7 months after graduation in cs, feeling lost /u/DepresionSonriente CSCQ protests reddit

Hello everyone,

Ever since September of 2023, I’ve been applying to jobs and grinding interview prep / networking. Then I had a big surgery, so I started to ramp it back up in late March.

Since then, I’ve stepped up an incredible amount in terms of trying to find a job in software engineering. I’ve had 3 SWE internships + 3 projects, I’ve done tons of mock interviews, had probably over 50+ qualified people give input on my resume (which many of them thought was great), or I combined and implemented the feedback that was given, I do LeetCode, technical + behavioral interview prep, network a lot (however lots of these connections say their company currently isn’t hiring entry level), and I’ve been working on a project that involves pipelines + deploying just to say that I’ve had some initial experience in that stuff.

I had a couple of interviews in May / June, however I did not pass the final rounds of all of those to be met with “you did great, but another candidate fit our criteria better” when I asked for feedback. Since June, I’ve not had a single interview. Even applying for jobs where my resume is dead accurate with the job description. My tipping point for posting this was finally getting an interview from a big company, contacting them my availability just 30 min after they sent the email, just for them to ghost me for a week, and say after I followed up that the hiring manager isn’t taking any more interviews.

What irks me the most is people telling me that it’s my fault or that “everybody else is getting jobs with hard work, so you must not be working hard enough”. It’s so tough to not give up when I’m told it’s my fault that I’m not doing x even though I’m busting my ass off every day doing x.

Maybe this is a rant and look for sympathy / request for guidance, or a little bit of both. I’m just asking if there’s something I could change or learn a topic for the future me so I don’t get completely busted from this degree even though I believe I’m qualified to at least get the opportunity for an entry level SWE position. Or if someone could give me a few words of encouragement to keep going instead of being blasted that I’m fucking up with no solution.

Thanks everyone

Hello everyone,

Ever since September of 2023, I’ve been applying to jobs and grinding interview prep / networking. Then I had a big surgery, so I started to ramp it back up in late March.

Since then, I’ve stepped up an incredible amount in terms of trying to find a job in software engineering. I’ve had 3 SWE internships + 3 projects, I’ve done tons of mock interviews, had probably over 50+ qualified people give input on my resume (which many of them thought was great), or I combined and implemented the feedback that was given, I do LeetCode, technical + behavioral interview prep, network a lot (however lots of these connections say their company currently isn’t hiring entry level), and I’ve been working on a project that involves pipelines + deploying just to say that I’ve had some initial experience in that stuff.

I had a couple of interviews in May / June, however I did not pass the final rounds of all of those to be met with “you did great, but another candidate fit our criteria better” when I asked for feedback. Since June, I’ve not had a single interview. Even applying for jobs where my resume is dead accurate with the job description. My tipping point for posting this was finally getting an interview from a big company, contacting them my availability just 30 min after they sent the email, just for them to ghost me for a week, and say after I followed up that the hiring manager isn’t taking any more interviews.

What irks me the most is people telling me that it’s my fault or that “everybody else is getting jobs with hard work, so you must not be working hard enough”. It’s so tough to not give up when I’m told it’s my fault that I’m not doing x even though I’m busting my ass off every day doing x.

Maybe this is a rant and look for sympathy / request for guidance, or a little bit of both. I’m just asking if there’s something I could change or learn a topic for the future me so I don’t get completely busted from this degree even though I believe I’m qualified to at least get the opportunity for an entry level SWE position. Or if someone could give me a few words of encouragement to keep going instead of being blasted that I’m fucking up with no solution.

Thanks everyone