I'm approaching my first year as a graduate software engineer in Belfast, UK, currently earning £24k.

Based on my research, there are companies hiring new grads at starting salaries of £30k+. Given my contributions to various projects over the year, I'm considering asking for a raise to at least £30k, ideally £32k.

Is this a realistic expectation for someone with my experience, or am I aiming too high?

Similar to the other recent name and shame, what is the worst interview process you've gone through?

For me, Supermicro and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. The former had a first round interview with 9 people in a Teams call and none of them had their cameras on or introduced themselves. The latter ghosted me on the second round twice after initially rescheduling

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Hello, My sister is doing her B.Tech in IT (India) she has to choose a elective for this year. She is confused between Artificial intelligence & machine learning and data science. Can you help her out. She wants to know which subject has more scope, and which which is more difficult to study. Thanks!

qualifications B.tech IT

Hi everybody. I'm (M 20) doing my bachelors in data science and currently I'm in the final days of my 6th semester. I'll be starting my FYP(Final Year Project) in july. I can either do it in Research and development or can create a project like a website which solves a real world problem (a fully deployed project). My interest is in R&D but the thing is that haven't done R&D in my whole life. I do know concepts of data science which I've learnt throughoutout my degree but nothing about R&D. for my FYP, I will also be assigned a advisor teacher who works as a mentor for us. l'd highly appreciate if anyone with experience or knowledge of R&D in data science could give me an overview of how things are, What specific domain of Data science should i do R&D in?, any ideas to propose to my advisor teacher because the best of the best advisors only select the groups with the brightest ideas.

So i would really appreciate guidance from you all.

Usually I do frontend stories and my team leader assigned me a pretty challenging optimization story that was, like, half worked on by a senior. That senior is offering me little-to-no mentorship and I'm having difficulty getting the motivation to work at all because I just have no interest in this and it's hard. It really serves zero purpose for anything I'd like to do in the future.

Honestly I just don't want any part of it, and I feel like I got shafted with my senior putting a timeline on the project for me - then completely stepping off about what I'm suppose to do for the work or helping me when I'm not finishing on time. Or at least vouching for the fact that I need more time in scrum.

Do I just have to accept that stupid shit like this happens and keep repeating in scrum that it's not done yet? When I asked my senior, he said these projects can take a lot of time, but he doesn't bring that up and vouch for it when I repeat what he said to me in scrum to my very sceptical business leaders.

Hi folks,

I am planning to move to Tier 3 city and want to go completely remote. I have been remote employee for past 3 yrs. My only worry is that will I be able to grow in managerial role if i go full remote?

Hey so I am planning on going to the Army as a either a 25B, 12A, or 94F. Anywhere in the Engineering Career Field.

The part where I am conflicted is I want to get a WFH Comp Sci job but will they deny me from it because I've been in the Army

Or will I have more job offers from GovTech and possibly FAANG or Corporate Jobs. I am really confused because even with GovTech ( Lockheed, L3Harris, Boeing, and Raytheon) I need government clearance and which will require me to be in the Army to get it

Side Question (Answer if you want to )

Can I get a Graduate Certificate to boost Computer Engineering Portfolio ?

I applied to a company headquartered in Romania (https://www.geostru.eu/en/), they make software for Civil Engineering and because of my academic background in Civil Engineering and a couple of years of experience as a developer, I would have been pretty good for the company. Anyway, I was interested in the products that make, so I decided to apply. They asked me to complete a project for them. The project was equivalent to an Masters Dissertation project in a university. Even at my current skill level, it would take me upto 15 days to complete it. I am desperate for a job, but this seems unfair and excessive. I refused to do it, because I would rather spend my effort trying elsewhere. In return, I don't even know the pay or prospects of that job. Why do hiring managers think they can get away such unreasonable demands? I hate this.

Still, I feel worried that I should have bitten the bullet and one the project.

Been working at Amazon in total for 7 years and been in IT for 3 years now. I've been looking around on the "reddits" here and I've been seeing people say that it's pretty much impossible to get an entry level SDE role. I'm almost done my BA degree in CS, but is it pretty much mandatory to do an internship and do I have a chance at an SDE/SWE role since I actively work at FAANG? I know it's not "s0ftw4r3 3ngin33r," but IT is in "tech," so maybe it will help a little bit as I still have to work with people, change management, tickets, etc... ??

been trying to help my friend in CS school to get an internship but I told him there are very few ones in LinkedIn, I guess he has no other option to find someone who can refer him

ps: yes I know about oversaturation and supply/demand, but what other factors are contributing to the problem?

I'm a 20M currently in second year of CS major. I'm thinking of learning Data Science. Can you give me your opinions on the actual field, and if you have a roadmap that I can study with? What do you think are the best courses too?

I'm a little over half-way through my online WGU CS program, and a month away from finishing my 2nd term. Started with a speed run in mind but 180'd after reading more about the job market. Decided to study in depth and take advantage of student only resources.

I've got difficulty focusing on anything other than school while in term. Trying to decide if It's a good idea to take a couple months off and how to best utilize that time. Here's some options:

-Leetcode grind - improve problem solving/interview skills. Currently spend a couple of hours on ez's

-Work on side projects to build out CV - Don't have much relevant SWE experience or non-school projects. Do have an AS CS and started a small IT biz

-Construct a CV and start applying everywhere - Focusing primarily on student only internships

-Diversify and grab some cybersecurity certs NET+, SEC+, etc - 40% voucher discount as a student. Maybe useful for DoD, Gov jobs, and flexibility in an interesting field

I believe the current job market has more variables than past downturns reducing demand. TCJA's S174 amendment short-long term & AI mid-long term, regardless of opinions. Hopefully we're in the middle of an overcorrection. I'm trying to figure out how to best adjust or wait out the storm.

Any recommendations?

Hey all, I'm looking for a bit of advice on what I can do to pursue my interests and move my career along. Hoping to get advice from people in this area of tech.

Firstly, my situation: Graduating 2025 with a BACS degree from a T30, have a few internships (IT, SWE, SWE), and some decent projects.

Over the past two semesters I've been slowly realizing that I really like systems programming such as: networks, OS, compilers, embedded, really anything lower level.

I am curious about a few things. Firstly, is having a BA a problem at all? I know that for more hardware related roles a BS is probably required/sought after. If this is the case, what could I do? Changing my degree would not be doable at this point with only 2 semesters left. Could I go back to school a get a masters in computer engineering, or would I need to get a second bachelors? (this seems extreme)

Would applying to more systems related roles and trying to do that for a few years before going back for an MS be a better idea?

I guess I'm just unsure of what the industry expects you to have from a degree perspective to pursue roles in this field.

I posted this in ADHD_Programmers subreddit and was recommended to post here for replies:

I finished a coding bootcamp a month ago and I feel like I already forgot everything. And I’m panicking and scrambling on what to do next. I already felt like I didn’t understand a lot coming out of the bootcamp and now that feeling is even worse. I lost all structure of the bootcamp and I can’t seem to self teach myself. I don’t feel good enough to even apply to jobs. I can’t do any leetcode.

I’m finding all these classes online that people say are good like udemy and Harvard ones and I’ve started so many of these classes but can’t seem to get through them or focus on them. My meds aren’t working anymore because I’m just overpowered by anxiety and executive dysfunction. What do I do? Where do I start?

I'm a self taught junior android dev working in Berlin for a large company. This is my first job and I'm finishing up in the probation period of six months soon. I clearly have lots and lots to learn still and don't feel personally like I'm the top candidate for every job. So with all this in mind;

How long should I wait until I move country?

I'm a UK citizen and would be possibly moving to London once I get my German citizenship this year.

What would be the best ( or maybe even minimum) amount of time I should stay at my first job before the relocation?

TIA

Two months ago I was ''forced'' a dry promotion by my company where I had my workload increased at least threefold without a pay raise. I don't know how to get out of this conundrum without losing my job (spoiler: I can't just quit because of a thing called rent and bills)

Summary: I was the ''Team Lead'' of one the projects of my company where I was responsible of managing one other employee besides myself. I had a lot of responsibilities since the project actually needed at least 4 people but us two managed somehow, also the pay wasn't a lot but it was at least okay. Until two months ago, the lead of the biggest project decided to quit cold turkey because of a burnout. It wasn't surprising because I knew how much they worked him. My boss then offered me the position, basically a big promotion because it's the lead role of the biggest project of the company where I will manage 10 other employees and run all the communication with other shareholders. Basically it meant my workload will increase threefold (which it did)

But this so-called promotion offer came with 2 catches: First one is I still had to keep my old role in addition to the new one since there is no one else in the company and they won't hire anyone else. The other is they can't give me a raise at the moment for the typical bullshit corporate reasons.

I tried to refuse the offer but it was basically imposed upon me, and they made it clear it wasn't actually an offer but I had to do it if I want to keep my job. Now, no one explicitly said this but it was clear that's what they meant. I ''accepted'' the job unwillingly and started working as the Team Lead of both of the projects.

Since then, I have been working non-stop with a lot of stress and anything goes wrong people turns to me for an explanation. I feel like it's not humanly possible to do all of the things they ask me to do and I do all of this to make the same money I was making two months ago. I am on the verge of a mental breakdown. I have been trying to find new jobs with my ''new title'' but I had no luck so far.

I have been thinking about telling them I want my old position back and I can't do this anymore, but I'm afraid it'll not be an option because the company doesn't have anyone else internally to fill my current role. It feels like they will fire me if I tell them I don't want this new role anymore.

What can I do to make my work life a bit better and avoid a breakdown?

What a difference a couple years makes.

I remember seeing posts on this sub not too long ago about people complaining that they had too little work to do while making 250k TC and working remotely from their fishing boat. Now, the posts have transitioned from the market being terrible to FAANG offshoring/outsourcing jobs, DEI/race wars, and class action lawsuits against bootcamps.

Man, this place is really something else.

Regardless of all these doom posts swe jobs are still going to be highly demanded but with a different skill set. Instead of being good at writing code the highly demanded skills may be knowing how to prompt engineer. What do you think the demanded skills will be with swe in the future?

What is the best way to spend free time becoming a better SWE as well as setting yourself up for success in interviewing? (Besides LC)

Hey, I'm an Icelandic software dev that's been interested in moving to the US from before I even started my degree.

I just took part in the green-card lottery and didn't get selected to go through with that so I've started looking into other options.

I have a few questions about how the job market works in the US, firstly I'm wondering how realistic even is this dream I have? It is super unlikely for me to be able to apply for a job and get it from abroad and secondly, what are the best ways to look for jobs in the States? Usually people just talk about LinkedIn but I'm wondering if there are some other sites that help with job hunting in the states.

Some info about me, I have a BSc degree in Computer Science and have 2 years of experience working. I was going to on a exchange program to the US during my degree but COVID hit the semester I was supposed to do that.

Thanks for reading, any advice or tips are appreciated.

I asked this a while ago and got a lot of great answers that made me reconsider my applications. In the wake of layoffs, many of my friends have told me about the horrible working conditions of their companies that are not known to have bad work environments.

Being the nosy person I am, I want to know which company you worked at that was pretty bad, if any.

Is it worth bringing that as a datapoint to help when negotiating a salary? Or are there non self reported sites?

Hello. I am a fullstack developer from eastern Europe. I'm 30. I have about 5 years of commercial programming experience. I guess my English is b1-b2.
In six months, I'm supposed to get my master's in computer science.
My main stack is javascript (typescript) and go.

The technologies, and libraries I am familiar with are
Frontend:
javascript, typescript, vue, react, redux, vuex, react-router, tanstack-query, axios, vite, dnd-kit, eslint, styled component, css-modules, hook-form, htmx, alpineJS, zod, yup, firebase, monorepo, nx, turborepo, react-router, tanstack-router
Backend:
SQL, postgres, golang, docker, REST, gRPC, SSE, sqlc, docker-compose, nodeJS, microservices.
Secondary skills:
git, unix, shell, lua, vim:)
I have solved only few problems on leetcode, but I can tighten this skill.
Now I am studying system design.

Here are my questions:

1. What salary can I expect in Europe?
2. Do I have to go to a specific country to get an offer or it is still possible to find a remote job?
3. Please give me some advice on what knowledge and skills I should pump.
4. I have an opportunity to go to live in North America (USA and Canada) but my health is not very strong. Am I doing the right thing by trying to find a job in Europe or should I take the risk?

Thanks

Hey all,

Sorry if this is a weird or dumb question but im curious, for people who are Senior/Staff/Principal SWEs at big tech companies, how much of your time is spent in meetings vs coding?

At Rainforest, I was part of 2 teams and on both teams, I saw that the senior dev on my team were primarily in meetings all day and did very little coding. Ik this is anecdotal info and that it varies from team to team. However, i really enjoy designing and coding features and don't enjoy being in meetings for hours each day. I'm wondering if being a senior+ SWE is right for me.

TY

I just started applying to jobs, but it's taking some time to hear back from most positions. How much time should I expect to wait for an application to convert into a first interview or tech screener, if I'm going to get an interview or tech screener?

I got a MS in CS with a focus on ML. However, when I graduated, the job market was and is still tough and most ML jobs in my desired location required at least 2 yoE. I now have the YOEs in full stack and want to move back to ML/data science roles. What are some practical personal projects or technologies I can work on to add to/ build my portfolio to be more marketable in such role?

I've been living in a VHCOL city on the west coast for the past few years, working as a software engineer. My company has an office out here, but announced recently they're closing it at the end of the month, after which I'll be fully remote.

I don't particularly care for the city I live in, and thought that remote work would be a great opportunity to move to a larger city with more energy, namely NYC. I've been floating this idea around my team since the announcement of the closure was made, and haven't gotten any negative feedback around it, so I felt pretty confident about the topic when I officially asked my boss if I could move to NYC after I become fully remote.

He got back to me a few days later (after speaking with HR), and said that a move is totally doable, if I take a $50k pay cut in my TC. I was pretty floored at this request, especially since by any metric NYC is more expensive than where I currently live, but the rationale is that the pay bands in NYC are ostensibly lower for my job compared to my current city.

I'm wondering, is this level of pay cut common for a move from the west coast to NYC? It seems totally unreasonable to me, especially after looking at jobs at some of the other tech companies operating out of NYC. Many of these companies actually explicitly state that their pay bands are identical for NYC and the city I live in currently. Does anyone has experience with this kind of move?

I recently took a coditility test for a role at ScotiaBank. However, I didn't receive any acknowledgement email for registration or completion. It just said "If you want to get more feedback on your test, contact your test sponsor." To make sure I retook the test with different email, and it was the same. Now I don't know whether the Bank has got my results or not. I don't know if I should continue applying on ScotiaBank with the first email (the one I took the test with). And whether ScotiaBank would align the application and the test results or not? And if so, then how?