I immigrated to the U.S. in 2021, completely alone. No family, no friends, no connections. Just hope that if I worked hard enough, I could build a better future.
I received housing assistance through a program and eventually got my green card through a petition filed nearly twenty years ago.Since then, I’ve done everything I was told to do. I went to college, earned a 4.0 GPA, reached out to professionals on LinkedIn, attended events, and pushed myself out of my comfort zone to build connections from absolutely nothing.Yet somehow, it’s never enough.Even when I land interviews, opportunities often seem to go to someone who knows someone. I once reached out to a director asking for a chance, only to be told they had a position saved for their kid’s friend.Everyone says, “It’s all about connections.”But what about those of us who were born without any?What about the low-income, first-generation immigrant who has no family to make introductions, no friends to offer referrals, and no safety net to fall back on?
With an already brutal job market and AI threatening the future of work, it sometimes feels like I’m fighting a battle I was never meant to win.
I’m tired of being told to work hard when that’s all I’ve ever done.I don’t want pity. I don’t want a handout. I just want someone to see my potential before dismissing me because I don’t know the right people.
So, if you’re anyone who’s someone reading this, please take a chance on me. I’m not asking you to give me a career. I’m asking for a chance to earn one.

My company's moving toward 100% AI automated development pipelines. While it looks great in theory and executives are saying "no token caps!", since none of these AI behemoths are actually making money the prices are going to have to go up eventually.
And when that happens the pipelines will degrade in quality, no?

I graduated in Spring 2026 with a CS degree from a well-regarded Canadian university. I didn't land any internships during undergrad, but I did complete about a year of research work with a professor.

In Fall 2025, I applied to several U.S. master's programs to explore my options and ended up getting accepted into an MS in CS program at a top UC school. The program takes approximately a year to complete, and I'm currently enrolled, paying out-of-state tuition.

Here's my situation:

My family is financially comfortable, and our family business is covering the cost of my degree. I'm extremely grateful for that, but I've questioned whether this master's is actually worth the investment.

I'm a Canadian citizen, so I already have the potential to work in the U.S. through TN status for qualifying positions. My argument to my parents before enrolling was that I could focus on finding a job, gaining experience, and earning money rather than spending another year in school paying expensive tuition.

They insisted that I pursue the master's, explaining that the business could cover the expense and that the money would otherwise go toward taxes or other business expenses.

My biggest concern is the difference in our expectations.

My parents seem to believe that graduating with a master's from a prestigious U.S. university will lead to an offer from a company like OpenAI, Anthropic, or Palantir.

I see things differently. Given the current CS job market, I'd be happy landing a solid entry/mid-level position in software engineering, QA, product management, or another field related to my degree. I'm not expecting a six-figure offer from a top tech company simply because I have a master's.

There's also the immigration aspect. My parents are now asking how I plan to remain in the U.S. after graduating. I've explained that F-1 status is temporary, that OPT provides a limited period of post-graduation work authorization, and that longer-term employment requires additional planning. I also pointed out that TN status could potentially have allowed me to work in the U.S. without pursuing this degree, provided I secured a qualifying job.

At this point, I'm also experiencing academic burnout. I worked hard throughout undergrad, graduated with strong grades, and honestly don't have the same motivation to push for perfect grades in graduate school. I'm focusing on completing my degree while preparing for the job market.

I'm concerned that even if I land a perfectly respectable job after graduating, my parents may be disappointed because they expect a much bigger outcome from their investment. I raised these concerns before enrolling, but they still wanted to pay for the degree.

My questions:

1. Is a one-year MS in CS from a top UC school worth it for someone in my position, especially without traditional internship experience?
2. As a Canadian citizen with potential TN eligibility, would it have made more sense to focus on finding employment directly?
3. Should I prioritize recruiting, projects, and interview preparation over maintaining perfect grades at this point?
4. Has anyone dealt with family members who financially support their education but have unrealistic expectations about the jobs it will lead to?

I'd appreciate perspectives from people who have gone through something similar, especially Canadian graduates working in the U.S. or people who completed an MS in CS.

Hey everyone, I'm a principal software engineer with 15 years of experience. I've worked at FAANG companies and startups, both remote and on-site. There is a lot of negativity on this subreddit, and for years I've talked to people who say "I've applied to hundreds of jobs and can't find anything!"

I've gotten pretty good at finding jobs over the years, and I think some of you might find this useful.

(I dictated this and had AI format it, but it's not AI-gen, hand to god lol. Frankly the formatting still looks weird but I can't be bothered)

1. Don't apply through company websites

Submitting your resume directly through a company website is useless. If it wasn't useless 10 years ago, it certainly is now with the flood of AI-generated applications.

It can actually be worse than useless. Once you're in a company's system, recruiters may not be able to get a referral bonus for you, because you're technically already a lead. You may be removing someone's incentive to place you.

2. Build a big list of target companies

Aggressively list companies that interest you. Narrow by salary, location, remote-friendliness, etc. if you want, but cast as wide a net as possible. More offers mean more negotiating leverage. Use AI to help you build your list. Build a daily AI job that finds and compiles relevant jobs from those companies and similar for you, then take those job listing and shove them under the nose of some recruiters on linkedin with your resume in hand.

3. Work LinkedIn systematically

• Maintain a LinkedIn account. You don't have to post, but add all your professional and school contacts. Connections are what let you message recruiters and employees for referrals.
• Referrals and recruiters are how your resume actually gets seen.
• Use AI to find a couple of recruiters at each target company, plus a couple of 1st-, 2nd-, or 3rd-degree connections who work there.
• Add and message all of them. Ask for referrals or opportunities. Every one of them now has a financial incentive to help you land a role. If that doesn't work, ask on Blind (I know, it's a depressing cesspool).

4. Check out Wellfound (startups)

Startups are booming in 2026. AI gives them a real shot at competing with big players, who are mostly rent-seeking, not innovating, and laying people off. Startups are also how you stay current with the fast-changing AI landscape, since big companies move slowly.

• Aim for a solid salary: roughly $100K–$300K depending on your level.
• Ask for some equity as a lottery ticket. Try to negotiate up to 1%.
• Many startups are remote-friendly, so you can cast a wide net.

That's how I found my latest role.

5. Interviewing

Honestly, I don't know what interviewing looks like in 2026 with all the AI craziness. Do your best.

6. If you can't find a job, especially as a new grad, etc., apply to contracting companies

Contracting companies are in every major city and hire people like crazy - anyone they think they can place at a temporary contract at another company, because they scrape some of your money off the top. But it is a job, money, security, and frankly you will get exposed to and learn all sorts of technologies, make tons of professional contacts, and often get a full-time offer from the company you're placed at.

7. If you STILL can't find a job, especially as a pre-grad, new grad, etc., apply to internships

Some of you haven't even considered applying for internships. Guess, what, internships are for SOMEONE, and that someone is people with no experience like you. Swallow your pride, work a summer internship for 3 months, get paid, get better at working, and you may literally be handed a full-time job after that. If not, you will at least have professional references, contacts, and experience, which will give you a significantly higher chance of getting a full-time job.

8. Always negotiate

No matter what offer you get, negotiate upward. It costs you nothing and could be the easiest money you ever make.

• Don't commit to anything on the phone. Say you need to discuss it with your family.
• Then go ask Claude how to negotiate your way up.
• I prefer to do all my negotiating over email.

Good luck!

For context, I'm in my senior year working towards a bachelor's in CS. I attend a T10 school and have a SWE FAANG internship on my resume. I have a great network as well. I will not receive a return offer from any internships.

Like many others, I've been struggling to land a new grad role for SWE or anything else related to tech. The application process is grueling and is taking a toll on me. Despite this, I’m trying to stay optimistic that I’ll land something.

I don't believe that the tech industry is doomed, even despite AI sentiment, layoffs, and the job market not improving. However, that doesn't mean that I think the industry is good. I'm becoming increasingly uneasy about firing all cylinders for tech. I don't know if I want to play this game anymore. Even if I do land a role, will it even be worth it? Even if the future is uncertain, with all the risks and red flags that I keep seeing, I don't know if I want to put myself through that.

I like shipping features and owning technical systems. But a good part of the fun was writing and organizing clean code by hand. Now that's gone. My attempts to write a portion of code by hand at my internship was discouraged. Babysitting AI is not really fun.

At first, I felt trapped, but now I'm starting to consider pivoting into dentistry. Why? It requires a high level of trust and tactile skills. It's also medicine adjacent. I wanted to become a neurosurgeon growing up and often watched surgery videos when I was little. Owning my own practice sounds more appealing than working long shifts at a hospital. Dentistry gives me little-no exposure to death and life-threatening situations. I'm also incredibly lucky enough to earn my bachelor's with virtually no debt to pay.

There are also reasons for me to be hesitant. I've had little exposure to owning a business or working in a role that requires great interpersonal skills. I've never shadowed a dentist and still have lots to learn about what it's like to become and be one. I also do not meet most pre-med requirements. Of course, dental school is a massive investment in time and money.

I've also considered looking into getting a master's in CS. However, I'm beginning to realize that the CS courses I've been taking haven't been as interesting as I hoped. My favorite topics were computer graphics and to a lesser extent, operating systems, but I can't say I cared about the rest of the courses I took. It also would be doubling down on an investment in a field that I'm nervous about.

I want to know if anyone else here is considering this exact career change. If not, what other fields are you guys considering pivoting to? I'd also like to know if you agree with my sentiments or if I should hold it out on tech just for a little longer. Please feel free to tell me if you think I'm overreacting.

Aka the ceos of big tech

Msft will have potentially 27% of the workforce laid off

Ai has shifted work that can be accomplished in months or years to just days now.

The value of labor comes down with it, and h1bs are the preferred over Americans. H1b are complicit and easily exploited, and will flood the supply to drive wages down further. Worker leverage goes even more down as big tech imports flood the market.

Reddit tried to cope with their dunning Kruger take that swe would rebound but it’s become increasingly clear that Americans are the biggest operating cost for companies, most tasks are going to be heavily automated, and Americans are going to keep being shelved for more h1b imports.

I've been employed at a publicly traded tech company in Ontario for approximately 13 months in a non-technical role. I'm in my late 20s, earning a six-figure base salary. Location: Ontario, Canada

This week, HR presented me with two options: enter a 30-day Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) or accept a mutual separation package.

Separation offer:

• 7 weeks of base salary
• No bonus (annual bonus scheduled for early next year)
• No unvested equity (next vesting date is approaching)
• No benefits continuation
• No additional vacation payout mentioned

HR has also stated that they will not provide a written separation agreement until I explicitly choose the separation option over the PIP. If I don't choose separation, the PIP begins automatically.

Additional context:

• My role has changed significantly since I was hired, including the introduction of sales targets that were not originally part of my responsibilities.
• I have documentation of shifting performance expectations during my coaching plan, unequal portfolio distribution compared to peers, and positive performance reviews throughout my employment.
• The company conducted layoffs earlier this year, and I've heard that affected employees received more generous packages, although this is unverified.

Employment agreement:

My contract contains a termination clause limiting my entitlements to the minimum requirements under Ontario's Employment Standards Act (ESA), including a waiver of common-law reasonable notice.

My questions:

1. Is 7 weeks a reasonable separation package for someone with 13 months of service, or is there a basis to negotiate more?
2. How enforceable are ESA-only termination clauses in Ontario, particularly those explicitly waiving common-law reasonable notice?
3. Does HR's characterization of this as a "mutual separation" affect my legal rights or potential EI eligibility?
4. Is it standard practice for HR to require me to choose separation before providing the written agreement?
5. Would the documented changes to my role and performance expectations have any relevance to negotiating a better package?

I plan to consult an employment lawyer before signing anything, but would appreciate any perspectives from this community.

I’m looking for a free ai mock interview tool for me to practice speaking and gives detailed feedback. Asks interview questions, analyse speech with pace, pauses, filler words, gives a report with scores. Most tools I found have free trial limits, websites, GitHub projects, self-hosted tools are all fine.

I know I want to specialize in Ai. what is the best way to do this via roadmap? Please help. Can't find solid answers.

I want to offer my skills in sql server, but need some tips on how to find clients

What are the usual tasks of mid level and VP level developers these days? I’m hearing from the news that these people are vulnerable right now to AI. I thought the problem was just with the juniors?

Hello everyone, I was recently invited for an intro call at a startup in my area. It’s for a FDE role, and all I know is that it’s a buzzword and is about working with customers. I’m wondering what a FDE might do at a startup or what the interview process would be like for this type of role. I have my call next week so I will ask many questions but was hoping for guidance on how I can prepare for an interview in the meantime. Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone, looking for some outside perspective on an issue I'm facing with work.

I’ve been at my company for about 5 years, working in C# .NET and Angular, with some Azure sprinkled in mostly for logging purposes.

A few months ago, management informed us that our product will be rebuilt in Power Platforms with a target go live date this time of year in 2027. We will all be starting training in the next few months.

I’m pretty stressed about my marketability. From what I gather, Power Platform is heavily low-code/no-code, and with AI already shifting how software is built, I’m worried that spending the next couple of years in a drag and drop system is going to tank my resume. Sure, having a CS background helps build cleaner and more scalable solutions within the tool, but does anyone actually respect Power Platform experience for a traditional software engineering role?

Is this a massive career detour, or am I overreacting? Angular is already dated and I've heard nothing but complaints and annoyances about Power BI, so that doesn't instill confidence in this announcement.

I would love to hear from anyone who has made a similar shift or hires devs with this background.

Good news. After being ghosted for a couple weeks I decided to send a follow up email and they finally set up second interview me for a senior software engineer role at a small-to-midsize company near me. It's hybrid, over Zoom.

So, sending a follow up sometimes works.

If anyone has recent experience doing these, please post any tips you have.

Otherwise, wish me luck. 🤞

I'm currently working as a contractor and I'm a "young" SWE compared to the peeps in here. But damn... majority of the people who works here look down on younger people and they always have to brag about they've been working here for more than I'm alive out of nowhere while I was just showing how to use our tech stack since they asked...

It feels weird here because I didn't know ageism is one of the things I'd have issue with. All I'm doing is staying on my own lane and I'm trying to learn from these people, but the constant energy of them looking down on you because you look way too young is unbearable. Just wondering if other people have this issue?

A little question that I've had for years.

Let's say that you're Google and employ 60k software engineers. Every one of those engineers has access to your monorepo with all of its code, and little to no guardrails on copying whatever code they may want to. You have employees from dozens of countries and backgrounds, each with varied motivations. Any of them could bring their work laptop home on a random tuesday, download the code for any million/ billion dollar product and copy/ move it to another device, if they really wanted to.

Why don't we ever see this happen? Obviously, it's illegal, but people have broken the law for less. It wouldn't be hard for an individual to copy/ paste an entire million/ billion dollar product and sell it to an undercover buyer secretly for personal gain. It also would not be hard for a foreign government to insert an employee from their country to steal IP and copy those products in its own for economic/ political gain.

I there something that I'm missing here? It seems way too easy to steal literal million/ billion dollar products and also difficult/ impossible to trace if someone had done so smartly. I would expect companies to silo and lock down their products more to prevent things like this from happening.

Been working in corporate America for over 10 years and I may have had maybe 1 or 2 good managers.

Quite honestly some of the things people stress over is too trivial like everyone on their team coming in by 8am even tho rest of office arrives between 9-9.30.

But I have this managers who has a reputation of being a bad manager. Being overly Imposing on the team and that shit just weighs the team down.

He has a tendency towards favoritism. He took this senior under his arm and dude trusts him with everything and pushed the senior towards a lead role in another team.

While he has his favorite the rest he just cuts from the clique. And we are just wondering like what the fuck. We just have no one to complain too.

And it's a repeating pattern where he keeps forming a circle of trust and basically leaves the others out in the cold.

I just cant forsee any consequences he faces cause he doesn't change his behavior and why would he, it's openly known how much everyone on the team don't like him. People on other teams openly tell us yeah he's bad. im pretty sure senior managers know as well. I dont feel like anything can be done

One of my friends, in the same company different department, who had a new manager who just wanted to get rid of him put him on a PIP.

He tried to dispute the PIP with paper trail of evidence showing his performance is not worthy of a PIP including consistent performance reviews that shows hes exceeded expectations and meeting notes and recording

HR didnt care. He still went through the PIP and got let go. Fortunately he found a new gig with 2 months.

Like this shit just sucks man. My old manager was solid and was the one who hired me and wanted me to grow as a developer and wanted to push me towards senior roles. Loved that manager. I hate that that manager had to relocate countries. This new guy just sucks. I wish I had my old manager

Previous company had a director who failed upwards to becoming a VP.

It just feels like becoming a manager is a timing issue and not a skill at times.

From what I’ve researched online, entry-level software engineering salaries around Richmond seem to start at roughly $80k, with many estimates in the $80k–$95k range.

For those working in software engineering in Richmond, VA, does that seem accurate?

For a first year software engineer making under $70k, would you consider that underpaid?

Does anyone here work on one dedicated large scale project in their SWE role? I juggle a few projects and it’s cool to see different aspects of the business, but I wish that I could “lock in” entirely on one project and learn it in and out.

I have one guy on my team who has one dedicated project that he works on, but i’m curious to see what the norm is.

Software dev postings are still near the bottom right now, and the traditional tech hubs, Seattle, SF, have some of the lowest posting levels in the country. Felt like this was worth breaking out on its own since the overall headline number doesn’t really tell you anything if you’re specifically trying to get hired in software.

Overall postings index is up to 103.8, about 4% above pre-pandemic and almost 3% higher than a year ago. On paper that reads like a recovery... but.

Then you look at hires rate (3.3%) and quits rate (1.9%), both still flat. Openings per unemployed worker are sitting at 1.0, versus around 1.2 back in 2019. That’s not a hiring surge, more like companies are just posting jobs and then taking their sweet time filling them.

68% of sectors now have more postings than last year, up from under half in September, so the recovery is broadening outside tech even while tech itself lags. Meanwhile AI related postings are over double their 2022 peak, which feels like it’s eating into some of the roles that used to be straight SWE postings.

If you're interested in the article, just let me know and I can pass it on to you :)

Is this consistent with what people are really seeing in tech hiring right now, or does it feel even worse than these numbers suggest??

I've had limited work experience, but it seems like writing code manually vs having LLM code is now what writing in a high level language vs writing assembly was. If it's not something that is trivial to change, it seems like the LLM can do a faster and better generally. Especially when working with tools/frameworks I'm not familiar in.

edit: Would appreciate more context if you reply, interested in how different areas use it

I've been seeing people talking bout how QA is dead now and basically companies just have SWEs do all the testing. Is this true? Should I just change career paths out of QA, or is it just because of the market right now?

I got laid off May 2025 and haven’t worked as a SWE since. I have taken a long hiatus due to mental health reasons (won’t get into it, but I was really bad), financial problems, relationship issues, all just one after another. I did a little job search back in late 2025 and got to a couple final rounds but never got offers. Then more things went down, but now I am back. Is it possible for me to get a job? I worked at 2 F500 companies primarily as backend or full stack. I got my hands dirty on a lot of different tech. React, Angular, Java Spring, AWS, SQL/NoSql, Docker/K8, IaaC. Unsure if I will be able to get a job or not given the market and my career gap.

Hey everyone,
I recently got laid off from a Senior Frontend role here in London (6 YOE) . Tbh, I’m completely burnt out on the SWE interviewing process, job hunting and the saturated dev market.

I want out of pure engineering but I need to protect my income and land a job ASAP (minimum £65k/$90k baseline to live in London). I also hate technical coding interviews, whiteboard loops and live LeetCode tasks. I want a role with high AI resistance and near-zero daily coding volume.

My research narrowed down my top 3 options to:
- Cloud Security Governance / Assurance Analyst
- AI Security Governance Specialist
- Technical GRC / Security Assurance Engineer

I am heavily leaning toward Cloud Security Governance / Assurance because of job availability in London, it requires near-zero daily coding and skips live coding for conversational, scenario-based interviews.
My plan is a full-time study sprint (35+ hours/week) to secure the AWS Certified Security - Specialty and the CCSK badges to trigger recruiter keywords.

Am I over-simplifying how realistic it is to leverage my software background to jump straight into a mid-level Technical Cloud Governance role at £65k+/$90k within 2–3 months? Has anyone else made a similar jump to escape interview anxiety?
Brutal honesty welcome. Cheers.

Embedded software development requires a different skill set from typical web or mobile development. Hardware limitations, memory management, firmware reliability, and real time requirements can all affect how a product performs.

I'm interested in what separates a capable embedded engineer from someone who has only worked on basic projects. Experience with C or C++, debugging hardware, understanding microcontrollers, and working with real time operating systems can all be valuable, depending on the role.

Companies such as Beetroot, Luxoft, and Capgemini Engineering operate in engineering and technology services, where embedded projects may require different combinations of these skills.

For embedded engineers and hiring managers, which technical skills or practical project experiences best demonstrate that someone is ready to work on a real embedded product?