The best people will take the deal as they're the ones who know they can get another job easily. It'll be like the reverse of what Jack Welch instituted at GE.

Microsoft (MSFT) announced on Monday that it was offering voluntary buyouts to roughly 60,000 employees as it looks to reshape its organization for the AI era.

Any insider info on this?

The "new grad" flair here is almost its own sick joke. Feel free to laugh.

I graduated back in December of 2022, with a B.S. in computer science from a state university. I had initially thought that I had a shoe-in at a tech role - some small contracting company, which we'll call "R", had enjoyed the resume I sent and offered me a position as a contractor in training back in Thanksgiving, so I gladly accepted.

I ended up working part-time at a pizza place for a year before "R" took me off their waitlist and accepted me into a role (which, being vague, was not actually software-related). I took the role like an idiot, and flunked the first interview because I didn't have the right experience. They offered me a second chance, but the interview ended up getting put off for so long that I finally bit the bullet and left "R" for a more promising position, at another contracting company called "F". If you know how these contracting companies work, please feel free to bring out the clown horns and cream pies.

"F" was, for what it was worth, much higher quality than "R", and I did briefly hold a "production support" role at a bank for a while. It wasn't programming, though: I essentially stared at a wall of 3000 processes that ran as a batch a few times daily, and there were a few deadlines throughout the day where my team would have to ensure that the processes were fully finished. I also did some light ticket work that involved some basic SQL queries in a company database, but that's about as close to programming as the job got.

Budget cuts happened. I got let go from the bank, returned to "F", and after I couldn't secure another position in 3 months (mainly because I was picky and didn't want to leave my immediate state), I got let go from "F" as well. I got a low level IT job a few months later, and I've been coasting on that ever since (about 10 months), but again -- that's IT, not software. I don't think I've written a single line of code at this job, unless you count Outlook inbox rules to filter emails to the right place.

I can't help but feel like a failure. I took an expensive degree at a state university because I fell for promises that it would be free money and 75K salaries right out of college. Now I'm making 45K and just got off the phone to ask my mom for $500 because I can barely make rent.

I've hardly done any programming since, either professionally or as a hobby. The entire field feels like it's shifted since I graduated - I "laid low" for a bit, hoping that things would eventually stabilize and that entry-level positions would open up again, but they never did, and now the job market looks entirely unrecognizable to me.

Be honest: is it too late for me? I'm realizing now that I'm four years past graduation and still barely self-sufficient, and I feel like it's my own fault.

Hi,

My leads are always in meetings, it feels like I’m catching them up a lot and being asked to present stuff to them, but lots of work is coming down, and sometimes they have to work long hours. Doesn’t seem too efficient for this team.

With the exits going on Microsoft, I wonder if there is growing trend/uptick of big tech people in the job market or if they are straight up leaving the field (retirement, pivot, etc.)

People of the hiring side of small to mid size companies, are you guys getting/interviewing more big-tech resumes compared to before?

Curious whether anyone currently working at Coursera (or who recently left) has noticed an increase in formal performance improvement plans, voluntary separation offers, or other workforce reductions across different teams.

Given the company's history of restructuring, I'm wondering whether there are broader organizational changes happening that haven't been formally announced.

Not looking to speculate or identify anyone personally - just interested in understanding whether others are seeing similar trends across the company.

Would appreciate hearing from anyone with firsthand experience or observations.

I'm a dev with 6 years of experience. I left my old company and joined a new company for family and mental health reasons. I really miss my old company and its modern tech stack, the good engineering practices, the team oriented and positive culture, and integration and units tests...

This new company has an older tech stack which I knew coming in. But naively, I was not prepared for the legacy code I would encounter. I can only speak to the team I'm on now, but the engineering practices are bad as well. Just to mention a few things: There are no tests, little to no code reviews, and there are no naming conventions and bloated methods (40k+ lines).

I plan to read Michael Feathers' "Working Effectively with Legacy Code" and keep at it. But I'm curious, are there other experienced devs who have experienced this? Do you have any advice or recommendations? Did it hurt your confidence as an engineer or do you think you eventually grew into a stronger engineer from this experience? Did the codebase get better and how long did it take?

Pretty much the title. Studied CS. Secured a job in the worst job market imaginable. But instead of the programming job duties listed in the description, they're having me create reports via a SaaS platform. The company's pretty stable (never had layoffs or hiring freezes) and the pay is manageable for HCOL, but the job doesn't align with my long-term career or financial goals of typical SWE.

Advice? What should my plan/trajectory be from here?

I‘m at a crossroad right now. I’ve been working for 1.5 years for a non tech business doing swe work as a solo engineer. I have 3 yoe. I am way underpaid than what I should be getting. However, I just feel burnt out at this job with the amount of responsibilities and lack of better pay. I work 4 days in office and I don’t have time to schedule interviews within the work week other than working 1 day from home. I talked to boss to reduce my days and he said no. I’m thinking about just quitting and going back home and think about my plans But I feel like a failure moving back home to family. I have enough savings to last for 6 months and that’s it . I might not find another tech job and I’m okay with it. I’m just burnt out and when I was laid off before I was content doing non tech work. I just feel like my identity was lost when I didn’t work in tech since that’s what I studied but I have no regrets moving to another adjacent field. Thoughts on how to navigate this?

Currently i have a major review that’s basically done.

One principal who im waiting for to approve has been making most comments. Last week finally got his approval and out of nowhere mutliple people on the team decide to comment on my review. it’s been out for like a month but the principal im working with hates how the code in general (not mine, the projects) is structured and has asked me to refactor my code multiple times so that we dont add to the problem.

By the way this has been out for over a month and i spent the forst few weeks begging people to review and nobody did until last week so it was annoying getting a bunch of comments when im practically done.

But i did them after it lead to a discussion with the principal engineer. Then i finally got his approval again on friday. But i couldnt meege because i needed 1 approval from a random engineer on another team due to their team owning that file and they had already left for the day. Wake up this morning and see 5 more comments in my code. About 4 are just unit test suggestions so i thought to maybe just address it in a new review. But the 5th is a code suggestion (not a nit).

Now im annoyed cause adding a new change would mean trying to get the approvals again which already is annoying.

How do you guys handle when you are about done with review and get new code commenta?

I am working as a Frontend developer with almost 3yoe at an MNC. My current job is ok but have to log 8 hrs WFO daily. Because of this I am not able to prepare well for Job switch. Also , slowly it is becoming very toxic and none of my peers have technical acumen. We just do shit because management wants it, no technical discussion about feasibility. I currently have the opportunity to get laid off and get severance package about 50% of my CTC ( before tax). I see this as a great opportunity to earn a few bucks and also I will have much time to prepare for interviews. My current preparation is good but the Market is very tough. I get rejected in interviews even if I give only one answer wrong. So , I want to prepare the best and get a great package. My project is going to get a lot of toxicity in coming months and even if I work hard , there are less chances of getting recognition for the same. There is zero to negative growth in my current company. I want growth, freedom and money.

Should I take the opportunity????

I have a 2nd round interview tomorrow "technical questions about your background and approach to programming.  No coding"

Not entirely sure what to expect but should be interesting. Staff role, small to medium sized company. I have 15 YOE, full stack.

I joined a start up about 10 years ago. Through some incredible luck, the start up was acquired 6 years in, then that company was acquired 4 years later. The payouts were great and I rose from SE -> Principal SE.

There will be no more lucky acquisitions and I'm ready for a move after the new parent company has made some more than questionable decisions.

Any tips would be appreciated, thanks.

Hi,

What are the tips for finding a C.S job in 2026? I feel like you get laid off for months It is difficult to get even an interview elsewhere, no matter how much you are applying.

Is cold messaging the strategy? What are some tips that helped at least land interviews? What about people who used to do startup work and want to pivot elsewhere that is more stable?

Thanks.

Coming from a bare metal embedded systems background, I did a Masters in Computer Engineering with the hope of moving to bigger things such as Linux kernel development, networking and writing device drivers, custom bootloaders etc. I am about to graduate and since I haven't been in the job market for, I want to know if these jobs are affected by AI and if it is, what are the engineers doing so that they aren't replaceable?

I'm a little worried that I’m going to get in trouble at work, and I’m trying to get some perspective on how serious this situation is.

I was working with a contractor for a task at work (I was in charge of working with him on this). He needs to use a drive for his work. One of the IT teams here required a change to the drive’s password (it's part of policy to do this if we are using an external drive), so I changed it but I forgot to tell the contractor about it (I was looking at the machine when I handed him the drive. I was on the other side of the machine and for some reason, my brain thought this would just be a plug and play and I totally forgot there's a password on it). He ended up typing the old password enough times and it got locked out. As a result, I had to get the IT team involved to reset it, but they said they couldn’t reset it without wiping the drive.

Now the drive has been wiped. I spoke with the contractor, and he said he has a backup drive elsewhere, but I need to get that backup drive figured out for use now with the IT team, and I don't know how long that'll take. I'm worried that I made a mistake that could get me in trouble professionally. I'm literally set to start a new internal role next week.. and now I'm worried.

As a senior undergrad I don’t really have the a professional perspective on any of this but it seems AI is just dominating SWE. Along side that it also seems tons of security problems are now cropping up. AI can do most general SWE tasks quite easily. It really feels like eventually all SWE functionality will just become AI generated (which honestly i think is fine imo) but I keep questioning the security of AI generated software.

Do you guys think the future SWE will heavily lean towards security instead of just simple programming? I mean it seems everyday there is some new major vulnerability discovered by AI or humans. I know architecture is also super important as you need to tell the AI how to create the project but if AI gets smart enough maybe it can infer most of those things itself.

Idk AI just seems so powerful, i’d like to hear people’s thoughts especially those who are working professional jobs.

I have job interviews coming up and i am straight out of college. One question that always bugs me while answering is the question i've mentioned above.

Realistically speaking, I am applying to these jobs cause they pay well and as per the job description I can see myself doing the work and not dying out of boredom even though I don't have every single knowledge the JD expects me to have. But then idrc about what the company does because i dont know what most companies do in the bigger picture and i dont have any big grand motive to work there either. So given that my answer most probably won't be very appealing to the HR and AI answers are way too uptight and too formal for me to possibly say in an interview- how exactly do i answer it so that the answer also somewhat feels authentic and not a copy paste from ChatGPT

You remember around 10 years ago, "just learn to code, bro" was the answer for everything.

How to get out of poverty? Code. Gender pay gap? Code. How to solve the problem of poverty in Africa? Code code code.

It was dumb in how it was pushed without acknowledging and considering nuances, but there was some rationality in it, since programmers don't need formal education and licensing, and could learn the craft for free at home, as long as computers and the internet were available, at the same time pay was good.

Is there anything like this now? I mean, a similar career path.

Hi,

I’m currently employed as a SWE at a F100 company. My team pretty much has no work for me and I’ve managed to hit 1 year and want to apply for new jobs. I’ve been searching for jobs all over the east coast (this is non negotiable for me to be closer to my family) but can’t seem to find a lot of jobs that I qualify for. Most job postings I see require 2-5yoe.

I’ve been avoiding new grad positions (outside of big tech) because I’ve been getting auto-rejected for them and don’t want to downlevel myself. But I’m also seeing barely any new grad positions to begin with.

Does anyone know where I can find legit job postings outside of LinkedIn? And should I just apply for jobs requiring 2yoe anyway even if I don’t meet the criteria?

Thanks!

I keep getting asked the following questions and its seems like they arnt satisfied with my answers Im a 3.5 yoe dev btw.

Question: Explain your day to day work/ Walk me through a day in your work day.

Answer: So I usually start off my day by going to our daily stand up with my team to discuss updates and any blockers. Afterwards, Ill look through my messages to see if there is anything super urgent that came up and that i should be working on. After that, Ill work on my assigned user stories for the sprint. And throughout the day, Ill usually meet up to support QA in their testing, answering questions, helping unblock or clarify things for other developers, mentor new developers in pair programming sessions, and meet with Business Analysts and or project managers to discuss existing and future projects. (So far, no one has really like this answer.)

Question: How do you specifically use Sql Server/ C# or {insert x skill} skill.

Answer: Yea so C# is the programming language we use to create our apps and systems. Ans Sql Server is the database engine we use to handle our data. So I used SQL and C# to build this automatic application intake system that resulted in XYZ.

Then the recruiter says, yea but how do you actual use SQL? At this point, i reiterate how SQL is used for data handling, and sometimes Ill do a bit of query optimization if i find something is running a bit too slow. Recruiter didnt like this answer.

I have been applying to programming jobs since May and I have encountered a reasonable amount of entry level positions in my area (near Seattle, so a lot of tech). One of them was literally called an "Entry level internship" looking for new grads so I applied. 25-30/hr which is obviously fine for entry level but under preferred qualifications they wanted SQL, react, C#, database knowledge, docker, etc. so a lot of project experience. But it was under preferred, so I ignored it and just applied.

Well, I get on a call with an HM and they say some reassuring stuff like "Yeah we don't expect people to know anything going into this position, just basic object-oriented principles and programming" I was like wow thats a breath of fresh air in the age of Entry level jobs just secretly looking for experienced people!

Well, come the actual technical interview, I am shown a 10+ page design document detailing an actual tool the company would want to create and was told to just start coding. Out of respect for the interviewer (since he is a really cool person) I won't disclose what the actual problem, but in the design documents it had logic diagrams, hundreds of bullet points, a lot of interacting parts and requirements, half the interview was just understanding what it all even meant. So pretty much for an entry-level internship, I need to scan an entire multi page design document, be able to plan out everything in my head, and then afterwards code the classes and interactions in 15 minutes.

I tried but every part of my code was questioned and even though I had an answer for one aspect, it wasn't "the best" one the interviewer was looking for. I could see the interviewers disappointment, wiping his face, and just realizing I wasnt the experienced person the company was looking for.

At this point a few minutes in, I just didn't care enough to truly try my hardest and complete the exercise. I felt that this company wasn't looking for someone like me, they were looking for a SWE with experience already who could just solve it on the spot. The interviewer even admitted that they had "High expectations", even though the HM told me that they didnt expect people to really know anything. In my eyes, they were looking for an experienced person and just wanted to pay them an entry level wage.

I thought internships were if you are willing to learn and show initiative, then the company expects to mold you into something. Like yes, you need to know basic programming and interactions in code and data structures and algorithms because thats what you learn during your degree. But for an (and I cannot stress this enough) ENTRY LEVEL internship, I would not expect an applicant to know how to read an entire design document and translate it all to code, mostly on their own, with only some if not minimal direction from a superior.

Funny enough a few weeks later I checked back in on their linkedin and they had a SWE I post, explicitly saying 0+ years of experience, with the SAME EXACT requirements as the entry-level internship, word for word but with actual SWE pay (like 90K+). Maybe I am too tin-foil hat, but that might have proved my point.

I have an interview for FDE for Tesla in Texas. Does anyone the interview process?

Hi guys, im (frontend of 10 years going into fullstack) being unemployed for a year now, when my last company did cuts because of AI. I had some interviews (applied more than 150+, having 20 first, and 3 technicals that were awful). Right now I'm trying to keep up coding on my own and asking old college questions about how they do things, but I don't know what to expect in a technical interview. Does a technical challenge where you code manually and explain your thought process? Do they give you AI and an idea and you put them into tickets and let the LLM do the rest while you guide it and review it? Something in the middle?

I have a lot of pressure of performing in this interview and I sense that many people applied, so it will be tough. Any of you guys did an interview recently and want to share your experience and tips?

Thank you!

I think I am going to take a break from social media and coding and everything and try to focus on my mental health because something isn’t right, I’m feeling too strong of feelings about this

TLDR: I am extremely depressed and facing a crisis over AI and I don’t know if I need therapy or I’m right or if I’m wrong or if I’m just genuinely losing my mind

Let me preface: if you like AI, you probably won’t like this post. Sorry, not trying to step on anyone’s toes, but it’s probably best to turn away now.

A little background about me. I’ve always loved math and science and used to want to be a physicist (and still would like to go to grad school for it). But I also found a passion for computer science which has pretty much ruled my life since middle school. Picked up JS in 7th grade, Python 8th, then went on deep dive into C++ in freshman year of Highschool. From there I was hooked. Been programming for 10 years now, primarily in C and C++, and graduated college last semester. But AI has driven a hard confusion in my life that has led me to even existential levels of dread.

At first I never noticed it. I used to program all the time, mostly things dealing with graphics and embedded systems. I also got into electronics and firmware stuff as well. I would get home from college and program from the time I got home until midnight and then play games for an hour or two. It’s always been something I’ve enjoyed. It makes sense, especially considering that I am diagnosed on the autism spectrum and fit a lot of the stereotypes lol. But I love it. It gives me more dopamine than most things I do.

But my junior year I began to get very bogged down. My friends that did not enjoy CS and hated it were vibecoding entire projects in the course of a day whereas I would work to handcraft every little part of a project and logic through it on my own. My professors began pushing AI like crazy. Every single post id see on LinkedIn and Reddit and YouTube would be vibecoded projects. And in all honesty it made me more and more overcome with anger and depression. This actually led to a year and a half of severe alcoholism, where I got so bogged down I couldn’t think straight without racing thoughts and turned to alcohol. I was drinking 2 Liters a day of 40-45% liquor a night. Then I also turned to opiates on top of that, mostly oxycodone and hydrocodone. I was a complete mess. I also had some happenings with bipolar disorder which I got sorted out and eventually led to me getting my life baxk after getting put on mood stabilizers. I quit alcohol and opiates (almost died, don’t cold turkey lol) and barely graduated because my senior year grades were so bad.

But getting my life back on track, I realized that I still knew a LOT about computer science, specifically and mostly embedded systems and computer graphics, because I actually like went through and programmed everything I ever did line by line and read lots of books. My bookshelf is lined with textbooks that I buy on sale and read for fun. And my friends and professors all knew I knew my shit when I would go on an autistic rant about some topic. So I found a new lease on life as far as programming goes that made me feel like it is worth it to actually program rather than let AI generate code

But even at that, I am being extremely bogged down again. I’ve been working on a Gameboy Emulator that I was making amazing progress on for 2 months, but now this month, I have been faced with incredible amounts of depression from seeing so much AI generated content and feeling like I’m just some Luddite loser thats too stubborn to change. And it’s slowing down my production of code because I’m so goddamn bogged down by the weight of all of this and in all honesty I’m just confused. It doesn’t help that I’m trying to build a portfolio before my girlfriend gets out of school in a few months so I can get a job.

The thing is you can’t tell me to change. I fundamentally oppose the treatment of code as anything but an art. Just like my girlfriend draws art for 5 hours a day because it’s fun and it gives you meaning in life, thats how I feel about programming. You could make the same argument for art, but when it comes to programming, why is it all of a sudden a green area for AI use? Why do people oppose AI in art but not in programming? I just don’t get why people don’t see things the same way I do and I hate it I want to tear my fucking skin off I HATE everything so much.

I just wish that there was somebody else out there that sees it the same as me. I don’t know if there’s just something fundamentally wrong with the way I view the world or what. Do I need therapy? Am I right in my thinking? How do I deal with this? I’m just so goddamn confused I can’t even fucking think straight anymore and I’m backsliding really bad into bad habits.

It is also important to note that morally and philosophically I am FUNDAMENTALLY opposed to AI and AI corporations. I’ve never been big on the big tech industry which is why I’ve always stuck to low level systems. But personally I would love and relish in the complete fall of these greedy corporate psychopaths that think they can plop data centers down and replace humans with their shitty tech. FUCK AI

Edit: it’s also important to note it’s not affecting only programming, but also writing and music production which are my two other passions. My coworker today literally told me he wrote a book wirh AI in 2 weeks and meanwhile I’ve been writing a story for 3 years now and not even close to being done. I just wanna give up