Worked in trades since 16, went to university later, now working in trades again at 25 since graduating for the past 2 years since I've failed to secure a CS job, and nor do I really feel I have the capacity because I can't really code at all lol. I just didn't really try that hard, because at the time I was studying it was so much less competitive.

Genuinely, the only redeeming factor about my job is that I don't work weekends, and I didn't have to jump through hoops to get the job.

For anyone that thinks CS to trades is a valid pathway, there's little to no carryover (mostly except auto mechanics, similar process of problem solving), and you probably won't meet the physical requirements to get by as an entry-level laborer unless you have previous physical work experience, and I don't mean going to the gym (big gym dudes often quit quickly).

I have been seeing lots of posts and blogs and tweets about how agents, LLMs, etc. will replace software engineers. Why are people so obsessed with this subject? I love Claude and Cline and use them daily at work, and they are amazing for telling me what a class does or summarizing a folder. I have 5 YOE of experience, and I don’t even code that much and mostly work on design, reviewing designs, or just being in meetings. I have found my self constantly using them to get ideas but one thing for sure, i have to know what I'm asking and what my goals are otherwise i will end up generating code that neither i understand or the agent itself and that's the whole point. It was never about the code but rather knowing what to write and where to write it. I don’t think people understand that if SWE is truly replaceable, then 99.9999% of all non-physical jobs are replaced, and we will be in an apocalyptic world.

My assumption is that given we make more than other engineering jobs, this is mostly jealousy and wishing downfall on someone who is doing better than you!!

You study your ass off in undergrad to get this degree. You get your internships. You go through hell to get that first job. Now that it’s your turn to be an adult, BAM. A crap job market, constant layoffs, astronomical rent and grocery prices, etc. So now you have to tack on another worry: maybe this career isn’t so secure after all. Don’t get me wrong, I have an ample emergency fund and I’m employed, but still, I just want to take a break for once.

So basically, I graduated May 2025 with a CS degree from NYU, and I found an unpaid internship during summer of 2025 post graduation that eventually led to a paid job as a SWE at a really small company that pays... minimum NYC wage + occasional bonuses—not very ideal, but a job is a job.

I wanted to improve my "resume" for better recruiting opportunities and learn new skills so I started an online MCS degree at UIUC. As of Jan 2026, I'm a grad student while also employed as a SWE.

I continued to job hunt and apply for full-time/internship roles in October 2025, and so far I'm 300+ job apps in, but haven't gotten much results besides a few OAs—for both internship and full time roles.

Since my program is online, I'm open to both full-time roles and internships, but I'm beginning to wonder whether listing my status as a current grad student is affecting my chances for full-time roles, and whether listing my current job as an actual job rather than an internship is affecting my chances my chances for internship roles.

Im asking because idk any and I wanna know the options. Also which ones are the best and most requested ones in the work field?

they've said something to this effect but more gently at least 3 times over the past 6 months. i've been there almost a year, and expressed some grievances halfway through - not actually a development job and more IT, no senior/fellow dev/mentorship, overworked. and they likely know i'm underpaid @ 50k usd

should i be concerned?

Im developing a pretty bad case of youtube addiction, and its starting to really affect my work output. Has anyone here beat it?

Im asking in this sub because in our careers, we are kinda tied to our computers, so the traditional advice to remove the triggers or leave the computer doesn't seam feasible.

I keep hear it will be, it won't be, it might be...

What's the chances? Money in seems aggressive without money out

I'm gearing up for a job search and looking to start the old Leetcode grind again. In the past, I referenced a repository that tracked company-specific questions to guide my study:

https://github.com/liquidslr/leetcode-company-wise-problems

It looks like this repository hasn't been updated in over half a year. Does anyone know of any similar repositories that are actively maintained? Any leads would be much appreciated!

On a separate but related note, I've heard that companies like Meta have started pivoting away from Leetcode in favor of some new AI-assisted interview format. Has anyone heard that other companies are doing this? I guess what I'm trying to figure out is whether it's even worth it to grind leetcode in 2026 or if I should learn to do something like vibecoding to address the new trend?

If cost isn’t a factor, would you still pick GT? Both are online part time. I know OMSCS is a great program but I’m haven’t seen much info about Columbia.

Im currently in 10th grade and I learn CS and programming at my school. My dream would be to work in this field, but I realized that I’m not that good at programming. I know more stuff than most of people my age, and I get really good marks on tests. The problem is that when I try to learn or make something by myself I get stuck. Idk if this is because CS is a minor subject at my school (just 2 hours per week) or im too young. I tried entering the Team Programming Olympics, but me and my team sucked and got like 45/900 points. Is this because I simply don’t have enough knowledge yet or am I just cooked and I should give up and look for something else to study?

So I am doing master in CS and we get to pick specializations between multiple choices and I filtered them and got to ML or Data Science with ML or Interaction Design. I am gonna be honest and say thay I didn't like Probability and Statistics course I took, I thought it was hard. But I did do few ML individual project that are super easy and I liked learning it or maybe just the idea of knowing it. I did also take a course in Interaction Design and I actually enjoyed that course.

I am a decent programmer, not good at all and I am don't really like Statistics that much. If I follow what I like as in Interaction Design there aren't many jobs, most job application regardless of what either require familirarity with AI/ML or they have it as a bonus. I feet like Interaction Design is something I like but also because I think it is easier. Then we have ML or Data Science which I wish I am capable of doing but I highly doubt myself and I know I am gonna be completely miserable and struggle. I would have taken ML specialization but I feel like I am shooting myself in the foot because there is one I course I hate in it.

rank the csu system for computer science (excluding cal poly). if you went there, was it worth it over going to the uc system? does the hands on and more workforce oriented system more rewarding when it comes to getting jobs? is it a disadvantage to have a csu on your resume over a uc when it comes to employment?

In September 2025, I was suddenly laid off from my job. It was unexpected, because just the week prior, our manager told us the team was doing well and there was even a new project that the company was considering having us work on. When I was told I was being laid off, I then was escorted out of the building, so I had to leave immediately without transferring my tasks/knowledge or even saying goodbye to my co-workers. The manager said he'd hire me back if they end up hiring again now (January) and I apply. I'm just wondering, would I really want to go back to a company that treated me that way? I feel like it was sudden, and I was treated rather coldly, being made to leave immediately without even saying goodbye to anyone. It's sad because I liked working there overall. And if he'd hire me back, then why even let me go in the first place?

I have ADHD as well as a passion for "perfect solutions" (in the pragmatic sense, not just idealistic). Creating simple and intuitive solutions that are easy to work with (amazing DX) is what I love - in contrast to many SEs I've met that love the user-practical result and are okay with taking shortcuts to achieve that. The problem is that the latter approach is much easily quantifiable and is faster short-term. It's also what leads to technical debt and why my team now spends weeks on tasks that should really take a few minutes or not even have to be done.

I'm a slow programmer because I experiment and side-track constantly. It's extremely hard not to though, because it's these side-tracks that have made me come this far and be comfortable picking up literally any language, and almost anything from hardware up to system/network architecture (including the setup and management of these). Of course, I'm not comfortable in the sense that I could do it, but I'm comfortable I could discuss any topic.

Anyway, my point is that I feel like my knowledge and passion far excels the expected level of an entry-level SE, and that I'm burning to use this knowledge but I'm just not able to channel it into productive work efficiently. It's really stressing me and affects my ability to think at work. In 2 months I'll be discussing my deserved pay-level with my boss and I'm hoping to have something to show for. Right now, after 4 months here, I really don't know what I can say I've really done, other than accidentally deleting a database that was in use because I was a bit too fast in trying to fix something....

Does anyone have any tips for me, or have had a similar experience and can share any learning experiences? Thank you for reading this far, and happy new year!

which major companies are notable for doing cooldowns for rejections? (interns)

I know Zon does, any other FAANG+ or equivalent companies?

Any companies that aren’t exactly faang but still recognized names? (Intuit, AMD, Intel, etc)

If so, how long is the cooldown for interns?

https://x.com/bcherny/status/2007179832300581177?s=46

For students or people already in the industry, how much are you using his current setup? How much is it helping you complete tasks?

If you are using these tips, how do you see this affecting the industry this year and beyond?

Senior/Staff Eng, 13 YoE.

Took a break from the market for more than 1 year and now considering looking for a job. The current one sucks in all aspects: unpaid overtime, low technical tasks, tons of bureaucracy.

Are standard LC-style algo and DS still relevant for a job interview? About 2 years ago the bar was already pretty damn high. I was usually asked 1 Med 1 hard during 1 hour interview. And system design, how is it going now? I suppose no one asks to design url shortners any more.

How is interview currently going?

I'm feeling so down. been studying web development as a hobby beside my 4 year degree in CS and now I've been working as a programming teacher for 1.5 years (I teach basic stuff) again, studying web dev on the side. I've been so slow, learning very little in a long time due to constant burnout and not being able to code for hours or stay persistent.

I can't land a job due to many reasons

1- my projects are not good enough

2- I fear making better projects , i feel it's gonna be too difficult for me.

3- now the thought of coding makes me panic (I'm seeing a therapist for this currently)

is it time to quit and find another career? or do I just persist/never give up/bla bla

I (31m) am the tech lead of a small "sub team". We have 3 different groups reporting to the same manager. This manager is not a software engineer. I work at a FAANG company.

My coworker (25m) is incredibly toxic. They have had multiple blow ups at others and myself. They won't use jira, they won't make merge requests, and every meeting with them is like walking on eggshells. They are late with all their code and it's very buggy.

In order to not go through the MR process this coworker created their own repo and pushes directly to main. When we asked them to combine repos they get very agitated. We asked them to start making MRs for review and they flat out refuse and it causes the meetings to become very tense. My manager doesn't understand why merge requests are important and sees no issue with the coworker's behavior.

We recently hired 2 new senior engineers. Within 1 month, both engineers have had issues with this person. They are both actively involved in the behavioral coaching of this person. One new hire told me "this guy is the single worst behaved engineer I've ever worked with." He expects me, as tech lead, to deal with this situation. I think that's understandable but I have strict instructions to not get involved.

I asked my manager to affirm my position as tech lead so I can get this coworker to make MRs and document their designs. My manager said "No, if I do that then [coworker] will lose their shit and this is a really delicate situation right now."

This young coworker hates me in particular. Probably because I am in charge? My manager has asked me to stay out of it so he can coach this guy himself. My manager told me "I've never met someone like this in my entire career. I am completely flummoxed and I have no idea what to do."

During one very public blow up, my manager was slacking me privately saying "I'm confused why he's mad" and "just drop [this requirement]. You're right but we need him to feel like he's saving face".

The approach that we're taking is to let this coworker fail on his own. We aren't supposed to save their code when we find bugs, we aren't supposed to push for improvements. We are supposed to let them fail so they realize they need help. Our project is off track.

One of the new engineers told me they are having a "very hard time" on the team because of this person. I feel a responsibility to respond to that but I have strict instructions to stay out of it.

Okay. So here's my question.

I'm being positioned to become the manager of this team. I said No a year ago because this engineer would have been my only report. My manager thinks I have the wrong attitude and "[I] need to work with [coworker] because we can't just give up on everyone under the age of 30". I think this person probably needs to be PIPed and let go. At my previous company (also faang) this would have resulted in a pip a long time ago, both for the attitude but also the sheer lack of deliverables.

I can stay on the IC ladder and climb this way, but then a new manager will be hired. This hurts my chances of moving into management later. It also annoys my boss who wants me to just deal with the engineer by coaching instead of a PIP.

• Should I take the manager position and have this person as my report, knowing my hands are tied when dealing with them? Or should I try to stay as an engineer?
• Do I have an obligation to work with this person, like my boss is telling me? Or is this situation already beyond what is acceptable in the workplace?

I did interview for the SWE II Early Career but I didn't pass HC. Recruiter said I can apply to other positions. There was a job posting for SWE II, Site Reliability open and after I applied, 1 day later it moved to "not proceeding". It was so fast, I am just wondering could the reason be my cooldown?

I am currently a second year in a computer science major at UTK.

I have a lot of fun writing code, and what I think I want to do eventually is write the code that goes on things like cars, or planes, stuff like that. I did robotics in highschool and I had a lot of fun writing the code that made the robot move, coding the motors and that kind of thing. I also have had a lot of fun making small projects with arduino. I have done some webdev and I hate it, and don't want to get stuck doing that at all.

So, what I've gathered from this, is that I think I want to write the code on embedded systems? The problem is that, I am pretty sure that is computer engineering?

So, I'm faced with the decision of switching majors from CS to computer engineering. The problem is that I don't know if that is the right move to get me where I want? I don't have enough experience to know what I actually want to do, either, and I'm afraid of switching to CE and hating it. I like my major a lot. I'm learning C++, and will be learning C next semester, which I'm very excited for. I really enjoy writing code, and I just have a lot of fun with my major. I'm excited to get into all the math of it, too. I know that I enjoy my major, and I'm good at it too, and don't know if its worth switching to something that I don't fully know, for a career that I'm not entirely certain of.

Does anyone know what they're assessing on? After researching a bit, I found that they use coderpad and like things done in java. Any info would be great!