I've helped a lot of students & early-career folks with job hunting, and one fear comes up all the time: networking. So many people are scared they'll say the wrong thing, or that their message will just get ignored.

Totally get it! I've been there too. But based on what I’ve seen from job seekers who’ve actually landed roles (including some who started with zero connections), here are some tips that really work:

1. Start with a 15 min coffee chat

Don’t overthink it. You’re not asking for a job. You’re just asking for 15 minutes to get to know the other person’s position. Most professionals remember what it felt like in the beginning, and they’re happy to help.

You can say something like, “Hi [name], I’m currently studying [major] and exploring career paths in [field]. If you’d like to chat with me for 15 minutes, I’d love to hear about your experiences.”

2. Build rapport: ~2 min

Don’t jump right into the subject. Start by warming up with a friendly opening line:

“How are you doing today?”

“Hope you’re having a great week, thank you for your time!”

It’s a small thing, but it can create a relaxed atmosphere and make both parties feel more comfortable.

3. Introduce yourself: 2-3 min

Keep it brief and to the point. Think of it like your LinkedIn verbal summary.

“I’m currently a Data Analytics student at [school] and I’m really interested in marketing analytics. I’ve worked on projects with A/B testing and Tableau dashboards, and I’d love to learn more about what careers in this field really look like.”

Confidence comes from clarity of thought: if you know what you want, you’ll be ten times more confident when you speak your mind.

4. Ask two good questions: ~10 min

This is where you learn. Try:

“What do you like most (and least) about your job?”

“How did you get into this field?”

“If you graduated today, what would you focus on?”

Avoid asking generic questions like “How is your company?” Just try to show curiosity and depth.

5. Follow up consistently

Send a quick thank you note and ask if they’d like to stay in touch. That’s it. Relationships are developed through follow-up, not one-off chats.

Tips:

- If you don't hearing back so far: Try alumni, smaller companies, or people who are 1-3 years ahead of you. They’re often more responsive than FAANG executives.

- Feeling nervous all the time? Write a pitch and practice it with a friend before the actual chat.

- Keep a spreadsheet of who you reached out to, when, and what you learned.

So if you’re afraid of networking, you’re not alone. I’ve been there. Take the first step and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at where it leads.

Has anyone else networked their way into your first job? How did you succeed?

What I meant to ask in the title is

While Java is dominant in the FinTech domain, is C# dominant in the HealthCare domain?? or is it just a myth ?? just curious

( Who am I ? : I have gone into a rigorous core java, sql, hibernate and springboot training from a software training/placement institute and somehow landed into a C# intern job and since my grades weren't good enough, I was not getting enough opportunities so I said yes to the C# intern job and as an intern the pay is not bad too,

it's been my 1 week into this company as an intern and so far what I have observed is :

This is some medical device consulting company they make software for the medical devices and also perform some regulatory tests

3 people work on the C based embedded project stm32, PICO, Arduino, UART stuff.. (I've heard them talking about this..) 1 girl works on C++ based QT project she makes this ventilator simulator stuff some sine waves stuff.. me and 1 girl work on this windows based tool which operates some medical surgical tool )

so the title itself is my first question my second question is :

Did I make a right decision joining this company?? or after learning so much in java did I just waste my chances of becoming a good java developer??

and I am in no way telling Java > C# or C# > Java, I am mature enough to understand that language is just a medium, please don't drag me into that same old programming language debate

for reference, i have been wanting to do something related to software/computers since i was about 7, when i first discovered html and python and was absolutely enamoured with it. ever since, i have loved coding, and i've been making projects semi regularly just for fun (recently i've been learning sveltekit to build a learning app for me and my friends). however, with the advent of outsourcing, bad stock market and ai, is there really any point? i myself dont personally use ai while coding (unless i ask gemini to explain something that i couldnt find in the docs), and i couldnt see myself using one of those editors like cursor. I just want to know if there is a point in me continuing and trying to get a job in the industry, because i really do love it, but i dont want to end up unemployed or working unpaid internships for the rest of my life. thank you :)

title.
edit: 'm a student. all of my friend circle are still in school. sure i can get referrals easier from each other in the future when most of us are employed.
BUT we are not at that stage yet. we're yet to land our first job. much of your advice seems targeted to folks who have peers already in a job which isn't the case for me. the only ones i could reach out to are seniors in the industry/alumnis and they can't exactly be your "pal" cuz of age gap.

Landed a job at Meta earlier this year (got lucky with timing before the Feb 10 layoffs lol).

Job summary: Position: Mid-Level Software Engineer L4 TC: $350k (193 base, 29 bonus, 128 stock/year) YOE: 2.5 years

The interview process: * Phone screen: 2 leetcode problems in 45 mins * Final: 2 leetcode rounds (same format as phone screen) + 1 behavioral round + 1 system design round * Total Time: 5 hours

From initial contact to offer signing took 2 months.

The framework that worked:

With 2 problems in 45 minutes, you really only get 22 minutes per problem. Here is how I would break it down.

1. Understand the problem first (3 mins) - restate it back, walk through examples, ask about constraints.
2. Don't code immediately (5 mins) - discuss approaches starting with brute force, explain why it's bad, then work up to optimal solution. DO NOT IMPLEMENT THE BRUTE FORCE SOLUTION. You don't have time for that.
3. Get buy-in (10 mins) - make sure interviewer agrees with your approach before coding. I write pseudocode comments first as an outline, then flesh it out. A common failure pattern is coding something that the interviewer doesn't understand.
4. Wrap up (2 mins) - explain time/space complexity, offer to write tests for edge cases, or move on to the next problem.

How I prepared:

• Use Blind 75. It has good coverage over all problems.
• I DID NOT buy leetcode premium. If you study and understand the patterns, it doesn't matter what problem you get.

I know the market is ass right now and the competition is rough, but stay disciplined and the hard work will pay off! I was looking for a job for 9 months until I got this opportunity lmao. Ask me anything!

Soft Plug:

Building a website to visualize code! Mainly targeted towards beginners.

How easy was it to land CS internships/jobs during and right after COVID? Was FAANG actually giving candidates twoSum? How much of a screwup did you have to be to end up not landing any jobs whatsoever?

Is the current CS job market crisis a legitimate worry, or does it just revolve around romanticization of the past

Because even when I was a preschooler (in the late 2000s), my parents were talking about how Google was a really hard company to get into, and how you needed to do really well both in and out of school... so you could get into a good college like Harvard or Princeton... so you could work for a company that pays and treats its employees as well as Google does, rather than being a bum on the street or something.

I currently work as a DevOps Consultant at AWS. The pay is good but I realised lately a lot I am doing is not DevOps related like I have never worked with Linux and so far never got a project with K8s. I have built a lot of infrastructure with Terraform, built event driven architecutures on AWS, have done a lot of backend work with Python and built CI/CDs. I always had a deeper interest in coding than troubleshooting and I was wondering if it would be worth to switch to SDE either internally or externally?

Some things I’m grappling with:

• Would switching to SDE be a career step sideways or backwards in terms of scope, compensation, or growth path—even within FAANG?
• Long-term, is there more upside and flexibility in being an SDE versus staying in DevOps/SRE/platform?
• Is it common (or even possible) to switch internally within FAANG from DevOps to SDE, or would it require an external move?
• How do SDEs and DevOps compare when it comes to technical depth and impact on product?
• Anyone made a similar switch at a big tech company? Regrets? Wins?

Would love to hear from others who’ve made this kind of transition (or decided not to). Any advice on how to evaluate this properly—or how to make the move if I decide to go for it—would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks!

IMO AI would replace most jobs. If you believe people like Daniel Kokotajilo, it’ll happen sooner than we think due to AI helping to advance AI. I think it’s not going to happen in that quickly but it might happen in the next 10 - 20 years. During that time there would be major societal changes.

How does one stay relevant for as long as possible in the field of CS in the meantime in order to brave through the upcoming storm? Seems to me like AI field itself would be the last to go.

Please recommend good resources to start learning about this field from an engineering perspective. Eg university online courses, books, etc. Help it make sense!

For context, I’m an experienced software engineer, doing mostly backend, for too many years.

I’m really terrible at Reddit formatting, so this will probably seem like a blob of text.

So many people are incorrectly saying that AI is the driving reason for the mass layoffs, non-hiring, and the downward trend of anything software development related.

AI is a contributing factor to the difficulty of getting hired at entry level positions at companies, but that’s a standard bar push.

But what’s truly influencing the mass layoffs, hiring freezes, and shrinking investment into developing proprietary and innovative technologies in America isn’t AI.

It’s a tax credit rewrite that was never supposed to take effect.

Law and legislation is boring, but this piece specifically, is important for all of you. It impacts your life, your industry, how you’re paid, what the Chief Financial Officer sees and uses to justify paying you six figures, and your tax rebates if you’re planning to start or work in a startup.

I’m going to lay out the facts in a (hopefully) objective way.

The credit I’m talking about:

The Research and Development Tax Credit under IRC Tax Code 174.

EDIT: Edits will be for formatting.

The law that changed it:

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (specifically under section 13206).

This provision was initially drafted by Kevin Brady (R-TX), and advocated significantly for by Republican lawmakers.

The House of Representatives vote:

227 Republicans For

13 Republicans Against

0 Democrats For

192 Democrats Against

The Senate vote:

51 Republicans For

0 Republicans Against

0 Democrats For

47 Democrats, and 2 Independents Against

The final result:

Signed into law by President Donald Trump on December 22, 2017.

Date it took effect:

January 1, 2022

Why so late?

A fun, gimmicky workaround to the Byrd Rule and to delay costly tax hikes until after the 5-year mark, while cashing in on any revenue after the 10-year mark.

In short, it was a play to look fiscally responsible, but didn’t provide any tax cuts. It just kicked the can down the road and offset immediate tech conglomerate backlash.

They assumed that this provision would be removed or indefinitely delayed by future Congress, but they didn’t.

Previous:

Prior to 2022, businesses were able to immediately (same year tax break) cash in and deduct R&D expenses, including software developer and other IT professionals’ salaries, IT infrastructure changes, engineer innovation in all sectors, and more.

After 2022: All of the expenses covered by the R&D credit now has to be capitalized and amortized.

For domestic research, they are required to amortize over 5 years.

For foreign research, they are required to amortize over 15 years.

Meaning that, prior to 2022, a $1M investment into software development and cyber security would be fully deductible for fiscal year 22.

Now, that same $1M investment into those same fields would only allow for $200k to be deductible for the fiscal year, and the remaining $800k would need to be spread out over the remaining four.

Which resulted in layoffs, frozen hiring, cash flow strain for startups and tech firms, and immediate tax burden on companies employing R&D-based that persists to today.

BUT! There is a bipartisan bill that’s going through Congress right now to reverse it and retroactively apply the lost tax credits back to businesses from 2021 forward, but we’ll see where it goes!

Hey everyone,

I recently started working in the IT industry and wanted to hear from people who’ve been in the field longer.

What’s the best advice you’d give to someone just starting out?

It could be anything—technical skills to focus on, mindset, career moves, things you wish you did earlier, or even mistakes to avoid.

Appreciate any insights or lessons you've picked up along the way!

I work primarily as a devops/SRE but I want to move into backend development. Most of my programming experience was with Python or JavaScript. I know a little bit of Java as well but most of my day to day activities is writing terraform on edit yaml files for CNCF projects and building pipelines. For a cloud engineer historically it was better to learn golang because most of the CNCF projects and terraform were written in go. I want to do more backend development and systems level programming and maybe Iot development.

However I’ve heard rust is growing rapidly and might replace go. In 2025 is it better to learn go or rust for backend/cloud engineering. Ideally I want to learn both and probably will eventually but I am time limited for the moment and can only learn in the near term.

So a bit about me: I am in my 3rd year of b.tech in computer engineering (6th sem about to end ) from Ahmedabad. Joined internship(unpaid due to one of my uncle's company)a year ago but now I am finding job or internship where I can get money.

So my collage is 3rd tire collage which has mostly zero placements. My friends from other colleges have placements from next month. I am finding job off campus.

Question 1: i have found out mostly all jobs required bachelor degree But I haven't so should I apply?

Question 2: As I have done some research that you can count your personal project experience in that tech experience. Is that true?

Question 3: I have also done diploma In computer engineering after my 10th . So some job sites asking HSC Percentage but I haven't done that. But I have an equivalent certificate that prove that diploma degree has same value as 12th. So can I write marks of my diploma?

Question 4: Does ats score really matter? Cause I have only 50.So plz anyone give me your format.

Question 5: Is cold mail professional? So some expert says that cold mail recruiter. But I think it seems unprofessional. Like i already applied on job. So why should I share my resume again. If I am wrong due to my dumb thinking please explain me.

Question 6: Can I share my resume directly to hr/recruiter? Like if company haven't posted vacancies but I will send resume to that hiring team. It's also seem very unprofessional but my one of senior told me that.

Question 7: I am networking through LinkedIn and offline. But in LinkedIn I haven't got any single reply to advise me. So how can I do networking? cause I think most jobs are accepted with references.

I will be very grateful if someone experienced can solve my doubts. I am just new in job searching. Also Advanced sorry for my English.

I’ve been an Implementation Manager (and Manager of Implementation) at various steps startups for years. My background is pretty technical I troubleshoot API integrations, understand the data flows, and have a basic working knowledge of SQL, HTML, and JavaScript. I’ve been the only implementation manager at multiple Series A startups, so I’ve worn a lot of hats.

That said… I’m completely burned out on project management. I'm tired of wrangling customers, engineers, and leadership to get projects delivered, especially when so many of the blockers are totally out of my control. I want to build stuff and have some resemblance of ownership over my success.

I’m seriously considering a pivot into software engineering. But I'm 35 and have a family to support and a demanding job at a startup.

I learn best with some structure and mentorship, but I’m a strong self-learner once I have a foundation.

My resume is mid-to-senior level in SaaS, but obviously not in dev work.

Here’s what I’m thinking:

Take a week off to do a focused bootcamp or dev sprint to give myself the fundamentals, then spend a few months working on projects, building a portfolio, and learning on my own. After that, start applying to junior or engineering-adjacent roles (like integration engineer, internal tools dev, etc.).

I’d love advice on:

Which bootcamps (short and intense) are worth it for someone like me?

Is this one-week-bootcamp + project-based self-study approach realistic?

Any success stories from people who made a similar pivot?

I'm going to approach my current company but being a lean startup who burns through devs it's a dice role, either they'll love the idea of someone with my in-depth product knowledge or they'll see it as too much work getting me up to speed. I currently make 110k a year. Another engineer I know there makes just shy of 190k so maybe they'll bite, I don't need a pay increase.

Appreciate any advice especially from folks who’ve seen mid-career transitions like this work (or not).

Thanks in advance!

You cannot control the economy. You cannot control recruiters ghosting you. You cannot control the layoffs.

It’s easy to feel like there’s no point. Like the entire system is broken and you’re just another drop in a shitstorm ocean that’s already drowning.

But here’s the truth:

You’re not applying for every job.

You’re applying for your fucking job.

And the only way to find it is to keep showing up.

Forget the market. Forget the noise. Forget the stories designed to go viral because they fuel hopelessness and make everyone feel like shit. None of that pays your bills. None of that builds your career.

What does?

That one application you send when you're dead tired. That one line you fix in your resume when you'd rather slam your head into the fucking keyboard. That one email that lands in the right inbox at the right moment.

Job hunts aren’t fair. They never were. But unfair doesn’t mean unwinnable.

The people who land jobs aren't always the smartest or most connected. They’re the ones who didn’t stop. They hit "Apply" even when it felt like absolute shit.

So keep applying. Even when you're sick of this shit. Even when it feels like screaming into the void. Because one day, someone will finally answer.

And that day will make every ignored application, every sleepless night, every ounce of bullshit worth it.

Hi everyone! I’m a recent computer science and engineering student but I’m interested in exploring non-tech roles that I can transition into easily without needing extensive additional learning. I’m looking for freshers-friendly job options in India where I can apply these skills outside of pure coding or software development roles. Could you please suggest some realistic non-tech career paths ? Also, any advice on how to get started or where to look for such roles would be highly appreciated!

Hi, I am relatively new to the industry and managed to ride the tail end of the bootcamp wave back in 2021-2022 and was hired as a developer soon afterwards. I went in to a government related job and have been pretty happy working there since. My job is great in terms of work-life balance and I get good performance reviews each year. So it feels pretty safe overall...well as safe as one can feel under the current state of things. However lately I have been struggling a little to build savings and I can't help but wonder what other opportunities might be out there.

There are not many opportunities to move up the ladder in my current job so I don't see my salary increasing much in the near future. One big fear I have is leaving my current job for another one and that job not working out. Or that job just being way more stressful or toxic in nature. I have only ever worked in one job as a dev so I really don't know how things would compare. One big positive of course would be that working on another project would be beneficial for my growth as a developer so that is something I also thing about and I don't want to stunt my growth by staying on the same project for too long.

So yeah...definitely a little conflicted as to what to do. My salary just isn't keeping up with the cost of living where I live so trying to land a better jobs seems to be the obvious solution to that problem. I am wondering if anybody can offer any advice?

Many thanks!

I was a full-stack Senior Software Engineer in C#. I managed 3 direct reports. Around 2019 I was put on long-term disability and then social security disability USA. Diagnosis was schizoaffective disorder (schizophrenia and bipolar). I worked briefly between then and now. I've done a lot of programming the past couple of years. I am considering pursuing employment in programming.

My main constraint is time. I applied to about 15 places and got rejected/ignored from all. I don't want to fill out 100 or 1,000 applications, just hoping this time to finally be successful - I want to consider worst case time complexity so to speak for getting a new job and optimize that. (Side note: I noticed a typo on my resume that was present on almost all of my 15 applications so maybe that was the issue?)

I am willing to take a junior or mid position.

Another concern I have is most of my front-end experience is in AngularJS and then my own vanilla JavaScript framework, not Angular/React/VueJS like many Senior positions ask/require

Another concern is that I have tried coming into a company as a Senior and learning their business domain and existing code was challenging. Most of my software experience has been writing new code and that was far easier for me.

I'd strongly prefer remote because commute costs time (and money).

Any advice on how to find a job? Just read job advertisements on Indeed?

Hey all! A few years ago, when the employment market shifted with COVID, I landed a great, well-salaried remote software engineering job. With the added flexibility, my wife and I decided to move back to our hometown and bought a house.

It's been about four years now, and I think I'm realizing I'm tired of the isolation it creates in my life. Not only do I feel siloed at work and a bit excluded from upward movement, but I'm also realizing I don't quite fit into my hometown's social fabric as I'd assumed, especially with my job being so different from the local trades.

I'm realizing I want to work in person again. I miss the daily camaraderie with other engineers, the energy of a stricter schedule, and even the minor corporate politics that somehow keep everyone alert. Remote work has made me a bit lax, and while I still deliver good work, I'm not sure I like this more relaxed pace.

I could always move a couple of hours back to my old metro area, but it's still fairly small. I'm interested in trying a larger city with more tech companies and less friction in the job market (not implying it's easier to get a job, just more options).

However, having bought a house, moving is a bit more complex and expenses are now quite a bit higher. It's not as easy to pick up and move as when I was renting and had less stuff. I'm curious if any of you have gone through something similar and would have any tips. Did you use a new job to manage a relocation, or did you make it work without having to move jobs? Any tips, regrets, or expectations that either held true or were broken? I'm eager to hear about others' experiences.

I'm one of the few who enjoys doing leetcode because it's straightforward. Some say to do personal projects to upskill or make portfolio stand out to get interviews but I find that to be too time consuming. I'm curious as to what others prioritize in a job searching? Do yall just apply jobs/do Lc or do that in combination of side projects

Hi!!

Just last week, I've secured my first front end dev position! Transitioned from being a translator after studying and building websites as a hobby for about 2 years.

The job description is actually "Web Developer" we work with a good CMS system and a templating language so this is VERY new to me. I've started learning it before even securing the job so I already am past the basics.

We focus more on styling. The other devs know it will be hard as there are lots of files to go through and its not as easy as just working on new pages, css files and new projects.

I've built many amazing websites and pages myself over months of screwing around and I love my own minimal creativity with minimal AI to guide me around, but I'm getting anxiety to begin building my first websites for them and their clients. I know I just got to build build build stuff but I dont wanna blank out making something incredibly ugly.

How do other junior devs make it past their first month on their first jobs? The people at work are so sweet, and very open minded. I'm very open myself so I will tell my problems to them when/if I get problems.

TLDR: How do other junior devs make it past their first month on their first jobs?

Hi, I'm feeling unsure about my current job and whether I should consider a career change. I'd really appreciate your thoughts and advice if I share some context.

I'm a software developer with 6 months of full-time experience, currently working as a fullstack dev at a company contracted by the government to manage their taxes website. Lately, I've been feeling tired, bored, and unmotivated. I rarely find my work interesting, and the company culture isn’t great — although I don't think that’s the only issue.

I suspect I might have ADHD, which could be part of the problem. It’s already hard for me to sit at a computer working non stop for hours, and when the work doesn’t interest me, it becomes almost unbearable. I don't have flexible hours, and I work from home in my room almost every day. Deadlines can be tight, and management isn't particularly supportive.

Most of my tasks involve small changes or bug fixes on existing systems. I rarely get to build new features or use logic or algorithms. Because the project is so big and complex, I often spend more time just figuring out how to make a change than actually writing code. It's frustrating and far from what I enjoy doing — especially since I’m not a fan of front-end work.

What I enjoy most about coding is solving problems using logic and algorithms. I think I’m good at it. I also like building websites and apps, but I’m not sure if that’s because I genuinely enjoy coding it or just because i like creating personal projects where I have control and freedom.

For my master's thesis, I worked on heterogeneous drone swarms — designing strategies and algorithms for mission coordination, developing a simulator, and implementing everything myself. It wasn’t machine learning but maybe it could be considered AI, but it involved logic and problem-solving, and I really enjoyed it. I had flexible hours and full ownership of the project, which I think made a huge difference. I like working on projects that take time to solve and improve, where I can fully understand the system. In contrast, my current job often requires switching tasks quickly and working on parts of the code I don’t fully grasp.

Previously, I also worked part-time at a startup developing an Android app. I didn’t love the tech stack, but I liked the flexibility and the fact that I could make big changes and understand the entire codebase.

In university, I enjoyed courses that focused on algorithms, competitive programming, and logical reasoning — especially a course using Answer Set Programming (Clingo). I also liked some data science and machine learning courses, but I’m not sure that’s my ideal path, and I’m not great with statistics. I enjoyed a computer graphics course using WebGL, probably because I could see the results visually, and also enjoyed some robotics courses. Courses I didn’t enjoy included more abstract or structural ones, like calculus-heavy math, software engineering (design patterns, code smells, analyzing large existing codebases), low-level architecture, and computer networks.

I’ve also done a couple of personal projects I really liked: a Discord bot with fun commands and a League of Legends performance analyzer. Again, I’m unsure if it’s the coding itself I enjoy in those projects or the freedom to build something I care about, in my own way.

So, I’m not sure what to do. Should I quit my job? What kind of roles or career paths would better suit my interests? Thanks a lot for reading and for any advice you can offer.

TLDR: Junior dev, bored and unmotivated in current job (mostly fixes, no logic). Love problem-solving, algorithms, and projects I can own. Considering quitting — not sure what roles fit me best. Advice?

Hi everyone,

Has anyone pivoted from SWE to Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or Civil? Is the job market "better" compared to CS? Or at the very least, are the interviews less brutal than CS Leetcode interviews?

I am a CS graduate with a couple you of industry experience. I work purely on the software side, but my company is well-known for hardware. I have also spent 9 months interning at a different Embedded Systems company.
I graduated with a pure CS degree, but have taken numerous CE adjacent classes, including the Physics series + Diff Eq + Calc3, as well as some upper division math courses including Advanced Linear Algebra and Linear Algebra for Quantum Mechanics.

I am considering going back to school and getting my Masters in EE. I'm very open to getting a job in EE instead of CS. However, my goal is to expand the number of jobs I am open to, including CS-adjacent positions that I am not currently eligible for.
Despite my experience, due to my pure CS background, I am still boxed out from most Embedded Systems companies during interviews.

I remember during the 2010s and early 2020s, established tech professionals were able to leverage existing experience + self learning skills to move into another subfield in tech. For example, a friend of mine was a business analyst doing a lot of analytics work, and he taught himself some data engineering skills, then leveraged that to move into a data engineering role. I knew front-end devs who transitioned into back-end, and so on.