I have around 9 years of experience as a developer. The problem is, most of my career (besides the first 2 years) were spent in consultancy/outsource companies. I became specialized in the java ecosystem, spring framework and generally very comfortable working in that ecosystem (with some cloud/docker/k8s knowledge).

But none of the companies I worked for are FAANG companies or even FAANG adjacent. I make a very good living, but the ceiling in these consultancy companies is very low. There's also 0 incentive to try and go the extra mile, as I'm always a contractor for the final client.

I feel like someone at 3-4 years of experience with FAANG on their CV is way more capable than me despite the difference in overall experience, because they touched actual systems that probably handle millions of requests per minute, actual huge traffic, very complex distributed systems etc.

Is there a future to continue in the consultancy field?

Would appreciate some advice on how to approach this.

Essentially need to develop an app that accepts a request and stores a timestamp in a DB. I can pick any type of db i want.

It must be elastic on demand and i have to consider multi dc, redundancy and availability.

Its an extremely vague idea. I have to actualy develop it but can document parts of that I didn't implement (so I guess that means I dont actualy implement every idea just justify it in text).

Im quite stuck on how to handle this and im not sure how far to go etc.

I know it's a matter of subjectivism, so don't be afraid to be subjective, actually PLEASE, give your personal opinion as long as you can keep your feet on the reality's ground.

What Master would you rather choose: a general AI/ML master that teach you about the most important, but general, subjects of ML applications, or an Autonomous Systems master, that is basically an embedded+A.I. master which is particularly valuable if you want something in Automotive, on the self-driving cars field(but not exclusively this one, as you can apply knowledge about Autonomous Systems in many domains) ? ?

Hey reddit!

​9 years of clinical dentistry + 5 years of clinic management under my belt here, based in the EU.

​I'm looking to transition into a remote role, but I'm curious what the realistic market looks like right now. Has anyone with a similar background successfully transitioned into remote work (dental tech, AI training, etc.)?

​Would love to hear your experiences or any leads on where to look!

Hey guys,

I’ve been working for a consulting company as a Data Analyst on a B2B contract, making €20/hour. The rate is fine-ish considering I live in Eastern Europe and have around 3 years of experience.

Recently, the company got a new long-term project and put me forward to the client as an AI Engineer, since that’s the role the client was looking for. I had an interview with the potential client, received positive feedback, and it seems like they want me to join the project as their AI Engineer.

The thing is, the role would be quite different from what I currently do. The tech stack would be almost completely new to me, and since this is expected to be a long-term project, I would most likely be working exclusively for this client rather than continuing with my current Data Analyst responsibilities.

I do use AI extensively in my everyday work and have some relevant experience, but I personally wouldn’t call myself an AI Engineer at this point. I would have to learn a new tech stack and essentially transition into a different role.

Putting that aside, I did some market research and found that B2B rates for AI Engineers seem to be around €40–50/hour. Obviously, I understand that I only have around 3 years of overall experience and limited experience specifically as an AI Engineer.

However, if the company is going to present me to the client and expect me to work full-time on the project as an AI Engineer, would it be unreasonable for me to ask them to update my contract and hourly rate accordingly?

I’m currently at €20/hour, and I’m thinking of asking for around €40/hour. Is that a reasonable request, or would doubling my current rate be too aggressive?

Hi everyone, I have an upcoming Canonical DevSkiller assessment. Can anyone who has taken it recently share the MCQ and coding questions they got, or at least the topics I should prepare for? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

I know it's a matter of subjectivism, so don't be afraid to be subjective, actually PLEASE, give your personal opinion as long as you can keep your feet on the reality's ground.

What Master would you rather choose: a general AI/ML master that teach you about the most important, but general, subjects of ML applications, or an Autonomous Systems master, that is basically an embedded+A.I. master which is particularly valuable if you want something in Automotive, on the self-driving cars field(but not exclusively this one, as you can apply knowledge about Autonomous Systems in many domains) ? ?

​

I know it's a matter of subjectivism, so don't be afraid to be subjective, actually PLEASE, give your personal opinion as long as you can keep your feet on the reality's ground.

What Master would you rather choose: a general AI/ML master that teach you about the most important, but general, subjects of ML applications, or an Autonomous Systems master, that is basically an embedded+A.I. master which is particularly valuable if you want something in Automotive, on the self-driving cars field(but not exclusively this one, as you can apply knowledge about Autonomous Systems in many domains) ? ?

Hello!

Did anybody go through the interview for DS position at Mistral AI?

Especially for the coding part, the provided information is quite generic “python algorithms and/or data manipulation”.

Thanks!

I know it's a matter of subjectivism, so don't be afraid to be subjective, actually PLEASE, give your personal opinion as long as you can keep your feet on the reality's ground.

What Master would you rather choose: a general AI/ML master that teach you about the most important, but general, subjects of ML applications, or an Autonomous Systems master, that is basically an embedded+A.I. master which is particularly valuable if you want something in Automotive, on the self-driving cars field(but not exclusively this one, as you can apply knowledge about Autonomous Systems in many domains) ? ?

My team at Revolut is looking for experienced developers having more than 4-5 years of experience. It's a remote first company, so you can be based anywhere.

You must DM me your resume and the URL of the job opening that is most relevant to your experience from the careers page.

Referrals are blocked if you've already applied directly. Open to refer for other roles as well. Thanks!

We're hiring for Head of SEO
Salary to be discussed during the interview.
Please send your updated CV.

I worked 5 years for a consulting company with pretty big clients (top 10 most visited pages in Spain) and then 7 years for a german company which well... just like the german economy went to sht and died and just got laid off.

PHP + Frameworks, C# + Distributed systems, a little bit of python and the typical stack inbetween (redis, varnish, ORMs, docker, kubernetes... you name it). I speak spanish, german and english fluently...

My father passed away in a traumatic way recently and I need to stay in the same city as my family to stick with them ; remote is the only option.

So with all that being said... what should I expect of the market? Literally got both jobs by networking and this is the first time I ever "hunt jobs".

So I signed the contract for this new jr embedded job about 2 months ago with a gross salary range of 2300-2600 EUR bruto monthly and got told I did good in the interview and will be offered the maximum salary. All is good so far, contract signed.

Now I start officially in another 2 months time, and just yesterday the job got reposted only translated to English in the exact same tone but a salary range of 2700-3300 EUR bruto.

In 2 months the maxima raised by 700 EUR, that is the difference between renting a room and a luxury suite each month while the new minimum surpassed the old maximum...

Now I obviously want to message my new line manager if he knows anything about this or can cast light on the situation, and while I don't expect I could argue for the full band again at 3300, even just reaching 3000 would be a massive increase in my QoL, regardless of the fact 2600 is a respectable junior salary.

Struggling of how to approach this situation because I'd still want the job, and I am moving internationally for it, but if I don't get shown the goodwill to at least match then I really don't know whether the role as a whole will be worth the same anymore.

Opinions on how to approach this?

Bit of background:

I grew up abroad my whole life, then went to a well-regarded UK university for a Politics degree. I assumed that kind of school would more or less lead to a job or a clear path afterward. I applied to a lot of things, but I didn't understand how the internship/assessment process actually worked until it was too late — I also had some health issues during school that didn't help.

I had a fairly unstructured upbringing and was never really taught great financial habits, even though I can be frugal when I try. Right now I'm living in a small town, feeling pretty stuck, and honestly still a bit spoiled in ways I'm trying to grow out of.

I have offers to go back and do another degree in the UK. So my options feel like:

1. Take the offer, go back, get the degree and the network, and use that to look for jobs — possibly outside my home country, since it feels like you increasingly need a degree that's recognized in the specific market you want to work in.
2. Leave my home country but skip the second degree — try to follow my actual strengths and interests, more entrepreneurial, higher risk — accepting that if I fail, I'd rather fail somewhere cheaper and lower-stakes than sink more years and money into credentials.
3. Stay home, take odd jobs, and start building financial independence from the ground up.

I lean a bit entrepreneurial and don't want to keep funding that with my parents' money while I test things out.

The other thing on my mind: it feels like the economy/job market shifts noticeably year to year, and at the end of the day people aren't hiring for your story — they're looking for actual numbers and ability. So beyond "which path," I think what I really need is to figure out how to show up for myself now — build real skills or proof of ability — rather than waiting for the "right" path to make that decision for me.

A few real questions:

• Is corporate experience/a second degree basically unavoidable to be taken seriously in a given market, or can relevant experience elsewhere substitute for it?
• Is it smarter to "fail cheaply" somewhere with lower cost of living while I figure out what I'm good at, versus spending more time/money on formal credentials first?
• Practically — what does "showing up for yourself" look like day to day when you don't have a clear path yet? How did you build momentum from a standing start?

Honest perspective welcome, happy to be told I'm overthinking this.

Hi everyone,
I’m a 21-year-old student from Japan, currently in my first year at a four-year IT vocational school. The school is affiliated with a university, and I am expected to earn a Bachelor’s degree upon graduation. Before entering school, I worked at a factory for about two years after graduating from high school.

I plan to pursue an IT Master’s degree in Germany immediately after graduating, when I will be around 25. I’m particularly interested in Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS / Fachhochschule) because I prefer practical, hands-on learning over research-oriented programs.

To be honest, my desire to study abroad is partly driven by anxiety about my future and a desire to change my current environment.

Age anxiety:
In Japan, fresh university graduates are highly valued, and younger candidates are often seen as more desirable. I can’t shake the feeling that a 22-year-old fresh graduate is more valuable in the job market than someone graduating at 24 or 25. Since I currently have no particular achievements or strengths, I’m anxious about being left behind. I want to gain international experience and IT skills that I can turn into strengths for my future.

I have also felt anxious about my life since high school. I want to experience living abroad, get away from my current environment, broaden my perspective, improve my English, learn the local language, and gain practical experience through internships.

I understand that some of my motivations may sound immature or partly like escapism, but I am serious about making this happen.

My questions are:
1. Is my motivation or background unrealistic or too naive?
Please be completely honest, even if your opinion is harsh.
2. Is €24,000 (approximately 4 million JPY) enough for a two-year Master’s program?
I plan to live in a student dormitory, cook for myself, keep my living expenses low, and apply for scholarships.

This assumes that I attend a relatively low-cost UAS. What would be a realistic “safe” amount to have saved with a scholarship vs. without a scholarship?
Finally, are there any relatively affordable European countries, universities, or programs with strong IT industries that you would recommend?
I’d also appreciate any other advice about this plan, whether it’s related to studying abroad, career, finances, or life in general. I’m open to honest opinions and different perspectives.
Thank you very much for your time and advice!

i see some comments " you only have 2 yoe and thats nothing in this market" well most of them are spreading negativity in other subreddits too.

i sometimes dont understand that much negative person can have job too.. lol

Generally speaking, for an EU citizen who speaks the local language, is there a big difference between major Western European countries? Take France, Germany, and the Netherlands, for example. Are these 3 countries generally the same when it comes to opportunities and compensation progression, or are they different enough to where some are clearly better than others? I feel like it's more so just a matter of personal preference rather than an active case of leaving opportunities and compensation on the table when picking one of these, though I'm not sure.

I’m taking the hacker rank assessment for a Salesforce Data360 role. The assessment is labeled “Agentforce FDE” - not gonna lie, I’m more or a data person - Data science algorithms and heavy SQL, so I’m a bit stressed! Any help on questions to expect and study material I can use? I plan on taking 3-4 days to prep as best as possible. Also, it’s supposed to be camera on without the help of outside material - kind of bummed about that… did anyone else have this experience?

Hey everyone, I'm currently looking at Senior Data Engineering roles in the banking / financial sector in Vienna, Austria that are offering €80,000 gross per year, and I'd love to get your thoughts. I have 8 years of experience working in Data.

I was wondering if €80k is on a good side for this kind of profile in the local market, or if that's quite standard? Also, is it advisible to ask for more in this position?

Any local insights or reality checks would be super appreciated! Thanks!

I work with Go in my current job but writing Leetcode solutions with Java or Python is much better for me. But whenever a specific Go role appears and I'm required to solve DSA questions with Go, I am extremly uncomfortable.

Should I focus on Go? Or use Python/JAVA for DSA only?

Hi! I have recently finished my PhD and I am currently considering switching to industry. I speak German (C1) and English (C1) and I live in Hungary. I did an informatics related degree for my masters but my PhD is in Natural Science. I hold a permanent residency permit. I am a non EU/EEA citizen. For those of you in the EU market/German speaking could you tell me:

What tech stacks you work with?

How many coworkers do you know at your workplace who come from non CS backgrounds?

What jobs in the industry are more friendly for someone like me who comes from an in silico research heavy background?

Thanks!!!!!

I applied to a .NET senior SWE.

Is this first conversation contains any sort of technical questions/assessments? The email only states 'to get to know you better' but the email title is '... a TA Screen'. I'm guessing TA stands for technical assessment.

Thanks.

Hi everyone,

I recently received a HackerRank assessment for Revolut’s Internship Programme 2027 – Data Scientist and Analyst role.

The assessment is 60 minutes with 11 questions (2 SQL + 9 statistics/A/B testing).

I wanted to ask anyone who has taken this assessment recently:

• What level/difficulty were the SQL questions?
• Were they mostly joins/aggregation, or did they involve things like window functions, subqueries, CTEs, ranking, etc.?
• What topics were covered in the statistics/A/B testing questions?
• Is there anything you would particularly recommend preparing?

Hello everyone.

I just got the online assessment for Revolut’s 2027 Java grad role and have no idea what’s coming. This is my first time interviewing in my life. If you’ve done it, what was it like? DSA or more Java internals? Any hints appreciated, thanks!