working on documentation etc.

We usually have 2 week sprints, the problem being that as soon as the 2 weeks end, we’re right into another sprint with maybe 2-3 days in between. Sometimes like mid-sprint we’ll come to know - OH this important library we depend on is doing an upgrade and we need to test this too and then thatlll start eating up time not allocated for it.

How does your day to day look like? I have currently 3 years of exp. Kind of senior ?

0 Comments
2024/04/26
20:30 UTC

1

Renegade or Reject New Offer?

Hey everyone, so I just started a position as a junior PLC programmer, like a week ago. Seems interesting, better than my old position, but I also just got a new offer to be a jr backend developer for a company near me.

I have a little less than a year of backend experience from another position and I loved the work and would like to keep it as a career. Is it worth renegading on my current position to follow a new job that makes more sense for my career long term?

They're both similar compensation. My current job requires a lot more travelling though, and the dev job would be a standard office 9-5. And this new offer is from interviews I had with the company before I accepted my current role, I haven't been interviewing sense.

0 Comments
2024/04/26
20:16 UTC

1

How to approach career shift?

Situation: 5 years of experience in pharmacy retail and clinical with doctoral degree, 8 months or so until completion of BS in computer science. Looking to shift to tech work, preferably remote. What is the best way to land a tech job from this position? I'd assume finding something pharmacy-adjacent, right? Is there a way to do this financially efficiently, as in without quitting a current job to do an internship? Any input is appreciated, thanks.

0 Comments
2024/04/26
20:11 UTC

1

What other options do I have?

I have a CS degree and I’ve had various roles within Tech.

I worked as a Front End Java Developer to start my career for 2 years at a big F500 bank.

Then I spent 2 years doing Email development not really progressing my developer skills doing this.

Then I spent two years working as somewhat of a Digital Marketing guy who could code for a big F500 company. I literally did nothing the 2 years I worked here.

In between all these jobs I started side companies that ended up failing.

Currently now I’ve been working as a React developer for a mid-size company based in California for 2 years. It’s fully remote which is great.

I just have one problem. I hate writing code so much. I hate being a developer. I’m not a good developer and never have been. I'm seriously bad at writing code, I understand it, and know some design patterns, but the only thing keeping me employed and able to write code is chatGPT and I was only hired to do bug fixes like my other dev jobs. I can't write new code from scratch to save my life without GPT. I just hate it, i'm better now than how I was when I started my career, but writing code is super stressful, and I can handle stress but I don't like this type of stress.

I do have other great qualities outside of writing code. I’m currently starting another company that looks promising, but if you know business it takes years for a company to find success, and I need money now due to being in debt and for my kids. Also I need something remote again, because I live in LCOL area and currently set living here due to family and children school reasons.

Some other qualities I have is that I am very likable and funny, I’m typically a good culture fit and well liked no matter where I work. I have social great social skills which most Devs I know don’t have. I feel, I’m a great leader, most of the companies I’ve started even though they failed, I did the hiring, managing, wire-framing, and everything else to create the product.

I’m just tired of being a developer. I’ve always hated it. What else can I do with my qualities

0 Comments
2024/04/26
20:10 UTC

1

Transition from SWE to Data Science or Machine Learning

I am currently a software engineer at a pretty large company in the midwest. I have a 4 year degree from a reputable university, I have about 5 years of experience, and I make above average for people my age in the profession. Also, job security seems to be pretty strong (inb4 mass layoffs). The money is great, but I don't feel fulfilled solutioning back-end web apis repetitively. I have worked as a .Net developer and C++ server side developer at other companies, and didn't particularly enjoy that either. I am sure every specialization has its own drawbacks, but I just feel like working as a software engineer isn't something that suits me long term. As someone who as a student was exceptional at math, and really enjoys statistics, I figured there may be a world out there where pursuing something in either data science or ML is more rewarding for me. I LOVE the idea of being involved in AI, or at least utilizing AI tools for data science. Browsing for different openings, it seems that both of these fields require a little bit more certification, education, or qualification. My question would be overall, which of these would typically require more of an investment to obtain a position, and if a position is obtained, what is the likelihood that I am not taking a huge pay cut to do so? I should have the luxury of sticking with my current position in order to stay financially stable during the transition. I've heard people say that as a SWE, my experience will go much further when looking for MLE roles, since those are more closely aligned with what I'm doing now, but I'm not sure how true that is. I also feel like my CS degree isn't going as far nowadays, due to bootcamps, and I'm trying to figure out how best to change that. Sorry for long winded inquiry.

0 Comments
2024/04/26
20:04 UTC

1

Can I change my start date after providing the date myself?

I told my manager last week that I will start on May 6 (Monday), but I didn’t realize my friends throwing me a goodbye party while giving the start date as Im moving out of state. My S/O is coming from a trip with her family (after 2 weeks) on May 3 and my flight is on Saturday night May 4.

What to do?

2 Comments
2024/04/26
20:01 UTC

1

Advice on handling live coding?

I had an interview today where I had to do live coding. I was given a project that was really unclear to begin with, and then on top of that my interviewer had a really heavy accent so I couldn't understand him (I had to ask him to repeat what he was saying a few times). It involved screen sharing and you weren't allowed to look anything up (essentially). I got about 50% of the requirements done and they cut off the interview with five minutes to go and didn't let me finish the next half... the interviewers generally seemed unfriendly and disinterested in what I was doing. Any tips on how to prepare for this?

0 Comments
2024/04/26
19:47 UTC

1

How can I best handle accepting an offer if I have a criminal record?

Not a glamorous question by any means.

I am very happy to say that I got an offer for an associate dev position which I'm incredibly excited about. Unfortunately, after accepting this offer, I understand a background check will follow, and I will 'fail' it. For a past offer, I self-disclosed and answered any questions that they had, but unfortunately the offer was rescinded. I know that there is a strong chance that this happens again for either legal reasons or reasons based on the team's comfort level.

Aside from the obvious need to self disclose and practice answering any questions I could expect them to ask about this, is there anything else I could do to minimize the chances that this offer is rescinded?

It's tough enough to get an offer. Getting one and losing one to this doesn't feel great either. I'm very excited for this role, so any thoughts and opinions are appreciated.

0 Comments
2024/04/26
19:21 UTC

3

Doing a Bachelor's in CS as a second degree?

Hey everyone, I have an engineering degree, I've worked for a few years and hated the job. I've been thinking of getting into CS, but the few times I told someone about it they criticized the idea, because it essentially meant that I'm starting over.

The only engineering jobs that I'm finding in my country are in power & instrumentation, and I don't enjoy either of them. My resume is not good. which is why I sometimes think about a redo where I do everything that I've messed up the first time right (in term of networking, internships, and such).

1 Comment
2024/04/26
19:19 UTC

5

Took a job that’s not Software Dev

So I graduated in December of 2023 with my comp sci degree. After job searching for Developers roles and failing to get any of the few in my area I ended up taking a job in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) earlier this month. The money is nothing to brag about but it’s more than I’ve ever made so I can’t complain. Somy question is how worried should I be about being pigeonholed to GIS and forever barred from doing any development work? I plan on quitting and moving to Albuquerque NM at the end of this year so I just want to know if my current job experience will be held against me.

5 Comments
2024/04/26
19:07 UTC

0

Has anyone's professional experience not been all that much more difficult than your personal/school projects and fundamentals?

This is something I don't really understand. I get that some companies work on very complex projects, but all my experiences so far have not been a great deal more difficult than school projects or personal projects.

It very well could be that I haven't work at very growth-opportunistic companies, but usually anything new they throw at me isn't necessarily anymore difficult to learn than learning fundamental CS concepts for the first time or even a new technology for the first time.

I keep hearing that companies want "professional" experience but like.. how much more complex can things really get?

10 Comments
2024/04/26
19:04 UTC

0

For the backend, what’s the mostly used one in Europe besides Java?

I currently live in the US, but I am planning on traveling to Europe in the future. Would love to set up a good future for me when I move. This being the case, besides Java, what is mostly used for the backend in Europe?

1 Comment
2024/04/26
18:57 UTC

2

Job Hunt Progression and Experience | How do you get past HR and the Hiring Manager?

Hello, I'm reflecting and looking for some advice on my job hunt journey

Background

I started my hunt about 3 months ago starting from nothing, LC, Resume, STAR, career sites, First round interviews. Lots of learning and improving. I knew I would fail a lot but I kept moving.

  • Still Employed at a startup
  • Career mid-level but I have a lot of senior influence and responsibilities at my current company.

General Experience

At a startup you can wear multiple hats, I've done PM Work, Field Engineering, Customer Support, Back end, Frontend, Infrastructure, Cloud, New Languages, MVP Products, Proposals, Very large RFQ, etc.

Time to move on

  • The company is so small and family-oriented. I know if I don't have meaningful equity and TC, I am throwing my career down the drain. I have no network at work, a terrible market sector, etc.

Resume
From my diverse experience I've found I can write some pretty big accomplishments. The best points cover a large range of areas. From infrastructure deployments to back-end services. For example

Led the strategic overhaul of the Data Aggregation Service, shifting from monolith to Golang-based microservices architecture. Enabled horizontal scaling, achieving a 200% increase in data throughput.

Management Stuff

Project Managed and Supported a "Vary Large Hotel & Casino" IP network upgrade, overseeing the installation of 220+ network switches. ~ $1,250,000 project.

First Accomplishment,

I've been able to get calls, and I've talked to Palantir, Stripe, JPM, Smaller companies < 200 people, and Contract Stuff. Coming from someone who failed to get anything during college, the growth feels good. I've done something right.

Screening calls

I'm pretty personable and happy as I secretly really like talking to people (As a dev who is sitting alone :\).

After the first hump of awkward calls and being unsure how to answer questions, I've gotten to the point where I can't pick up the phone and unprompted take an interview without a sweat. ( doesn't mean I succeed but it's a nice conversation)

  • Side note, HR dont randomly call me, send me an email, or something. I also have a job!!

This is where I'm unsure what's going on and I'm losing self-esteem/minor depression.
I seem to never get a second call, or it's 1/10 or something. I feel so low and lost all motivation (but not the anxiety). I know jobs can drop for any reason, internal hire, friend hire, budget, not the right fit, not enough experience etc. But I'm not even failing at the technical interview. It's like I can't get a foot in the door. I simply talked to an HR who knows nothing about the position and then ghosted. No feedback, Nothing.

What's even worse is nothing matters until you have an offer.

  • I got to one final round, and was told "was a perfect cultural fit" but we wanted someone with more experience. Still a little peeved as I did a full 48-hour code project for them, and they could at least, given me an offer for a lower title.
  • I asked for feedback and again got nothing, the recruiter said you did great but the employer ended it.

Advice
How do you get past HR and the hiring manager, nothing seems to work. To get hired is like 6 rounds of interviews, and you will get cut at any round. How can I improve if I can't even get past the level 1 boss?

The more interviews I'd do, the more I don't understand what they are looking for?
- Want experience with x,y,z. I have most or all
- Want someone personable and fun. Check
- Want someone willing to move, work in the office Check
- Hard-working. Check
- Reasonable salary, Tell me the bands and "I'll say yes that's fine".

Meh not good enough rejected, what more do you want?

0 Comments
2024/04/26
18:40 UTC

0 Comments
2024/04/26
18:24 UTC

1

Advice on giving a quote for a contract

Excuse my formatting, mobile.

I was offered to run a project for a music label. I know these requirements are vague, but I’m looking for a reasonable starting place. Initial message I received is as follows:

“I would like an app where people can input all their social media accounts, for example, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, etc., and from there they can track their engagement. I work with music artists and I want to create an app where they can see who their fans are and where they are in the world. This model would be free, and paid subscribers can then invest money into advertising to promote posts on the platform. basically the artists can check the use engagement of each post on the app, they can take a subscription plan to promote a post based on the user engagement details they have and that post will be promoted on that social media account not on the app.”

From my research there are a few existing apps that do something similar, I haven’t received a response yet about what those apps are missing, but I’m going to assume it has to do with music streaming platform integration.

I don’t want to make this post too long so any other information needed I will answer in the comments.

0 Comments
2024/04/26
18:14 UTC

2

Work Life Balance or Money with Two Competing Offers

Hi all, first time poster so forgive me if this breaks the rules.

The short is that I'm looking for advice on where to move in my career since I'm completely torn and everyone I've spoken to IRL has given me conflicting opinions.

I've recently accepted a job offer from Capital One for the position of Senior Software Engineer. I'm excited for the work and the WLB is excellent. It's also within walking distance of home. The pay is 170 base + 20 sign-on

Today, I received an offer from Amazon for SDE2 which monetarily is insane: 270 TC (amortized over 4 years) but I'd be putting on golden handcuffs. Moreover, the WLB is guaranteed to be way worse - I'd be on-call regularly and will likely be working my ass off to not get wrecked by their stack ranking. It's also a 25 minute drive from home.

The question then is do I renege on Cap1 and accept Amazon?

Some pros and cons:

Amazon:

- TC is bananas

- Looks better on a resume

- Will likely end up learning more

- Will work way more and be on-call regularly

- Further away

- Potentially burn a bridge with Cap1

- Golden handcuffs for at least 2 years

Cap1:

- WLB is as good as it gets

- Work is more exciting

- Walking distance

- A full tier below Amazon in terms of prestige

I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts, especially if you've gone through a similar decision before. I'm happy to answer questions, Thanks in advance.

12 Comments
2024/04/26
18:11 UTC

3

How to take notes/keep track of what you have done/accomplished at your job?

I graduated back in May 2023 and I've been at my current job for just over 3 months now. I did have another job for almost 3 months back in the summer but got laid off. After I got laid off from that job, I had to update my resume but I struggled to remember what all I did/accomplished during my time at that job. I don't want to repeat that experience again when I am looking to move jobs again a year or two down the line. Currently I take like 10 minutes before our daily stand ups to write out what I did yesterday and what I am doing today, but I often just shorthand to story numbers. Do you guys have a system for taking notes of things you do and accomplish at your job so that you are better prepared to update your resume and discuss what you did at your job down the line when you are looking for another job?

2 Comments
2024/04/26
17:52 UTC

1

How can I maximize my experience with this upcoming project at work?

I'm currently a web developer who works on a CMS. The job is very chill. I've gotten HTML/CSS and to an extent JS pretty well, for junior level. I'm now learning React -- on the job. Bless.

We have a project coming up. It will just be me and my co-worker who is about a year out of college, that will be working on building this application.

They're essentially leaving it up to the two of us to build. I've had other dev-adjacent roles before, but this will be my first role working on building an actual application. They're leaving it up to us to decide the tech stack. We chose .NET and React, with a MySQL DB.

I was thinking of incorporating other tech such as NextJS and Tailwind. Any other recommendations on how to approach this? The app is an internal one that will display a table with the ability to edit/create/delete and filter records.

I will mostly work on the frontend with some opportunities to work on backend. My coworker will mostly work on backend with opportunities for frontend. What else can I do to maximize my experience with this? I think anything cloud is out of the question, fyi. And will this experience even matter much since it's essentially 2 professionally inexperienced devs working on this?

0 Comments
2024/04/26
17:38 UTC

76

My supervisor asked for a copy of my college transcript for his H1B1 visa extension. Is this normal?

I work in an IT company with lots of Indians who are on visa. I’m a US citizen working in the states and my supervisor is asking for a scanned copy of my degree certificate to send to his attorney for visa extension filing.. is this normal?

39 Comments
2024/04/26
17:27 UTC

5

How to be a solo developer in a midsize company

Hello Everyone,

I finished by Masters in CS last year and started at a very niche company. In essence they do financial analysis for larger companies.

When I started I was quickly placed into a project, which involved automating some part of the analysis into a web application. Basically to enable customers to do their owm calculations with the data we provide. I was introduced to the Developer team (4 other guys) and the project kickoff started.

6 months later and I am the only one who contributed to the project. The other devs participated in the kickoff, but later said they had no time to contribute to it. I build the whole web application by myself, including backend, frontend, database and server maintenance. I have no idea how I was able to manage to this all by myself, because it also included a bunch of complicated calculations which I never did before.

The product has just been launched and I am being blamed for a dozen of bugs that I did not test for. Although this are minor bugs, I feel terrible and like they used me. I put in a lot of overtime and even worked on holidays to make the deadline.

My questions for everyone in this subreddit is: Did you ever experience a similiar situation at a company? What would you suggest for me?

I am thinking about quitting, because non of the other devs has been helping out and management is shifting all the blame on me. Although the application works well in general. Also it is not like the other devs truly do not have time, I think they jsut generally lack the knowledge to help me with certain issues.

5 Comments
2024/04/26
17:24 UTC

2

Evaluate Apple Austin IS&T ICT Offer

I’d love some thoughts on these offer numbers I received for an ICT3 role based out of Austin. It is primarily a back-end role.

Upon doing some reading here and elsewhere online, I have seen some rather negative things about IS&T, which is worrying me a bit. I would love to hear if these negative things still hold true (i.e. poor WLB, challenging managers, difficulty working with contractors, issues of inclusion, poor technical ability). I would be in the Partner Solutions and Technology organization (PS&T) specifically, so even more insight into that team would be great as well.

Apple Pros

- Apple looks good on Resume

- Higher TC

Apple Cons

- Possible bad experiences in IS&T (bad WLB especially)

- Move to Austin, I know close to no one there

Current Pros

- Good WLB, good tech

- Good people

- May get promoted to senior next year (but not guaranteed)

Current Cons

- Bad comp

- Stagnation in career

I am leaning towards going with Apple for resume and TC reasons.

YOE: 3

4 Comments
2024/04/26
17:16 UTC

1

iCapital Platform Infrastructure Intern vs Siemens Healthineers SWE intern

Siemens Healthineers pays $32/hour and I’ve been working on the team since last summer (full time during summer and part-time during school weeks). My project this summer relates to building an API for customer segmentation. I’m on a very very low stress team and remote but the starting full time pay is low. At the same time if I ever want to aim for big tech next summer I would have lots of time to Leetcode/interview prep this summer since I only worked about 3 hours a day last summer and they were pleased with my work.

iCapital pays $40/ hour with a relocation and transportation stipen in NYC for the summer only. My intern title is Platform Infrastructure Engineer intern and my role contains working a lot with devop tools and some coding in ruby rails or scala and react. Wlb is definitely worse than Siemens since it’s in-person and I will be learning everything for the first time since I don’t know devops or ruby rails/scala. I’m not sure how much iCapital full time pay is. At the same time, since iCapital is fintech I want to know if it’s actually worth joining.

Basically do I stick with Siemens Healthineers which has great wlb (so I can interview prep for big tech) and a year-round intern pay structure but a known low full time pay or iCapital which there is a lot of unknown but is fintech.

0 Comments
2024/04/26
17:15 UTC

0

I bombed my coding assessment. Should I message recruiter?

I reached out to a recruiter for an internship, we know each other (barely) from an event. I don’t think he remembers, but I messaged him still. He was very nice and sent me the coding assessment. I BOMBED IT. IT WAS SO SHIT. I did not submit EITHER OF THEM. And they were easy LC.. I just never done leetcode before and haven’t coded in months. why i applied you ask? I thought there wouldn’t be a coding assessment… Don’t ask me why, I’m only a first-year and not from US. So, after bombing the OA. should i message the recruiter that i did bad becayse i havent had time to practice consistently etc? its a company i wanna work for in the fhture. and say something like, ill practice more in the summer and reapply when they announce a new internship? Because the recruiter even said he thinks im fit for the role (i have had 2 internships, 0 coding required).

So should i message thr recruiter? What if this bombs my chances of getting OA next year? Or he won’t care?

8 Comments
2024/04/26
17:13 UTC

2

How to answer a question when you have no/little experience in a specific technology | Advice

Hello,

When someone asks about your experience with one of thousands of technologies, How do you say you have little expertise without exing yourself out of the first round interview?

"Do you have any experience with Graphql?". This is how I've approached this problem, connect as many points as you can and be truthful. Some - little experience is better than zero? right?

My answer:
I wrote an MVP using Graphql as an extension to our public-facing Python API, but we don't use Graphql actively here at "current company". bla bla bla then try to connect their use case for Graphql back into your conversation (to show you you understand the benefits of Graphql).

There are thousands of technologies and keywords, and it feels like if you say something wrong you're cut.

Am I doing something wrong, is this the wrong way to approach this?

5 Comments
2024/04/26
17:13 UTC

0

Help Please! Need Suggestions For Next Steps and Recommendations What To Take To Get Into Software Engineering/Full Stack Developer Jobs! Thank you !

Hello Everyone !
I’m very new to coding, going the self taught route as I can’t afford school and it’s difficult to juggling school, family & full time work. I’m 22, and I’ve been in the social service worker field since 17 so it’s a complete turn around for me. I really want to get into either software engineering the most but I would be equally happy to get into full stack coding or DevOps and they are my back-up open options so I don’t limit my opportunities. I target my more specific questions down at the very bottom. 😊
Currently I am enrolled in a coding camp that teaches me the very basics of the following ( please let me know in the comments which ones you feel I should focus on more with the current needs in the coding industry ) :
- HTML ( course-complete)
- CSS ( course-complete)
- JavaScript ( course-partial-complete)
- VsCode ( course-complete )
- API
- Git
- GitHub
- Hosting
- AI
- Bootstrap
- SEO
- Responsive
- React.js
I felt I needed a lot more advanced exposure to HTML and CSS after finishing the camp, so I went looking for a YouTube step-by-step tutorial video that could teach me more as I have ADHD and need the instructions layed out start to finish with every click. So far, I’ve been doing great and feel that I’ve gotten HTML & CSS down ( I watched a 6.5 hour YouTube video by SuperSimpleDev and it was very informative/amazing. I was able to replicate the YouTube website he was teaching with near ease. Though I do feel I need a bit more practise with Grids and Flexbox as they can get a little confusing.
In terms of my next steps I’m thinking of tackling either JavaScript ( which I got the very basics of such as ‘let’ ‘alert ‘ and how to build a button + call a button and add an EventListener, however I haven’t gone past it and still need some more practise on calling the button itself), or I was thinking of tackling python. I am completely open to getting certificates like AWS and Cloud, Azure because I know the importance of them but based on what I have said above are there any other suggestions you can make for me ? In Addition to the above, once I learn basic coding I do really want to learn Version Control, Linux, Agile Development, Coding SQL, Operations, Docker/KUbernetes, Infrastructure as Code ( Terraform or ASW Cloud Form), Ansible, CI/DI Pipelines, Jenkins and learn monitoring. However, I know all those majorly apply to Devops and I have tried jumping into learning them but i've run into the problem that my computer ( Mac) is just too old for the programs and is not able to download then even with the older versions, I also feel that when I jumped into it I wasn't able to yet find a good "teacher" on youtube and have been looking to possibly take the "Zero To Mystery Devops Engineering course" as it offers almost all of the above and I hope that it'll introduce me to it all just like my front/back end boocamp did.

I know I’m no expert yet and I am not even close to getting a software engineer job/full staff coding but I’m in a bit of a sticky situation with my current job truly affecting my physical and mental health and I really do have the motivation to learn and get this rolling. Even though the imposter syndrome has peeked in once in a while as running into issues like semi colons missing or even just a simple spelling mistake of a missing letter I have still been able to push through and come back again and again with motivation to learn. I am hoping that someone can pave a little bit of a road for me that I can use so I’m not running all over the place learning everything when I might not need it all. I would also be super appreciative and thankful if someone can suggest any meat-ups and events to make connections with other coders and build those relationships ( location ON, Canada ).

Questions:
1.What kind of portfolios ( specific if possible) would you recommend I do to impress an employer for someone who doesn’t have a degree? ( for ex, would recreating a page on twitter or Reddit be impressive enough).
2.Based on what I know so far, where would you suggest I go next in order to increase my chances of getting a software engineer job or full stack developer/coder?
3.Do you have any suggestions of meetups/events that occur in ON,Canada that I can attend and network to ensure better chances in the work force or even just in general good connections to have ?
4.Do you have any recommendations of certifications you highly suggest I get ( even if they are on the more expensive side ) that will help me stand out a lot to employers and show them I know what I’m doing?
5.Lastly, what recommendations do you have or do you have any examples of what a fully entry level resume for this industry should look like ? As I don’t have any job experience I am hoping to fill it with tons of portfolio but I need recommendations on how my resume should look without the job experience section.
Thank you so much again ! I hope I can get lots of feedback.

1 Comment
2024/04/26
17:02 UTC

20

Things I've Learned (6 months unemployed, 3 job offers, 1 YOE)

Just as a note, the offer I accepted is not for SWE, but is instead for "Business Intelligence Developer". I abandoned the SWE dream in around February or so. The other two offers were for an RPA developer position and a data analyst position.

Having said that, here's what I'd learned since October…

For ALL positions:

  • Being early truly is key. I found far, far greater success when applying to newer positions.
  • Don't assume you're "in" even with an offer. I have a friend who had made it all the way through the Meta interview process, received an offer, and was not able to be placed, despite being absolutely incredible at LeetCode and having 3+ YOE. Keep applying.

Specifically for SWE positions:

  • I hadn't had many, or any, LeetCode questions in any of the technical interviews. One used their own proprietary software, so that was an interesting challenge. I received many HackerRank questionnaires, though. Generally timed and all of that jazz. They seemed more common with the banking companies I was applying to. One company asked me for the five main HTTP methods.
    • I want to note, though, that these Leetcode questions could come at later stages that I didn't make it to. Considering the state of the current landscape, they probably abandoned me early on in favor of some ex-MAANG employee or someone with a Masters in CS.

For non-SWE positions:

  • I had found that the technical questions were basically nonexistent. By that I mean anything regarding RPA tools I’d used, deeper questions regarding data and statistical analysis, and no probing questions about languages beyond the fact that I’d used them. Thankfully I am pretty good with soft skills, which seemed to be the primary focu, but it's taken a long while to be as comfortable as I am now (I grew up with crippling social anxiety).

If you, like me, have to abandon SWE hopes and dreams, try searching with more vague terms like "developer", "engineer", or "analyst". I found positions I'd never even heard of, like "analytics engineer", and had interviews for many of these positions.

Best of luck to you, and may you suffer as little bullshit as possible.

19 Comments
2024/04/26
17:00 UTC

1

Is it possible for the following research projects I've done to be leveraged into data science and/or ML experience?

The projects I have done  and are here and here. . I was wondering if it is possible to tell, even by briefly looking at them, if they can somehow count as data science and/or machine learning experience. Maybe if there is a way to present the work and its applicability.

0 Comments
2024/04/26
16:54 UTC

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