Category: cscareerquestions

cscareerquestions

cscareerquestions

Is an Internship necessary? /u/Chai_LattesSoCute CSCQ protests reddit

Is an Internship necessary? /u/Chai_LattesSoCute CSCQ protests reddit

Hey there, I’m a junior at a state university and I’m debating on an internship which should probably be a no-brainer at this point but I’m truly wondering if its worth all the stress. I go to a state university and have an average GPA of 3.85 (not sure if this even matters). I’m debating going and applying for an internship for the reasons below. I am ultimately divided if i keep working on these things and go for the internship/do what i can or work on these things and take until august to hone my skills before I graduate. My gut feeling says to just go for internships and if nothing happens really work these skills more than I already am, but its also telling me to just wait until I grad and attempt to secure an entry-level position of some sort.

  1. I’m currently working on a full-stack inventory management system I plan to implement in my parents liquor store they own, It’s not much but I feel developing a full-stack web app and creating my own front-end/back-end with user authentication is a larger project which I can actively work on more and more, I feel its good because I am both interacting with my parents as if its a customer-business relation since they take their business quite seriously and know next to nothing about software.

  2. I’m also currently working on a video game I plan to launch sometime next year, It’s a psychological horror puzzle game with multiplayer. I’m currently working on this with someone who doesn’t know much about coding in general, however, I’ve had to learn processes of level design, making my own AI in C++, and general work flow to get the most done within a day. This has been an intense project where i’ve worked on this 12+ hours daily at times for the last 8 months having to learn the ins and outs of Unreal Engine 5.

  3. With these two projects, I’m truly debating as to if I just spend my spring/summer until august getting these two projects done, practicing leetcode, and preparing for interviews by usings things such as Pramp. I’m thinking it might be a bit too late for an internship and I feel overall inconfident within my skills, the full-stack web app is still just scratching the surface and I have so much to learn I feel but things like leetcode and managing these two projects come easier and easier. I enjoy learning these things a lot and would love a career but I graduate sometime probably in Spring 2026. I am pretty financially stable currently but am just unsure if I work on skills and practice or do what I can and see if something happens.

submitted by /u/Chai_LattesSoCute
[link] [comments]

​r/cscareerquestions Hey there, I’m a junior at a state university and I’m debating on an internship which should probably be a no-brainer at this point but I’m truly wondering if its worth all the stress. I go to a state university and have an average GPA of 3.85 (not sure if this even matters). I’m debating going and applying for an internship for the reasons below. I am ultimately divided if i keep working on these things and go for the internship/do what i can or work on these things and take until august to hone my skills before I graduate. My gut feeling says to just go for internships and if nothing happens really work these skills more than I already am, but its also telling me to just wait until I grad and attempt to secure an entry-level position of some sort. I’m currently working on a full-stack inventory management system I plan to implement in my parents liquor store they own, It’s not much but I feel developing a full-stack web app and creating my own front-end/back-end with user authentication is a larger project which I can actively work on more and more, I feel its good because I am both interacting with my parents as if its a customer-business relation since they take their business quite seriously and know next to nothing about software. I’m also currently working on a video game I plan to launch sometime next year, It’s a psychological horror puzzle game with multiplayer. I’m currently working on this with someone who doesn’t know much about coding in general, however, I’ve had to learn processes of level design, making my own AI in C++, and general work flow to get the most done within a day. This has been an intense project where i’ve worked on this 12+ hours daily at times for the last 8 months having to learn the ins and outs of Unreal Engine 5. With these two projects, I’m truly debating as to if I just spend my spring/summer until august getting these two projects done, practicing leetcode, and preparing for interviews by usings things such as Pramp. I’m thinking it might be a bit too late for an internship and I feel overall inconfident within my skills, the full-stack web app is still just scratching the surface and I have so much to learn I feel but things like leetcode and managing these two projects come easier and easier. I enjoy learning these things a lot and would love a career but I graduate sometime probably in Spring 2026. I am pretty financially stable currently but am just unsure if I work on skills and practice or do what I can and see if something happens. submitted by /u/Chai_LattesSoCute [link] [comments] 

Hey there, I’m a junior at a state university and I’m debating on an internship which should probably be a no-brainer at this point but I’m truly wondering if its worth all the stress. I go to a state university and have an average GPA of 3.85 (not sure if this even matters). I’m debating going and applying for an internship for the reasons below. I am ultimately divided if i keep working on these things and go for the internship/do what i can or work on these things and take until august to hone my skills before I graduate. My gut feeling says to just go for internships and if nothing happens really work these skills more than I already am, but its also telling me to just wait until I grad and attempt to secure an entry-level position of some sort.

  1. I’m currently working on a full-stack inventory management system I plan to implement in my parents liquor store they own, It’s not much but I feel developing a full-stack web app and creating my own front-end/back-end with user authentication is a larger project which I can actively work on more and more, I feel its good because I am both interacting with my parents as if its a customer-business relation since they take their business quite seriously and know next to nothing about software.

  2. I’m also currently working on a video game I plan to launch sometime next year, It’s a psychological horror puzzle game with multiplayer. I’m currently working on this with someone who doesn’t know much about coding in general, however, I’ve had to learn processes of level design, making my own AI in C++, and general work flow to get the most done within a day. This has been an intense project where i’ve worked on this 12+ hours daily at times for the last 8 months having to learn the ins and outs of Unreal Engine 5.

  3. With these two projects, I’m truly debating as to if I just spend my spring/summer until august getting these two projects done, practicing leetcode, and preparing for interviews by usings things such as Pramp. I’m thinking it might be a bit too late for an internship and I feel overall inconfident within my skills, the full-stack web app is still just scratching the surface and I have so much to learn I feel but things like leetcode and managing these two projects come easier and easier. I enjoy learning these things a lot and would love a career but I graduate sometime probably in Spring 2026. I am pretty financially stable currently but am just unsure if I work on skills and practice or do what I can and see if something happens.

submitted by /u/Chai_LattesSoCute
[link] [comments]  Hey there, I’m a junior at a state university and I’m debating on an internship which should probably be a no-brainer at this point but I’m truly wondering if its worth all the stress. I go to a state university and have an average GPA of 3.85 (not sure if this even matters). I’m debating going and applying for an internship for the reasons below. I am ultimately divided if i keep working on these things and go for the internship/do what i can or work on these things and take until august to hone my skills before I graduate. My gut feeling says to just go for internships and if nothing happens really work these skills more than I already am, but its also telling me to just wait until I grad and attempt to secure an entry-level position of some sort. I’m currently working on a full-stack inventory management system I plan to implement in my parents liquor store they own, It’s not much but I feel developing a full-stack web app and creating my own front-end/back-end with user authentication is a larger project which I can actively work on more and more, I feel its good because I am both interacting with my parents as if its a customer-business relation since they take their business quite seriously and know next to nothing about software. I’m also currently working on a video game I plan to launch sometime next year, It’s a psychological horror puzzle game with multiplayer. I’m currently working on this with someone who doesn’t know much about coding in general, however, I’ve had to learn processes of level design, making my own AI in C++, and general work flow to get the most done within a day. This has been an intense project where i’ve worked on this 12+ hours daily at times for the last 8 months having to learn the ins and outs of Unreal Engine 5. With these two projects, I’m truly debating as to if I just spend my spring/summer until august getting these two projects done, practicing leetcode, and preparing for interviews by usings things such as Pramp. I’m thinking it might be a bit too late for an internship and I feel overall inconfident within my skills, the full-stack web app is still just scratching the surface and I have so much to learn I feel but things like leetcode and managing these two projects come easier and easier. I enjoy learning these things a lot and would love a career but I graduate sometime probably in Spring 2026. I am pretty financially stable currently but am just unsure if I work on skills and practice or do what I can and see if something happens. submitted by /u/Chai_LattesSoCute [link] [comments]

Read more
cscareerquestions

Is not caring about your company or work that abnormal? /u/JackyJack41 CSCQ protests reddit

Is not caring about your company or work that abnormal? /u/JackyJack41 CSCQ protests reddit

Hello everyone,

I work as a developer in a large organization, earning significantly more than the average developer at my level and location. I mention this not to boast, but to provide context: I am, by far, one of the least invested developers I know.

Nearly everyone around me seems, in my eyes, to be a work fanatic. These are the kind of people who log 2–3 extra hours on sick days just because their team lead asks them to. They believe drawing clear boundaries between “work” and “life” is unreasonable, insisting that “work is done when work is done.” If they don’t finish their tasks within regular hours, they’ll stay late to complete them, even though—ironically—if they finished early, management would simply assign more work to fill their time.

I’m particularly wary of developers who treat their work as if they own it. They become personally invested, even prideful, about their code and projects. Perhaps my perspective comes from my experience as a self-employed freelancer, where the work was always for clients, not for me. I’ve never seen my work as “mine.” It belongs to whoever pays for it, and they’re free to use, change, or discard it however they see fit. If my boss were to delete all my code and call it garbage, I honestly wouldn’t care. It’s not a matter of lacking pride—I simply can’t bring myself to be emotionally invested in work that holds no personal significance for me.

For example, if I finish work at 6 PM and production crashes at 6:05, I won’t answer the call or even think about it as long as I can deniably do so. I’ll address it the next day if it’s still unresolved and assigned to me. Similarly, I don’t check emails or respond to calls outside work hours. However, when I’m at work, I’m fully focused—no personal calls, private errands, or non-work-related conversations outside of breaks.

In my environment, voicing these views would likely provoke fierce criticism. So, I’m left wondering: is my mindset really that absurd?

submitted by /u/JackyJack41
[link] [comments]

​r/cscareerquestions Hello everyone, I work as a developer in a large organization, earning significantly more than the average developer at my level and location. I mention this not to boast, but to provide context: I am, by far, one of the least invested developers I know. Nearly everyone around me seems, in my eyes, to be a work fanatic. These are the kind of people who log 2–3 extra hours on sick days just because their team lead asks them to. They believe drawing clear boundaries between “work” and “life” is unreasonable, insisting that “work is done when work is done.” If they don’t finish their tasks within regular hours, they’ll stay late to complete them, even though—ironically—if they finished early, management would simply assign more work to fill their time. I’m particularly wary of developers who treat their work as if they own it. They become personally invested, even prideful, about their code and projects. Perhaps my perspective comes from my experience as a self-employed freelancer, where the work was always for clients, not for me. I’ve never seen my work as “mine.” It belongs to whoever pays for it, and they’re free to use, change, or discard it however they see fit. If my boss were to delete all my code and call it garbage, I honestly wouldn’t care. It’s not a matter of lacking pride—I simply can’t bring myself to be emotionally invested in work that holds no personal significance for me. For example, if I finish work at 6 PM and production crashes at 6:05, I won’t answer the call or even think about it as long as I can deniably do so. I’ll address it the next day if it’s still unresolved and assigned to me. Similarly, I don’t check emails or respond to calls outside work hours. However, when I’m at work, I’m fully focused—no personal calls, private errands, or non-work-related conversations outside of breaks. In my environment, voicing these views would likely provoke fierce criticism. So, I’m left wondering: is my mindset really that absurd? submitted by /u/JackyJack41 [link] [comments] 

Hello everyone,

I work as a developer in a large organization, earning significantly more than the average developer at my level and location. I mention this not to boast, but to provide context: I am, by far, one of the least invested developers I know.

Nearly everyone around me seems, in my eyes, to be a work fanatic. These are the kind of people who log 2–3 extra hours on sick days just because their team lead asks them to. They believe drawing clear boundaries between “work” and “life” is unreasonable, insisting that “work is done when work is done.” If they don’t finish their tasks within regular hours, they’ll stay late to complete them, even though—ironically—if they finished early, management would simply assign more work to fill their time.

I’m particularly wary of developers who treat their work as if they own it. They become personally invested, even prideful, about their code and projects. Perhaps my perspective comes from my experience as a self-employed freelancer, where the work was always for clients, not for me. I’ve never seen my work as “mine.” It belongs to whoever pays for it, and they’re free to use, change, or discard it however they see fit. If my boss were to delete all my code and call it garbage, I honestly wouldn’t care. It’s not a matter of lacking pride—I simply can’t bring myself to be emotionally invested in work that holds no personal significance for me.

For example, if I finish work at 6 PM and production crashes at 6:05, I won’t answer the call or even think about it as long as I can deniably do so. I’ll address it the next day if it’s still unresolved and assigned to me. Similarly, I don’t check emails or respond to calls outside work hours. However, when I’m at work, I’m fully focused—no personal calls, private errands, or non-work-related conversations outside of breaks.

In my environment, voicing these views would likely provoke fierce criticism. So, I’m left wondering: is my mindset really that absurd?

submitted by /u/JackyJack41
[link] [comments]  Hello everyone, I work as a developer in a large organization, earning significantly more than the average developer at my level and location. I mention this not to boast, but to provide context: I am, by far, one of the least invested developers I know. Nearly everyone around me seems, in my eyes, to be a work fanatic. These are the kind of people who log 2–3 extra hours on sick days just because their team lead asks them to. They believe drawing clear boundaries between “work” and “life” is unreasonable, insisting that “work is done when work is done.” If they don’t finish their tasks within regular hours, they’ll stay late to complete them, even though—ironically—if they finished early, management would simply assign more work to fill their time. I’m particularly wary of developers who treat their work as if they own it. They become personally invested, even prideful, about their code and projects. Perhaps my perspective comes from my experience as a self-employed freelancer, where the work was always for clients, not for me. I’ve never seen my work as “mine.” It belongs to whoever pays for it, and they’re free to use, change, or discard it however they see fit. If my boss were to delete all my code and call it garbage, I honestly wouldn’t care. It’s not a matter of lacking pride—I simply can’t bring myself to be emotionally invested in work that holds no personal significance for me. For example, if I finish work at 6 PM and production crashes at 6:05, I won’t answer the call or even think about it as long as I can deniably do so. I’ll address it the next day if it’s still unresolved and assigned to me. Similarly, I don’t check emails or respond to calls outside work hours. However, when I’m at work, I’m fully focused—no personal calls, private errands, or non-work-related conversations outside of breaks. In my environment, voicing these views would likely provoke fierce criticism. So, I’m left wondering: is my mindset really that absurd? submitted by /u/JackyJack41 [link] [comments]

Read more
cscareerquestions

Technology recommendations for Inventory Management Software development? /u/Amethysti_ CSCQ protests reddit

Technology recommendations for Inventory Management Software development? /u/Amethysti_ CSCQ protests reddit

Hi, I will soon be going into a job to develop a project that consists of the above.

In addition to just keeping track of inputs coming in and going out, this must make purchase orders and issue invoices. It is a single physical location (municipality).

What I want to know is your recommendations on which development technologies are best for me in this case, and if a web or desktop application is more suitable.

I am looking for help in your recommendations because since it is the starting point and the basis of the project, I do not want to start with something that later turns out to be inefficient or incompatible with certain aspects. Besides it’s my first “job” and I don’t have much experience. So thanks for any help!

submitted by /u/Amethysti_
[link] [comments]

​r/cscareerquestions Hi, I will soon be going into a job to develop a project that consists of the above. In addition to just keeping track of inputs coming in and going out, this must make purchase orders and issue invoices. It is a single physical location (municipality). What I want to know is your recommendations on which development technologies are best for me in this case, and if a web or desktop application is more suitable. I am looking for help in your recommendations because since it is the starting point and the basis of the project, I do not want to start with something that later turns out to be inefficient or incompatible with certain aspects. Besides it’s my first “job” and I don’t have much experience. So thanks for any help! submitted by /u/Amethysti_ [link] [comments] 

Hi, I will soon be going into a job to develop a project that consists of the above.

In addition to just keeping track of inputs coming in and going out, this must make purchase orders and issue invoices. It is a single physical location (municipality).

What I want to know is your recommendations on which development technologies are best for me in this case, and if a web or desktop application is more suitable.

I am looking for help in your recommendations because since it is the starting point and the basis of the project, I do not want to start with something that later turns out to be inefficient or incompatible with certain aspects. Besides it’s my first “job” and I don’t have much experience. So thanks for any help!

submitted by /u/Amethysti_
[link] [comments]  Hi, I will soon be going into a job to develop a project that consists of the above. In addition to just keeping track of inputs coming in and going out, this must make purchase orders and issue invoices. It is a single physical location (municipality). What I want to know is your recommendations on which development technologies are best for me in this case, and if a web or desktop application is more suitable. I am looking for help in your recommendations because since it is the starting point and the basis of the project, I do not want to start with something that later turns out to be inefficient or incompatible with certain aspects. Besides it’s my first “job” and I don’t have much experience. So thanks for any help! submitted by /u/Amethysti_ [link] [comments]

Read more
cscareerquestions

Landed my first job as a Software Engineer, but unsure about my career path /u/IndependentPudding85 CSCQ protests reddit

Landed my first job as a Software Engineer, but unsure about my career path /u/IndependentPudding85 CSCQ protests reddit

Hi everyone! I recently got my first job as a software engineer before even graduating (which I’m really proud of), and it’s in the cybersecurity sector, specifically working with encryptors and with c++. The role has been a fantastic learning experience so far, but I’ve realized that this field, while interesting, also think maybe isn’t exactly what I’m most passionate about.

I’ve always been more drawn to areas like embedded systems or IoT. While it is true that working with encryptors touches on embedded systems to some extent, but not in the way I’d envisioned. This has left me wondering: should I stick with cybersecurity, as it seems to offer a lot of job opportunities, or try to pivot toward embedded/IoT, which aligns more with my interests?

There are a couple of key factors influencing my decision:

Employability: My priority is to ensure I have broad and stable career opportunities in the future.

Remote Work: My current role doesn’t allow for remote work, and having that flexibility is something I really value.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Does it make sense to stay in cybersecurity and build a strong foundation in, which I think, is a high-demand field, or should I start looking for opportunities in embedded/IoT early on? How do you see the job market for embedded/IoT compared to cybersecurity, especially in terms of employability and remote work options?

Thanks for reading, and I’d really appreciate any advice you can offer!

submitted by /u/IndependentPudding85
[link] [comments]

​r/cscareerquestions Hi everyone! I recently got my first job as a software engineer before even graduating (which I’m really proud of), and it’s in the cybersecurity sector, specifically working with encryptors and with c++. The role has been a fantastic learning experience so far, but I’ve realized that this field, while interesting, also think maybe isn’t exactly what I’m most passionate about. I’ve always been more drawn to areas like embedded systems or IoT. While it is true that working with encryptors touches on embedded systems to some extent, but not in the way I’d envisioned. This has left me wondering: should I stick with cybersecurity, as it seems to offer a lot of job opportunities, or try to pivot toward embedded/IoT, which aligns more with my interests? There are a couple of key factors influencing my decision: Employability: My priority is to ensure I have broad and stable career opportunities in the future. Remote Work: My current role doesn’t allow for remote work, and having that flexibility is something I really value. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Does it make sense to stay in cybersecurity and build a strong foundation in, which I think, is a high-demand field, or should I start looking for opportunities in embedded/IoT early on? How do you see the job market for embedded/IoT compared to cybersecurity, especially in terms of employability and remote work options? Thanks for reading, and I’d really appreciate any advice you can offer! submitted by /u/IndependentPudding85 [link] [comments] 

Hi everyone! I recently got my first job as a software engineer before even graduating (which I’m really proud of), and it’s in the cybersecurity sector, specifically working with encryptors and with c++. The role has been a fantastic learning experience so far, but I’ve realized that this field, while interesting, also think maybe isn’t exactly what I’m most passionate about.

I’ve always been more drawn to areas like embedded systems or IoT. While it is true that working with encryptors touches on embedded systems to some extent, but not in the way I’d envisioned. This has left me wondering: should I stick with cybersecurity, as it seems to offer a lot of job opportunities, or try to pivot toward embedded/IoT, which aligns more with my interests?

There are a couple of key factors influencing my decision:

Employability: My priority is to ensure I have broad and stable career opportunities in the future.

Remote Work: My current role doesn’t allow for remote work, and having that flexibility is something I really value.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Does it make sense to stay in cybersecurity and build a strong foundation in, which I think, is a high-demand field, or should I start looking for opportunities in embedded/IoT early on? How do you see the job market for embedded/IoT compared to cybersecurity, especially in terms of employability and remote work options?

Thanks for reading, and I’d really appreciate any advice you can offer!

submitted by /u/IndependentPudding85
[link] [comments]  Hi everyone! I recently got my first job as a software engineer before even graduating (which I’m really proud of), and it’s in the cybersecurity sector, specifically working with encryptors and with c++. The role has been a fantastic learning experience so far, but I’ve realized that this field, while interesting, also think maybe isn’t exactly what I’m most passionate about. I’ve always been more drawn to areas like embedded systems or IoT. While it is true that working with encryptors touches on embedded systems to some extent, but not in the way I’d envisioned. This has left me wondering: should I stick with cybersecurity, as it seems to offer a lot of job opportunities, or try to pivot toward embedded/IoT, which aligns more with my interests? There are a couple of key factors influencing my decision: Employability: My priority is to ensure I have broad and stable career opportunities in the future. Remote Work: My current role doesn’t allow for remote work, and having that flexibility is something I really value. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Does it make sense to stay in cybersecurity and build a strong foundation in, which I think, is a high-demand field, or should I start looking for opportunities in embedded/IoT early on? How do you see the job market for embedded/IoT compared to cybersecurity, especially in terms of employability and remote work options? Thanks for reading, and I’d really appreciate any advice you can offer! submitted by /u/IndependentPudding85 [link] [comments]

Read more
cscareerquestions

Also found a new job (a longer success story – 7 months) [LONG] /u/Seinhauser CSCQ protests reddit

Also found a new job (a longer success story – 7 months) [LONG] /u/Seinhauser CSCQ protests reddit

Having seen some positive news lately I thought I’d share my (longer) story as well. I’m not a new grad so I can’t claim to understand the exact situation you guys have, but I can say my story may be relatable in some way as I have severe impostor syndrome and not too many years of experience

TL;DR: Laid off in February, 8 months later I’ve more than tripled my pay. Believe in yourself and be prepared for opportunity when it comes

My First Job

As a bit of backstory, I graduated in 2020. At the time I was just taking it slow and not too crazy about getting a job, but I was aware that the FAANG hype was building up. The perks looked amazing and I never even imagined I’d be able to make it there. I was a very average Leetcoder and struggled with half of the mediums I came across. You probably think I am going to say I ended up landing FAANG – I didn’t. I ended up being hired at a small consulting company that was contracted at FAANG, so while I did enjoy some of the perks, I had less than half the comp (<100K in California) that everyone online was posting online. While that’s pretty amazing to land as a first job, I was referred by a friend and the interview was really not too intense like everything you read nowadays.

This was my only job. In 2023, our team pivoted to a new project and pace picked up – lots of greenfield development that helped me get more interesting experience. The pay was still less than stellar (for California) and by 2024, I hadn’t gotten a single raise throughout the entire duration of my employment there. I remember in December 2023, I was thinking, “I’m going to ask for a 20% raise next year!” Instead, I got laid off 2 months after.

Unemployment

I moved back home immediately (parents were happy to have me back, culture thing). I was in an interesting mental state – money wasn’t the primary concern because I had a really great side hustle. It was an odd feeling of being able to go anywhere I felt in the middle of the day. It’s a weird mix of emotions – a sense of freedom, followed by the feeling of waking up every day at 11, being a ‘non-contributing’ member to society. It’s kind of bittersweet.

But over time I definitely felt more and more the urge to get back to work. After 1 month, I started sending out job applications for full stack positions. Basically any company I’ve heard of before, I applied to. Back in 2020, I didn’t even bother applying to FAANG because of the rigorous interview process and low confidence. While my confidence was still pretty low, I didn’t really care about the embarrassment of failing like I did before.

The feeling of getting a positive response to a job application is hard to describe. It’s a combination of excitement, fear, anxiety, and opportunity. And realistically, I had NEVER done a real interview before. My only job interview after graduating was through a referral and the coding was done in Google Docs.

Interview Loop 1

Amazon wanted to give me a shot for an L5 position (SWE 2, ~$283K). Just seeing the average TC for this position had me nervous, coming from <100K at my previous position; it felt surreal.

First had an online assessment on Hackerrack, 2 coding questions and a behavioral ‘quiz’ in 2 hours. I started grinding the hell out of Leetcode, then took the OA on the last day. Ended up passing 15/15 test cases on problem 1, and 8/15 test cases on problem 2. Unlucky I guess…

But I received an email from the recruiter just a few hours later saying that I passed and they wanted to send me to the final interview loop (onsites). Nerves were back! 4 back-to-back interviews, 1 hour each. I knew Amazon was heavy on behavioral questions from my research, and wrote down a handful of relevant stories. I even prepared quite a few stories from my side hustle because it was pretty customer-oriented.

It was kind of a disaster. I failed to clearly explain my stories. It felt like I was talking in circles. I wrote down the stories, but I guess I didn’t really practice speaking. One of my interviewers even said she didn’t understand the story. Coding rounds were fine. System design was pretty awful because I was going in circles and super nervous.

My recruiter confirmed that I didn’t pass, but they’d love to let me try again in 12 months 😭.

Lesson: Don't try to buy too much time to prepare - interviewers often have a bunch of candidates in the pipeline. Normally, Iwould get an interview and start studying. Wrong move. I should be studying BEFORE I get an interview, so I can be prepared and schedule ASAP.

Interview Loop 2

Affirm, a company I’m a customer of both as a buyer and a seller, responded to my application. I had an initial recruiter screening, and he set me up for a technical interview next. The position sounded like something I was genuinely interested in and the perks / company culture / values seemed amazing. I scheduled the technical interview as far out as I could, and got down to studying.

Technical interview went smoothly. Conversations were much better than my Amazon ones, and the coding problems were familiar stuff to me – not perfect, but good enough. Asked some questions about the position and that was that.

My recruiter got back to me saying I did great and scheduled me for a hiring manager interview, which I set up 2 weeks out. Was feeling pretty good about this one! Unfortunately, I received an email a week later telling me that they had offered someone else the position and that they were cancelling my upcoming interview. Devastated.

Lesson: Don't buy too much time to prepare - interviewers often have a bunch of candidates in the pipeline. Normally, I would get an interview and start studying. Wrong move. I should be studying BEFORE I get an interview, so I can be prepared and schedule ASAP.

Interview Loop 3 (received offer)

A TikTok recruiter responded to one of my applications interested in setting up a phone call. Of course I accepted, regardless of the reputation. I heard from friends, as well as various people on the internet, they’re known for very poor WLB, a lot of Chinese documentation, but good compensation. I was excited regardless; to work on something that had such a massive userbase would be an incredible experience I felt. Recruiter screen went fine. Something funny to note was that all my interviews were at night, like 6PM – 10PM.

Technical interview #1 was algorithms-based. It was a Leetcode medium that I had luckily seen just the day before, using Leetcode Premium’s tagged questions lol. The interviewer suggested that there was a simpler solution than what I had implemented, but I couldn’t figure it out. They asked a behavioral question and a few trivia questions. I passed though!

Technical interview #2 was a frontend-focused round with web coding at 8 PM. I was able to implement the component about 80% of the way there, but my interviewer asked for some specific features that I struggled to get 100% working. In the end, it was a decently functioning solution but not 100% what she wanted. I tried to do some premature optimizations and overcomplicated it (virtualization).

System design / behavioral / hiring manager interview were muddled all together in the final round. This was a little tricky and I was nervous because I bombed my Amazon System Design interview. But I did pretty decently here I think. My interview often would prod me deeper after I gave my answer, which was a little nerve-wracking. I wasn’t sure if my answer wasn’t good enough, or if he was just trying to test if I was confident in my answer.

After this nearly 2-month interview process, I ended up receiving an offer for a TC of $270K. It was a really great opportunity, and the pay was so much higher than my last job. I felt a sense of achievement, that after 8 months, I had finally landed something. The position was 5-day RTO, but the office looked very nice. Full meals, snacks, etc. But somehow, I declined this opportunity in favor of something else. Crazy.

Interview Loop 4 (received offer)

I was flabbergasted when I received an email from a recruiter for this FAANG company. Oddly enough, there are hardly any interview resources online when it comes to this company. So I was very much just approaching it with caution and studying everything I had learned from the previous 3 interviews. Spent a crazy amount of time studying for behavioral questions.

I won’t go into too much detail of the hiring process here, but it was a long one. Total of almost 10 interviews over the span of 6 weeks. A lot of fear and uncertainty and anxiety – one of the most demoralizing things was noticing that the job listing had been open for more than 6 months. It felt like if no one had been able to fill the position for that long, then I stood no chance. Lots of behavioral questions!

I received an offer, and it topped anything else I received. I started back in September and it still doesn’t feel 100% real (that’s why I haven’t named the company or written out the pay figure). It’s hard to believe and I’m still shocked to this day.

Lesson: Asking questions is just as valuable as answering them. Interviewers will ALWAYS give you the opportunity to ask questions at the end, and make sure you don't waste it. Don't just ask generic questions either, ask questions that show you're interested in the role, mention things you learned about the role from previous interviews. I really think my questions helped me out a lot.

Conclusion

There is a chance – it involves a lot of luck, but be prepared for when that luck comes. I think it’s also important to believe in yourself – I’m a very VERY average Leetcoder (I’ve just done Blind 75, and actually didn’t do most of the hard ones in there). I mentioned my backstory because I wanted to call back to my original belief that I could never land a FAANG job. I guess it was possible after all!

Total applications sent: ~100 Total interviews: 5 Offers: 2

If you don’t feel that great about your Leetcoding ability, I recommend emphasizing practice on behavioral interviews, practice actual speaking, and be personable and friendly – this might make up for less technical prowess. Ask good questions! I really hope that this story could inspire, and it can help some of you avoid some mistakes I made throughout the process.

submitted by /u/Seinhauser
[link] [comments]

​r/cscareerquestions Having seen some positive news lately I thought I’d share my (longer) story as well. I’m not a new grad so I can’t claim to understand the exact situation you guys have, but I can say my story may be relatable in some way as I have severe impostor syndrome and not too many years of experience TL;DR: Laid off in February, 8 months later I’ve more than tripled my pay. Believe in yourself and be prepared for opportunity when it comes My First Job As a bit of backstory, I graduated in 2020. At the time I was just taking it slow and not too crazy about getting a job, but I was aware that the FAANG hype was building up. The perks looked amazing and I never even imagined I’d be able to make it there. I was a very average Leetcoder and struggled with half of the mediums I came across. You probably think I am going to say I ended up landing FAANG – I didn’t. I ended up being hired at a small consulting company that was contracted at FAANG, so while I did enjoy some of the perks, I had less than half the comp (<100K in California) that everyone online was posting online. While that’s pretty amazing to land as a first job, I was referred by a friend and the interview was really not too intense like everything you read nowadays. This was my only job. In 2023, our team pivoted to a new project and pace picked up – lots of greenfield development that helped me get more interesting experience. The pay was still less than stellar (for California) and by 2024, I hadn’t gotten a single raise throughout the entire duration of my employment there. I remember in December 2023, I was thinking, “I’m going to ask for a 20% raise next year!” Instead, I got laid off 2 months after. Unemployment I moved back home immediately (parents were happy to have me back, culture thing). I was in an interesting mental state – money wasn’t the primary concern because I had a really great side hustle. It was an odd feeling of being able to go anywhere I felt in the middle of the day. It’s a weird mix of emotions – a sense of freedom, followed by the feeling of waking up every day at 11, being a ‘non-contributing’ member to society. It’s kind of bittersweet. But over time I definitely felt more and more the urge to get back to work. After 1 month, I started sending out job applications for full stack positions. Basically any company I’ve heard of before, I applied to. Back in 2020, I didn’t even bother applying to FAANG because of the rigorous interview process and low confidence. While my confidence was still pretty low, I didn’t really care about the embarrassment of failing like I did before. The feeling of getting a positive response to a job application is hard to describe. It’s a combination of excitement, fear, anxiety, and opportunity. And realistically, I had NEVER done a real interview before. My only job interview after graduating was through a referral and the coding was done in Google Docs. Interview Loop 1 Amazon wanted to give me a shot for an L5 position (SWE 2, ~$283K). Just seeing the average TC for this position had me nervous, coming from <100K at my previous position; it felt surreal. First had an online assessment on Hackerrack, 2 coding questions and a behavioral ‘quiz’ in 2 hours. I started grinding the hell out of Leetcode, then took the OA on the last day. Ended up passing 15/15 test cases on problem 1, and 8/15 test cases on problem 2. Unlucky I guess… But I received an email from the recruiter just a few hours later saying that I passed and they wanted to send me to the final interview loop (onsites). Nerves were back! 4 back-to-back interviews, 1 hour each. I knew Amazon was heavy on behavioral questions from my research, and wrote down a handful of relevant stories. I even prepared quite a few stories from my side hustle because it was pretty customer-oriented. It was kind of a disaster. I failed to clearly explain my stories. It felt like I was talking in circles. I wrote down the stories, but I guess I didn’t really practice speaking. One of my interviewers even said she didn’t understand the story. Coding rounds were fine. System design was pretty awful because I was going in circles and super nervous. My recruiter confirmed that I didn’t pass, but they’d love to let me try again in 12 months 😭. Lesson: Don’t try to buy too much time to prepare – interviewers often have a bunch of candidates in the pipeline. Normally, Iwould get an interview and start studying. Wrong move. I should be studying BEFORE I get an interview, so I can be prepared and schedule ASAP. Interview Loop 2 Affirm, a company I’m a customer of both as a buyer and a seller, responded to my application. I had an initial recruiter screening, and he set me up for a technical interview next. The position sounded like something I was genuinely interested in and the perks / company culture / values seemed amazing. I scheduled the technical interview as far out as I could, and got down to studying. Technical interview went smoothly. Conversations were much better than my Amazon ones, and the coding problems were familiar stuff to me – not perfect, but good enough. Asked some questions about the position and that was that. My recruiter got back to me saying I did great and scheduled me for a hiring manager interview, which I set up 2 weeks out. Was feeling pretty good about this one! Unfortunately, I received an email a week later telling me that they had offered someone else the position and that they were cancelling my upcoming interview. Devastated. Lesson: Don’t buy too much time to prepare – interviewers often have a bunch of candidates in the pipeline. Normally, I would get an interview and start studying. Wrong move. I should be studying BEFORE I get an interview, so I can be prepared and schedule ASAP. Interview Loop 3 (received offer) A TikTok recruiter responded to one of my applications interested in setting up a phone call. Of course I accepted, regardless of the reputation. I heard from friends, as well as various people on the internet, they’re known for very poor WLB, a lot of Chinese documentation, but good compensation. I was excited regardless; to work on something that had such a massive userbase would be an incredible experience I felt. Recruiter screen went fine. Something funny to note was that all my interviews were at night, like 6PM – 10PM. Technical interview #1 was algorithms-based. It was a Leetcode medium that I had luckily seen just the day before, using Leetcode Premium’s tagged questions lol. The interviewer suggested that there was a simpler solution than what I had implemented, but I couldn’t figure it out. They asked a behavioral question and a few trivia questions. I passed though! Technical interview #2 was a frontend-focused round with web coding at 8 PM. I was able to implement the component about 80% of the way there, but my interviewer asked for some specific features that I struggled to get 100% working. In the end, it was a decently functioning solution but not 100% what she wanted. I tried to do some premature optimizations and overcomplicated it (virtualization). System design / behavioral / hiring manager interview were muddled all together in the final round. This was a little tricky and I was nervous because I bombed my Amazon System Design interview. But I did pretty decently here I think. My interview often would prod me deeper after I gave my answer, which was a little nerve-wracking. I wasn’t sure if my answer wasn’t good enough, or if he was just trying to test if I was confident in my answer. After this nearly 2-month interview process, I ended up receiving an offer for a TC of $270K. It was a really great opportunity, and the pay was so much higher than my last job. I felt a sense of achievement, that after 8 months, I had finally landed something. The position was 5-day RTO, but the office looked very nice. Full meals, snacks, etc. But somehow, I declined this opportunity in favor of something else. Crazy. Interview Loop 4 (received offer) I was flabbergasted when I received an email from a recruiter for this FAANG company. Oddly enough, there are hardly any interview resources online when it comes to this company. So I was very much just approaching it with caution and studying everything I had learned from the previous 3 interviews. Spent a crazy amount of time studying for behavioral questions. I won’t go into too much detail of the hiring process here, but it was a long one. Total of almost 10 interviews over the span of 6 weeks. A lot of fear and uncertainty and anxiety – one of the most demoralizing things was noticing that the job listing had been open for more than 6 months. It felt like if no one had been able to fill the position for that long, then I stood no chance. Lots of behavioral questions! I received an offer, and it topped anything else I received. I started back in September and it still doesn’t feel 100% real (that’s why I haven’t named the company or written out the pay figure). It’s hard to believe and I’m still shocked to this day. Lesson: Asking questions is just as valuable as answering them. Interviewers will ALWAYS give you the opportunity to ask questions at the end, and make sure you don’t waste it. Don’t just ask generic questions either, ask questions that show you’re interested in the role, mention things you learned about the role from previous interviews. I really think my questions helped me out a lot. Conclusion There is a chance – it involves a lot of luck, but be prepared for when that luck comes. I think it’s also important to believe in yourself – I’m a very VERY average Leetcoder (I’ve just done Blind 75, and actually didn’t do most of the hard ones in there). I mentioned my backstory because I wanted to call back to my original belief that I could never land a FAANG job. I guess it was possible after all! Total applications sent: ~100 Total interviews: 5 Offers: 2 If you don’t feel that great about your Leetcoding ability, I recommend emphasizing practice on behavioral interviews, practice actual speaking, and be personable and friendly – this might make up for less technical prowess. Ask good questions! I really hope that this story could inspire, and it can help some of you avoid some mistakes I made throughout the process. submitted by /u/Seinhauser [link] [comments] 

Having seen some positive news lately I thought I’d share my (longer) story as well. I’m not a new grad so I can’t claim to understand the exact situation you guys have, but I can say my story may be relatable in some way as I have severe impostor syndrome and not too many years of experience

TL;DR: Laid off in February, 8 months later I’ve more than tripled my pay. Believe in yourself and be prepared for opportunity when it comes

My First Job

As a bit of backstory, I graduated in 2020. At the time I was just taking it slow and not too crazy about getting a job, but I was aware that the FAANG hype was building up. The perks looked amazing and I never even imagined I’d be able to make it there. I was a very average Leetcoder and struggled with half of the mediums I came across. You probably think I am going to say I ended up landing FAANG – I didn’t. I ended up being hired at a small consulting company that was contracted at FAANG, so while I did enjoy some of the perks, I had less than half the comp (<100K in California) that everyone online was posting online. While that’s pretty amazing to land as a first job, I was referred by a friend and the interview was really not too intense like everything you read nowadays.

This was my only job. In 2023, our team pivoted to a new project and pace picked up – lots of greenfield development that helped me get more interesting experience. The pay was still less than stellar (for California) and by 2024, I hadn’t gotten a single raise throughout the entire duration of my employment there. I remember in December 2023, I was thinking, “I’m going to ask for a 20% raise next year!” Instead, I got laid off 2 months after.

Unemployment

I moved back home immediately (parents were happy to have me back, culture thing). I was in an interesting mental state – money wasn’t the primary concern because I had a really great side hustle. It was an odd feeling of being able to go anywhere I felt in the middle of the day. It’s a weird mix of emotions – a sense of freedom, followed by the feeling of waking up every day at 11, being a ‘non-contributing’ member to society. It’s kind of bittersweet.

But over time I definitely felt more and more the urge to get back to work. After 1 month, I started sending out job applications for full stack positions. Basically any company I’ve heard of before, I applied to. Back in 2020, I didn’t even bother applying to FAANG because of the rigorous interview process and low confidence. While my confidence was still pretty low, I didn’t really care about the embarrassment of failing like I did before.

The feeling of getting a positive response to a job application is hard to describe. It’s a combination of excitement, fear, anxiety, and opportunity. And realistically, I had NEVER done a real interview before. My only job interview after graduating was through a referral and the coding was done in Google Docs.

Interview Loop 1

Amazon wanted to give me a shot for an L5 position (SWE 2, ~$283K). Just seeing the average TC for this position had me nervous, coming from <100K at my previous position; it felt surreal.

First had an online assessment on Hackerrack, 2 coding questions and a behavioral ‘quiz’ in 2 hours. I started grinding the hell out of Leetcode, then took the OA on the last day. Ended up passing 15/15 test cases on problem 1, and 8/15 test cases on problem 2. Unlucky I guess…

But I received an email from the recruiter just a few hours later saying that I passed and they wanted to send me to the final interview loop (onsites). Nerves were back! 4 back-to-back interviews, 1 hour each. I knew Amazon was heavy on behavioral questions from my research, and wrote down a handful of relevant stories. I even prepared quite a few stories from my side hustle because it was pretty customer-oriented.

It was kind of a disaster. I failed to clearly explain my stories. It felt like I was talking in circles. I wrote down the stories, but I guess I didn’t really practice speaking. One of my interviewers even said she didn’t understand the story. Coding rounds were fine. System design was pretty awful because I was going in circles and super nervous.

My recruiter confirmed that I didn’t pass, but they’d love to let me try again in 12 months 😭.

Lesson: Don't try to buy too much time to prepare - interviewers often have a bunch of candidates in the pipeline. Normally, Iwould get an interview and start studying. Wrong move. I should be studying BEFORE I get an interview, so I can be prepared and schedule ASAP.

Interview Loop 2

Affirm, a company I’m a customer of both as a buyer and a seller, responded to my application. I had an initial recruiter screening, and he set me up for a technical interview next. The position sounded like something I was genuinely interested in and the perks / company culture / values seemed amazing. I scheduled the technical interview as far out as I could, and got down to studying.

Technical interview went smoothly. Conversations were much better than my Amazon ones, and the coding problems were familiar stuff to me – not perfect, but good enough. Asked some questions about the position and that was that.

My recruiter got back to me saying I did great and scheduled me for a hiring manager interview, which I set up 2 weeks out. Was feeling pretty good about this one! Unfortunately, I received an email a week later telling me that they had offered someone else the position and that they were cancelling my upcoming interview. Devastated.

Lesson: Don't buy too much time to prepare - interviewers often have a bunch of candidates in the pipeline. Normally, I would get an interview and start studying. Wrong move. I should be studying BEFORE I get an interview, so I can be prepared and schedule ASAP.

Interview Loop 3 (received offer)

A TikTok recruiter responded to one of my applications interested in setting up a phone call. Of course I accepted, regardless of the reputation. I heard from friends, as well as various people on the internet, they’re known for very poor WLB, a lot of Chinese documentation, but good compensation. I was excited regardless; to work on something that had such a massive userbase would be an incredible experience I felt. Recruiter screen went fine. Something funny to note was that all my interviews were at night, like 6PM – 10PM.

Technical interview #1 was algorithms-based. It was a Leetcode medium that I had luckily seen just the day before, using Leetcode Premium’s tagged questions lol. The interviewer suggested that there was a simpler solution than what I had implemented, but I couldn’t figure it out. They asked a behavioral question and a few trivia questions. I passed though!

Technical interview #2 was a frontend-focused round with web coding at 8 PM. I was able to implement the component about 80% of the way there, but my interviewer asked for some specific features that I struggled to get 100% working. In the end, it was a decently functioning solution but not 100% what she wanted. I tried to do some premature optimizations and overcomplicated it (virtualization).

System design / behavioral / hiring manager interview were muddled all together in the final round. This was a little tricky and I was nervous because I bombed my Amazon System Design interview. But I did pretty decently here I think. My interview often would prod me deeper after I gave my answer, which was a little nerve-wracking. I wasn’t sure if my answer wasn’t good enough, or if he was just trying to test if I was confident in my answer.

After this nearly 2-month interview process, I ended up receiving an offer for a TC of $270K. It was a really great opportunity, and the pay was so much higher than my last job. I felt a sense of achievement, that after 8 months, I had finally landed something. The position was 5-day RTO, but the office looked very nice. Full meals, snacks, etc. But somehow, I declined this opportunity in favor of something else. Crazy.

Interview Loop 4 (received offer)

I was flabbergasted when I received an email from a recruiter for this FAANG company. Oddly enough, there are hardly any interview resources online when it comes to this company. So I was very much just approaching it with caution and studying everything I had learned from the previous 3 interviews. Spent a crazy amount of time studying for behavioral questions.

I won’t go into too much detail of the hiring process here, but it was a long one. Total of almost 10 interviews over the span of 6 weeks. A lot of fear and uncertainty and anxiety – one of the most demoralizing things was noticing that the job listing had been open for more than 6 months. It felt like if no one had been able to fill the position for that long, then I stood no chance. Lots of behavioral questions!

I received an offer, and it topped anything else I received. I started back in September and it still doesn’t feel 100% real (that’s why I haven’t named the company or written out the pay figure). It’s hard to believe and I’m still shocked to this day.

Lesson: Asking questions is just as valuable as answering them. Interviewers will ALWAYS give you the opportunity to ask questions at the end, and make sure you don't waste it. Don't just ask generic questions either, ask questions that show you're interested in the role, mention things you learned about the role from previous interviews. I really think my questions helped me out a lot.

Conclusion

There is a chance – it involves a lot of luck, but be prepared for when that luck comes. I think it’s also important to believe in yourself – I’m a very VERY average Leetcoder (I’ve just done Blind 75, and actually didn’t do most of the hard ones in there). I mentioned my backstory because I wanted to call back to my original belief that I could never land a FAANG job. I guess it was possible after all!

Total applications sent: ~100 Total interviews: 5 Offers: 2

If you don’t feel that great about your Leetcoding ability, I recommend emphasizing practice on behavioral interviews, practice actual speaking, and be personable and friendly – this might make up for less technical prowess. Ask good questions! I really hope that this story could inspire, and it can help some of you avoid some mistakes I made throughout the process.

submitted by /u/Seinhauser
[link] [comments]  Having seen some positive news lately I thought I’d share my (longer) story as well. I’m not a new grad so I can’t claim to understand the exact situation you guys have, but I can say my story may be relatable in some way as I have severe impostor syndrome and not too many years of experience TL;DR: Laid off in February, 8 months later I’ve more than tripled my pay. Believe in yourself and be prepared for opportunity when it comes My First Job As a bit of backstory, I graduated in 2020. At the time I was just taking it slow and not too crazy about getting a job, but I was aware that the FAANG hype was building up. The perks looked amazing and I never even imagined I’d be able to make it there. I was a very average Leetcoder and struggled with half of the mediums I came across. You probably think I am going to say I ended up landing FAANG – I didn’t. I ended up being hired at a small consulting company that was contracted at FAANG, so while I did enjoy some of the perks, I had less than half the comp (<100K in California) that everyone online was posting online. While that’s pretty amazing to land as a first job, I was referred by a friend and the interview was really not too intense like everything you read nowadays. This was my only job. In 2023, our team pivoted to a new project and pace picked up – lots of greenfield development that helped me get more interesting experience. The pay was still less than stellar (for California) and by 2024, I hadn’t gotten a single raise throughout the entire duration of my employment there. I remember in December 2023, I was thinking, “I’m going to ask for a 20% raise next year!” Instead, I got laid off 2 months after. Unemployment I moved back home immediately (parents were happy to have me back, culture thing). I was in an interesting mental state – money wasn’t the primary concern because I had a really great side hustle. It was an odd feeling of being able to go anywhere I felt in the middle of the day. It’s a weird mix of emotions – a sense of freedom, followed by the feeling of waking up every day at 11, being a ‘non-contributing’ member to society. It’s kind of bittersweet. But over time I definitely felt more and more the urge to get back to work. After 1 month, I started sending out job applications for full stack positions. Basically any company I’ve heard of before, I applied to. Back in 2020, I didn’t even bother applying to FAANG because of the rigorous interview process and low confidence. While my confidence was still pretty low, I didn’t really care about the embarrassment of failing like I did before. The feeling of getting a positive response to a job application is hard to describe. It’s a combination of excitement, fear, anxiety, and opportunity. And realistically, I had NEVER done a real interview before. My only job interview after graduating was through a referral and the coding was done in Google Docs. Interview Loop 1 Amazon wanted to give me a shot for an L5 position (SWE 2, ~$283K). Just seeing the average TC for this position had me nervous, coming from <100K at my previous position; it felt surreal. First had an online assessment on Hackerrack, 2 coding questions and a behavioral ‘quiz’ in 2 hours. I started grinding the hell out of Leetcode, then took the OA on the last day. Ended up passing 15/15 test cases on problem 1, and 8/15 test cases on problem 2. Unlucky I guess… But I received an email from the recruiter just a few hours later saying that I passed and they wanted to send me to the final interview loop (onsites). Nerves were back! 4 back-to-back interviews, 1 hour each. I knew Amazon was heavy on behavioral questions from my research, and wrote down a handful of relevant stories. I even prepared quite a few stories from my side hustle because it was pretty customer-oriented. It was kind of a disaster. I failed to clearly explain my stories. It felt like I was talking in circles. I wrote down the stories, but I guess I didn’t really practice speaking. One of my interviewers even said she didn’t understand the story. Coding rounds were fine. System design was pretty awful because I was going in circles and super nervous. My recruiter confirmed that I didn’t pass, but they’d love to let me try again in 12 months 😭. Lesson: Don’t try to buy too much time to prepare – interviewers often have a bunch of candidates in the pipeline. Normally, Iwould get an interview and start studying. Wrong move. I should be studying BEFORE I get an interview, so I can be prepared and schedule ASAP. Interview Loop 2 Affirm, a company I’m a customer of both as a buyer and a seller, responded to my application. I had an initial recruiter screening, and he set me up for a technical interview next. The position sounded like something I was genuinely interested in and the perks / company culture / values seemed amazing. I scheduled the technical interview as far out as I could, and got down to studying. Technical interview went smoothly. Conversations were much better than my Amazon ones, and the coding problems were familiar stuff to me – not perfect, but good enough. Asked some questions about the position and that was that. My recruiter got back to me saying I did great and scheduled me for a hiring manager interview, which I set up 2 weeks out. Was feeling pretty good about this one! Unfortunately, I received an email a week later telling me that they had offered someone else the position and that they were cancelling my upcoming interview. Devastated. Lesson: Don’t buy too much time to prepare – interviewers often have a bunch of candidates in the pipeline. Normally, I would get an interview and start studying. Wrong move. I should be studying BEFORE I get an interview, so I can be prepared and schedule ASAP. Interview Loop 3 (received offer) A TikTok recruiter responded to one of my applications interested in setting up a phone call. Of course I accepted, regardless of the reputation. I heard from friends, as well as various people on the internet, they’re known for very poor WLB, a lot of Chinese documentation, but good compensation. I was excited regardless; to work on something that had such a massive userbase would be an incredible experience I felt. Recruiter screen went fine. Something funny to note was that all my interviews were at night, like 6PM – 10PM. Technical interview #1 was algorithms-based. It was a Leetcode medium that I had luckily seen just the day before, using Leetcode Premium’s tagged questions lol. The interviewer suggested that there was a simpler solution than what I had implemented, but I couldn’t figure it out. They asked a behavioral question and a few trivia questions. I passed though! Technical interview #2 was a frontend-focused round with web coding at 8 PM. I was able to implement the component about 80% of the way there, but my interviewer asked for some specific features that I struggled to get 100% working. In the end, it was a decently functioning solution but not 100% what she wanted. I tried to do some premature optimizations and overcomplicated it (virtualization). System design / behavioral / hiring manager interview were muddled all together in the final round. This was a little tricky and I was nervous because I bombed my Amazon System Design interview. But I did pretty decently here I think. My interview often would prod me deeper after I gave my answer, which was a little nerve-wracking. I wasn’t sure if my answer wasn’t good enough, or if he was just trying to test if I was confident in my answer. After this nearly 2-month interview process, I ended up receiving an offer for a TC of $270K. It was a really great opportunity, and the pay was so much higher than my last job. I felt a sense of achievement, that after 8 months, I had finally landed something. The position was 5-day RTO, but the office looked very nice. Full meals, snacks, etc. But somehow, I declined this opportunity in favor of something else. Crazy. Interview Loop 4 (received offer) I was flabbergasted when I received an email from a recruiter for this FAANG company. Oddly enough, there are hardly any interview resources online when it comes to this company. So I was very much just approaching it with caution and studying everything I had learned from the previous 3 interviews. Spent a crazy amount of time studying for behavioral questions. I won’t go into too much detail of the hiring process here, but it was a long one. Total of almost 10 interviews over the span of 6 weeks. A lot of fear and uncertainty and anxiety – one of the most demoralizing things was noticing that the job listing had been open for more than 6 months. It felt like if no one had been able to fill the position for that long, then I stood no chance. Lots of behavioral questions! I received an offer, and it topped anything else I received. I started back in September and it still doesn’t feel 100% real (that’s why I haven’t named the company or written out the pay figure). It’s hard to believe and I’m still shocked to this day. Lesson: Asking questions is just as valuable as answering them. Interviewers will ALWAYS give you the opportunity to ask questions at the end, and make sure you don’t waste it. Don’t just ask generic questions either, ask questions that show you’re interested in the role, mention things you learned about the role from previous interviews. I really think my questions helped me out a lot. Conclusion There is a chance – it involves a lot of luck, but be prepared for when that luck comes. I think it’s also important to believe in yourself – I’m a very VERY average Leetcoder (I’ve just done Blind 75, and actually didn’t do most of the hard ones in there). I mentioned my backstory because I wanted to call back to my original belief that I could never land a FAANG job. I guess it was possible after all! Total applications sent: ~100 Total interviews: 5 Offers: 2 If you don’t feel that great about your Leetcoding ability, I recommend emphasizing practice on behavioral interviews, practice actual speaking, and be personable and friendly – this might make up for less technical prowess. Ask good questions! I really hope that this story could inspire, and it can help some of you avoid some mistakes I made throughout the process. submitted by /u/Seinhauser [link] [comments]

Read more
cscareerquestions

(Rainforest) Should i reach out to my team leader after offer? /u/Impossible-Road973 CSCQ protests reddit

(Rainforest) Should i reach out to my team leader after offer? /u/Impossible-Road973 CSCQ protests reddit

I want to get familiar with the team’s stack ahead of starting. Should I reach out to my team leader about what tech stack they use or would it be weird?

submitted by /u/Impossible-Road973
[link] [comments]

​r/cscareerquestions I want to get familiar with the team’s stack ahead of starting. Should I reach out to my team leader about what tech stack they use or would it be weird? submitted by /u/Impossible-Road973 [link] [comments] 

I want to get familiar with the team’s stack ahead of starting. Should I reach out to my team leader about what tech stack they use or would it be weird?

submitted by /u/Impossible-Road973
[link] [comments]  I want to get familiar with the team’s stack ahead of starting. Should I reach out to my team leader about what tech stack they use or would it be weird? submitted by /u/Impossible-Road973 [link] [comments]

Read more
cscareerquestions

Moving from full stack to devops pros/cons /u/Anewbeesh CSCQ protests reddit

Moving from full stack to devops pros/cons /u/Anewbeesh CSCQ protests reddit

I have an opportunity for an internal transfer for a devops role. I’ve never really worked with or in devops and have always been a full stack dev. Should I pursue this opportunity?

Also is devops safer from layoffs and in more demand than application development ? I want to pick the skillset that would serve me the most in my career. I don’t necessarily love coding when it comes to web apps so does devops involve less coding?

submitted by /u/Anewbeesh
[link] [comments]

​r/cscareerquestions I have an opportunity for an internal transfer for a devops role. I’ve never really worked with or in devops and have always been a full stack dev. Should I pursue this opportunity? Also is devops safer from layoffs and in more demand than application development ? I want to pick the skillset that would serve me the most in my career. I don’t necessarily love coding when it comes to web apps so does devops involve less coding? submitted by /u/Anewbeesh [link] [comments] 

I have an opportunity for an internal transfer for a devops role. I’ve never really worked with or in devops and have always been a full stack dev. Should I pursue this opportunity?

Also is devops safer from layoffs and in more demand than application development ? I want to pick the skillset that would serve me the most in my career. I don’t necessarily love coding when it comes to web apps so does devops involve less coding?

submitted by /u/Anewbeesh
[link] [comments]  I have an opportunity for an internal transfer for a devops role. I’ve never really worked with or in devops and have always been a full stack dev. Should I pursue this opportunity? Also is devops safer from layoffs and in more demand than application development ? I want to pick the skillset that would serve me the most in my career. I don’t necessarily love coding when it comes to web apps so does devops involve less coding? submitted by /u/Anewbeesh [link] [comments]

Read more
cscareerquestions

Project manager is going AI crazy /u/MaximusDM22 CSCQ protests reddit

Project manager is going AI crazy /u/MaximusDM22 CSCQ protests reddit

Ive read stories about it and its finally happened to me. Got pulled into a meeting with project manager last week and they want an AI assistant that can pretty much do everything internally. I mentioned some of the challenges we would face and they responded with showing me a screen of ChatGPT telling them how they could do it. “ChatGPT has already planned it out, it should be pretty easy”. I thought they were joking but they were dead serious. After some more back and forth I was able to temper their expectations a bit but it was ridiculous. They also wanted to automate the entire frontend development with ChatGPT. I was dumbfounded. I kinda blame myself cause I hyped up LLMs and all the cool stuff you could do, but I guess I made it sound too easy.

submitted by /u/MaximusDM22
[link] [comments]

​r/cscareerquestions Ive read stories about it and its finally happened to me. Got pulled into a meeting with project manager last week and they want an AI assistant that can pretty much do everything internally. I mentioned some of the challenges we would face and they responded with showing me a screen of ChatGPT telling them how they could do it. “ChatGPT has already planned it out, it should be pretty easy”. I thought they were joking but they were dead serious. After some more back and forth I was able to temper their expectations a bit but it was ridiculous. They also wanted to automate the entire frontend development with ChatGPT. I was dumbfounded. I kinda blame myself cause I hyped up LLMs and all the cool stuff you could do, but I guess I made it sound too easy. submitted by /u/MaximusDM22 [link] [comments] 

Ive read stories about it and its finally happened to me. Got pulled into a meeting with project manager last week and they want an AI assistant that can pretty much do everything internally. I mentioned some of the challenges we would face and they responded with showing me a screen of ChatGPT telling them how they could do it. “ChatGPT has already planned it out, it should be pretty easy”. I thought they were joking but they were dead serious. After some more back and forth I was able to temper their expectations a bit but it was ridiculous. They also wanted to automate the entire frontend development with ChatGPT. I was dumbfounded. I kinda blame myself cause I hyped up LLMs and all the cool stuff you could do, but I guess I made it sound too easy.

submitted by /u/MaximusDM22
[link] [comments]  Ive read stories about it and its finally happened to me. Got pulled into a meeting with project manager last week and they want an AI assistant that can pretty much do everything internally. I mentioned some of the challenges we would face and they responded with showing me a screen of ChatGPT telling them how they could do it. “ChatGPT has already planned it out, it should be pretty easy”. I thought they were joking but they were dead serious. After some more back and forth I was able to temper their expectations a bit but it was ridiculous. They also wanted to automate the entire frontend development with ChatGPT. I was dumbfounded. I kinda blame myself cause I hyped up LLMs and all the cool stuff you could do, but I guess I made it sound too easy. submitted by /u/MaximusDM22 [link] [comments]

Read more