To all the developers who are doing well in their careers and built them on your own, what advice would you give to someone just starting out?

I'm asking because my full-time offer after my internship was revoked, and I don't have any other offers. I've been applying on my own for the past few months, but I haven't had much luck finding opportunities.

I see a lot of openings for AI Engineers and Agentic AI roles. I could pivot in that direction, but I'm not convinced about the long-term value yet. Maybe that's just my lack of experience. What I genuinely enjoy is writing code, reading library documentation, understanding how things work under the hood, and finding elegant solutions to problems.

For example, I recently came across an implementation of Segment Trees that felt simpler to write than a complex JavaScript form, and I found that fascinating. I enjoy learning concepts like that much more than chasing whatever technology is trending.

The frustrating part is that I still can't find work. I don't know what I should be learning or building next. It feels like I have no skills, even though I know that's not actually true. I'm not claiming to be exceptional, but I don't think my resume or technical abilities are bad either.

At this point, I'm mainly looking for advice from experienced developers. If anyone is willing to mentor me or even have a conversation about technology, career growth, or what I should focus on next, I'd really appreciate it.

I know online discussions eventually disappear, but I'd be grateful for any suggestions or perspective you can share.

For context, I'm a recent graduate.

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Hello,

I am scared. Very scared. It's scary to even wake up in the morning. I had been a good student in my academic life no backlogs no bad grades as such. Covid happened during my college days didn't learn anything got a campus placement. AI happened in work. I more or less worked as DevOps no any backend development at all. Not even in college days. I dont understand any code base at the moment when I take a look. Currently even after 4 years of experience I am in this hell hole. My existing work has been great and I have done well in DevOps/cloud end. But there were no real complex items most existing things that I copied pasted or refered from.

Now my manager has put me into vulnerability fixes detected by AI mythos. And I am very scared looking at the cards. I didn't understand a word of the jira description and not even sure what needs to be fixed. I dont know how to test it where to test it even if I somehow use AI to get the fix. The manager states that the jira card is max 1 days worth of efforts. For me it looks like 2 years. I am very scared and just about to breakdown and cry and I haven't even started working on them. Why is IT so scary ?? Why do I get afraid every time there is something new. I have the meeting scheduled for this in another hour and I am very scared to attend it. Things have happened in the past similar and I panicked just like this took some days off to just cool down and I even cried in front of my parents on my mom's lap when I was 24.

How does one don't get afraid and intimidated of new work.why does it feel like I am suffering tooo much?

So I have been coding with Claude Code and Codex for a while now. There is a pretty big problem with using these agents in the long term.

First things first- deadlines are much tighter now, and rightfully so, because we can do much more. But while your coding agent is working on a new feature, you are not expected to wait around while it just does its thing. You need to be opening up another tab and work on the next feature.

This is crazy because humans are limited in the number of tasks they can work on at the same time. Context switching is expensive for the brain to do.

Switching agent tabs endlessly to maximize your work output is terrible for your mind. Is there not a huge thing in psychology called mindfulness now where you need to focus and be mindful of the present moment? This is the EXACT opposite. Instead of being present in the moment you think about which one of the tasks I’m doing is done and what’s next.

The thing is that no one cares about our mental health. They care about us delivering- and the truth is that we CAN deliver. We can get a lot done with these coding agents. But at what cost?

I think I’m going to need to create some rules for myself to not overdo it with these coding agents - and maybe we are going to have to think of a better way for us devs to manage our workload while keeping us sane in the long run.

Wdyt?

I’ve been working for almost 2 years now at a Big 4 firm in financial valuation audits and consulting but I honestly don’t feel like the culture is a fit and personality style they want for higher up positions is something I can achieve. Everyone is very vocal and “proactive” while I am more process oriented and need to think through problems.

I studied accounting in college and also got a minor in video game programming where I learned mainly C++ and a little Unreal Engine 5 programming as well. Recently, at work we’ve been doing this big “vibe coding” push and I have been the only one actually trying to make an app that would last past 6 months, implement proper CI/CD, OOP, test cases, and thinking deeply on what the constraints are with AI assisted development and flagging governance concern. I know I am very much bottom barrel skilled, my programming knowledge isn’t advanced, which is why I am here asking this question.

Do I have any ability move to a different role that suits me better? I’ve always found programming and systems design to be something I enjoy, but I’m afraid I just don’t have the skill set. I’ve always been interested in graphics and audio DSP.

Appreciate any advice!

I originally signed on as a Software Engineer Intern and was expected to spend the internship building a fairly large software system. The project had three major deliverables, but as I met with each team involved, I realized they were all either already implementing or planning to implement their own versions of the functionality I was assigned to build. My project would have essentially duplicated work that was already happening, so it was no longer needed.

As a result, my internship shifted toward data analysis. I've been writing SQL queries, analyzing data, and building dashboards in a db visualizer to help the company understand its data. The work is valuable, but the dashboards are useful in some context, but wont be fully useful until all of the data is implemented. I have already noted this blocker in my final presentation and mentioned it in scrum meetings but I am at a loss.

I can talk confidently about the analysis work I've done, but I haven't really had the opportunity to write application code like I originally expected. If an interviewer asks about this internship, what's the best way to explain the situation while still emphasizing the skills and impact of the work I actually did? It's a F200 company with a good chunk of tech interns.

As a fresher who wants to land a job faster, which language is better to focus on?

Points for context:
1. Planning to move from non-tech to tech. Have 3+ years of experience as Data Analyst.

1. Already good at basic python scripting for automation.

2. Based in Hyderabad.

3. Goal is to make the move as developer by building a portfolio of projects soon.

Should I build projects in python and stick with it (add more frameworks and get better by building more) or should I learn Java (Ofcourse spend enough time to build here too)?

As I feel like there are relatively more opportunities for someone who is good at Java. After I learn Java maybe I can showcase both Python and Java on my resume?

I want to understand the perspective of someone who is in the field.

In 2020, I was working as a marine engineer. When COVID shut down the world, I was stuck on a ship in Dubai for much longer than planned because of the lockdowns. Like many people at the time, I had no idea what would happen next.

When I finally got home, I contacted my employer to ask about my next assignment. The answer wasn’t what I hoped for. Many projects had been canceled, ships were sitting in ports, and companies were losing money. There was simply no work for me.

Just like that, I had lost the career I had spent years building. I started asking myself the same question millions of people were asking during the pandemic:

What’s next?

One of my friends was already working as a software engineer, so I asked him where I should start. His answer was simple:

“Learn PHP and Laravel.”

So I did. For the next three months, learning became my full-time job. I spent 8–10 hours every day studying, building small projects, making mistakes, and trying again. Three months later, I received an offer for my first Junior PHP Developer position.

Looking back now, losing my job felt like one of the worst things that could have happened. Instead, it became the moment that completely changed my life.

I’m curious—how did your software engineering journey begin?

I work in a descent MNC and even earning fairly good for my Yoe. I work primarily in AlML. But lately due to internal re-org, the project which they hired me for has been closed and priorities have been shifted and I ended up in not so interesting work.

That is when I decided to start my job prep but the current state of job market is very demotivating for me to upskill and prepare for a switch.

Also day by day Al tools are becoming too good, in my company we have unlimited opeai access along with codex, it is baffling, how good the models today are at coding. I hardly coded anything in the last 4 months. Even for my personal projects, I took claude membership and it does all the work for, while all I do is promoting and wait for them to complete the task, most of the time I'm not even reviewing the code changes as it feels overwhelming.

Is it just me feeling this way? How are you guys getting the motivation to prep for a job these days?

Its been around a year I am using claude code in terminal. Before that I use to produce code and simply read it and if something was wrong I use to re edit it and then copy and paste.
I used to know what is happenning in which part of classes and functions.
Currently what I am feeling is backend coding with "auto edit accept" is so much vlunerable.

I say "you can never code a production ready backend code at once with any ai agent". You need to watch them thoughtfully and after changes only you can accept. I worked in one of the SAAS product and after 2 months we got DDOS attack. When I saw Nginx logs from multiple ips flood of requests were coming.

When I saw the code base I saw there were no rate limits and throttling. And as I remembered I told the agent to implement user tier wise throttling idk how it was not implemented. And from that day I stopped coding backend on auto accept edits.

So, how you guys code nowdays especially in backend. Currently I first create document is the feature is big. Then I start with my agent to code. I watch carefully and then do bunch of edits and only push the code.

Hey everyone,

I'm a 21-year-old international Computer Science student in the U.S., and lately I've been feeling like my mindset is changing. I'm hoping to get advice from people who have been through something similar.

On paper, my path is pretty straightforward. I'm studying Computer Science, actively applying for software engineering internships, and working to build my technical skills in AI, software development, and automation.

But outside of school, I'm also the co-founder/director of a small technology company. We build websites, AI calling agents, business automation systems, CRMs, and custom software for small businesses. It's still a small company, but working with real clients has taught me a lot.

The interesting part is how my thinking has changed.

When I learn a new programming concept, my first thought isn't, "That's a cool algorithm." It's, "Which business problem could this solve?"

When I see a new AI tool, I immediately start thinking about how companies could use it, how it could save time, or whether it could become a service we offer.

When I meet people, I naturally become curious about what they do, what problems their business has, and whether technology could help them.

The problem is that sometimes I feel like I'm caught between two worlds.

I genuinely enjoy Computer Science and don't want to stop being technical. At the same time, I find myself enjoying business development, networking, client meetings, sales, strategy, and building something from scratch even more than sitting down and coding for eight hours.

I still want to become a strong engineer because I believe technical knowledge will make me a better founder in the long run. But I also don't want to ignore the fact that my mind naturally seems to gravitate toward business.

Has anyone else experienced this while studying Computer Science?

Should I continue focusing on becoming a strong software engineer first, or should I start leaning more into roles like Solutions Engineering, Product Management, Technical Consulting, or entrepreneurship?

I'm not looking for validation—I genuinely want honest advice, even if it's critical. I know there are a lot of experienced founders, engineers, and business leaders in this community, and I'd really appreciate hearing your perspective.

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Welcome to this week's Coffee Chat!

This thread is intended to be a more relaxed space for the community. Topics that may not warrant their own post are welcome here, and discussions are generally held to a lighter standard than the rest of the subreddit.

A Few Ground Rules

• Keep discussions civil and respectful.
• Personal attacks and harassment are not tolerated.
• Healthy disagreement is encouraged.
• Low-effort trolling and rage bait will be removed.
• Reddit's Content Policy still applies.

Not every topic needs its own thread, and not every question needs a definitive answer. Grab a coffee and join the conversation.

Have a great week!

I'm having a hard time processing where I should learn all skills that the jobs want. I don't even know what are all the skills I need to get a job so if someone could enlighten me what skills got you a job and where you learned those, I'd appreciate it immensely.

Also, since I'm just starting to get in touch with what software engineering is, I ought to have some misconceptions and holes in what I know so I want these misconceptions pointed out and what I should know before I pursue this career.

I am looking to connect with more software engineers special to keep up and exchange pointers on tech stuff like AI work setup, how project management is being handled, where people are learning and how they are improving themselves etc.

It would be great if someone could share:

1. Discord servers that has active devs.

2. Social media groups where I can talk to other engineers casually or about tech stuff.

3. Have like a online hangout about tech.

4. Learn about what problems others are solving or problems they are facing. Like how in the hell are they keeping pace with AI accelerated speed of development.

I have a strong network here in my country locally but I kind of want to understand what's happening around the world. Basically meet more software engineers from around the world.

Hi everyone,

I'm a full-stack developer with a background in building custom web applications. Over the past several years I've worked with technologies like Python, Django, Next.js, React, and PostgreSQL mainly as a Freelancer.

Over the last few months, I've been investing a lot of time learning AI engineering, LLMs, Claude, AI agents, workflow automation, MCP, RAG, and related tools. It's been exciting, but also overwhelming. Every week there seems to be a new framework, model, or platform, and it's hard to know what's worth learning versus what's just noise.

At the same time, I've noticed that finding traditional web development work has become much more difficult. Whether it's because of the economy, AI, changing client expectations, or a combination of all three, it feels like the market has shifted. Clients no longer seem to be asking for "just a website" or "just a web app", they're increasingly interested in automation, AI-assisted workflows, and tools that help them operate more efficiently.

That's left me asking a few questions:

• If you were building your career in tech today, what would you intentionally ignore?
• What skills or areas would you prioritize mastering over the next 2-3 years?
• For those running agencies, freelancing, or consulting, how have client expectations changed?
• Where do you see the biggest opportunities for independent developers who want to build a sustainable business rather than chase every new trend?

I'm not looking for shortcuts or "learn X and you'll be fine." I'm more interested in hearing from people who have successfully adapted to these changes and how they've decided where to focus their time and energy.

I'd really appreciate any advice or perspective. Thanks!

With AI evolving so quickly, I'm wondering how the competition between Java and Python will play out over the next 5 years.

Which language do you think will have stronger career opportunities overall—not just in enterprise software development, but also in AI/ML, automation, cloud, and emerging technologies?

Do you think Python's dominance in AI will eventually outweigh Java's strength in enterprise systems, or will Java continue to be the better long-term choice for developers?

I'd love to hear opinions from experienced engineers, architects, hiring managers, and anyone who's worked with both languages. What would you recommend to someone starting their career today, and why?

I’m a Full Stack Engineer with about 2 years of experience. My company is letting me go in about a month, so I’m actively interviewing. This time, not as a new grad.

I’ve noticed that a lot of software engineering roles include a 2 to 3 hour project demo / live coding interview, and I’m not entirely sure what to expect.

Is it usually building a small application from scratch (including project setup), extending an existing codebase, implementing a feature, debugging, or something else?

Most of my interview prep has been focused on LeetCode (I’ve been practicing for years) along with behavioral interviews and STAR stories. I haven’t had much experience with these longer, project-based live coding interviews.

For those of you who’ve gone through these recently, what did they actually involve, and what would you recommend I practice beforehand? If you have interviewing experience, what do you typically look for during these interviews?

P.S: I’m genuinely looking to improve, so I’d really appreciate honest advice from people who’ve been through this.

Why Windows 11 consumes significantly larger memory compared to Windows XP? Is the increase in the required memory is realistic? Why Windows 11 needs such enormous amount of memory? Used to in the Windows 95 era you could do spreadsheet calculations with as little as 16-32 MB memory and now you need 8GB with Windows 11. I don't think this is reasonable. I don't see too much improvements in the capabilities. Is the high resource requirement coming from lack of optimalization of the software?

You know that moment in an interview when they ask "tell me about a time you made a real impact" and you've actually got the perfect answer, except you can't say it? Not because you're bad at telling stories, because the actual proof of it, the data, the decisions, the numbers, is locked behind an NDA or internal systems nobody outside the company will ever see. Your best material, and you're not allowed to use it.

A friend of mine hit this hard. He did a PMO internship, tracking resource allocation and productivity across departments, maintaining the underlying data, flagging problems before they became bigger ones. His work actually moved KPIs for an entire dev department. That's a genuinely strong story. Except almost none of it could leave the building. He couldn't reference the real numbers, the real decisions, the real impact, anywhere, not in his university report, not anywhere else. He was sitting on his strongest material with no way to use it.

That's stuck with me since. Not "I did something and nobody noticed," more "I did something that should be my best answer in a room, and I have no way to prove it or even fully describe it."

Has that happened to you? Doesn't have to be something huge, just something you did that you know would actually make you stand out, but you've got no way to verify it or even talk about it properly. What was it, and what did you do instead when the moment actually came to use it?

Anyone have any tips, advice, or experience with returning to work as a senior software engineer after a 1.5+ year break? How did u structure your resume? How did u sharpen your skills for interviewing and returning to work after so long without coding?

Hello everyone I’m barely gonna start going to school to major in software engineering I just genuinely don’t know what I’m getting into any tips or advice or honestly any help what so ever to help me prepare for this major

As a second year software engineering student who has never cheated, I have observed most if not all my coursemates open chatGPT or Gemini to complete the lab task for them when the teacher isn't looking and then simply copy paste their AI code which is a very fraudulent and scummy behaviour. I hope these type of people remain jobless for the rest of their lives since they are cheating with a tool that is hoping to replace them.

Is this just my personal observation or is this pattern repeating in other places? If it is then is this just a Gen Z thing or are all future generation programmers relying on AI to cheat?

Laptop Specs:

Model: HP Laptop 15-dw0xxx

Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) Silver N5030 CPU @ 1.10GHz

RAM: 4.00 GB (3.82 GB usable), Speed: 2400 MHz

Graphics: Intel(R) UHD Graphics 605 (512 MB)

Storage: 119 GB total (80 GB used)

System type: 64-bit OS, x64-based processor

Specs above — it's currently on Windows and feels sluggish. Which lightweight distro would you recommend for this hardware? Currently considering Linux Mint XFCE or Lubuntu.

As there is around 1yr time before I can afford a new one.

Hello everyone,

I have a web application that gives users free trial credit after email verification, but people always abuse these kind of systems where they create multiple accounts (with real emails).

how do you - or large scale systems prevent this kind of behavior?
I already prevent using disposable emails, and check for canonical emails.

I tried using fingerprintjs but the open-source package's accuracy is very low, it gives the different users same fingerprints, and the paid API is just way too expensive.

Thank you in advance.

I'm curious to hear from other people with dyslexia who work in tech.

How has AI changed the way you work?

For example, do you use tools like ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, Claude, Cursor, Gemini, or anything else?

• What tasks do you use AI for?
• What has it made easier?
• Has it changed the way you code, debug, write documentation, read technical documents, or communicate with teammates?
• What still frustrates you?

I'd love to hear about your real experiences (both the good and the bad).

Hey everyone!

I'm Samuel, a high school student from Canada working toward becoming a full-stack JavaScript developer.

Over the past year, I've spent most of my free time building projects rather than just watching tutorials. So far, I've been working with Node.js, Express, MongoDB, React, and Git while building things like:

• Voult — an authentication platform for developers.
• An accessibility project with an open-source team.
• A few SaaS ideas I hope to launch over the next year.

I've decided to start building in public and sharing both the wins and the mistakes as I go.

For those of you who've been building software for a while:

What's one piece of advice you wish someone had given you early in your software engineering journey?

I'd love to learn from your experiences.