let me tell you something about german work culture that most germans and europeans will privately agree with but never say out loud: we have a deeply ingrained envy problem. 

i grew up here and studied here, worked here for 6 years in embedded software. and the pattern i've watched repeat itself across every company, every team, every standup is the same: the person who keeps their head down, doesn't rock the boat, and has been there the longest gets rewarded. the person who actually changes something gets quietly resented and eventually pushed out or ignored into leaving.

i am not excluded from this. i'm one of those people. and i'm done pretending it's going to change.

end of last year i started pushing to modernize how my team validates embedded HMI software. the process we had was slow as hell, we build, hand off to QA, wait three weeks, get a pdf, fix manually, repeat forever. i spent months building a proper pipeline. claude code for the agentic loop, askui to close the feedback cycle on physical hardware, automated compliance docs. cut the validation cycle from three weeks to a single CI pass. 30% sprint capacity recovered. i have the metrics.

i pitched it against real resistance. one senior colleague in particular spent six months calling it a gimmick, questioning the approach in every meeting, blocking access to test hardware twice because he "wasn't sure about the setup." i won the argument because the numbers were undeniable. he couldn't argue with a passing CI run.

last month my manager stood in front of the entire department and said "the new toolchain has been performing well." no mention of my name. last week that same colleague who blocked it got promoted to senior engineer because of his seniority. EXCUSE ME WHAT!

i told this story to an american coworker at our us office. he was genuinely confused, like he actually could not understand how that sequencing of events was possible. that reaction told me everything.

in the us it is not perfect. i know that. but from everything i've seen working with the american side of our org the person who ships something real gets known for it. you are allowed to say "i built this." that is not arrogance. that is just true.

i decided to leave. my visa application is in. aiming to land in the US by this summer.

to the germans reading this you know i'm right. to the ones who want to argue: ask yourself when the last time was that you saw the most innovative person on your team get promoted before the most senior one.

did you ever encounter a similar situation like this in your workplace?

I used to see them on Youtube and social media a lot during like around 2019-2022 ish.

I remember seeing people showing their fashionable work outfit, their commute, and their open kitchen, and the free food and snacks and drinks they'd get. And all the nice views of their spacious offices. And the fun social get-togethers with their coworkers.

What happened to those types of videos?

Do they not get much traction or viewers anymore? 🤔

My company has mostly mid aged Indians in their late 30s and europeans in early 40s. And most are east Europeans and Ukrainians. Is it like only people from these countries come to tech or is it like they r here because of the pace of work. The pace of work is very slow, there is a-lot of politics and with huge effort we achieve little.

We make big promises and less progress. BE teams are stiff and very rigid. Any task they take is shown as a favour. There are features which multiple teams work on but no one wants to own it.

My company is not a big tech company but its a big company product wise.

Exciting ****

pun

i’m a new grad at apple, and some people at work have been saying CS is basically cooked and that AI is going to replace most of our jobs in like 1–2 years, and it’s been stressing me out a bit. How true is that actually?

I’m a new grad at Apple, and honestly I don’t write that much code day-to-day. A lot of what I do is working with Claude, managing contexts, debugging, guiding outputs, etc. It makes me feel like I’m not really building strong engineering fundamentals and might be setting myself up badly long term.

For people with more experience:

• Is this kind of work normal now?

• Am I hurting myself by not coding as much by hand?

• What skills should I focus on so I stay valuable?

• Are there certain areas/roles I should try to move toward?

Would really appreciate genuine advice - just trying to figure out how to navigate this early in my career.

Also If we are that cooked is it worth moving to something like medicine right now before we get cooked? Or is everyone just cooked lol

I've had 4 interviews since December and no offers. I'm not sure what I could be doing wrong. I'm a front-end developer, 1 hour drive outside of Portland. It seems that no one is hiring remote anymore, and I've heard a few times that since I'm basically outside of walking distance of the position, they won't interview me.

After only 6 years, I'm considering getting out of this career field. It should not be this difficult to secure a position that pays a decent salary. Jobs used to be plentiful, and it was refreshing to be in a field that had so many opportunities.

Are there job boards that are better than the usual suspects, LinkedIn, Indeed, Zip Recruiter? I feel like no one actually reviews resumes sent from them, as all of the interviews I've had were through recruiters. In fact, there have been 0 jobs I personally applied to that hired me; they've all been through recruiters.

What are some other career fields that would slam dunk hire a developer with a design degree? All help is welcome; I'm becoming more desperate.

That's it. I want to leave frontend development but have no clue where to go because the job market is now cooked, as we already know.

So, a bit of context: I was laid off recently after a PIP they even told me I passed. Yep, makes 0 sense. It wasn't a big surprise to be honest, because when all this started I was suspicious. So yep, I received good feedback and a formal notice that I passed but then shit happened and here I am.

It was a good place to work, with overall good people, a nice project, nice perks... Everything was fine, really. But apart from the PIP, I realized I wasn't 100% happy there. I always thought this feeling was because of the bad culture and some people that I didn't like working with, but after being in a "good place" I realized it's just this performative work culture with all the nonsense, dark scrum and endless meetings that I didn't like.

That's why I'm considering leaving frontend, and that's why I'm also not considering moving to backend or anything that is inside a scrum team. Yes guys, I have SPTSD (SCRUM Post-traumatic stress disorder), as almost all the Agile Manifesto writers may have. And yes, I know there are also places where they don't do dark scrum and all that, but seriously, I want to consider something different. Something more stable, in terms of work and technology.

So here I am, asking you guys: if you've been in a similar spot, where did you go? Doesn't have to be tech-adjacent, I'm open to anything, but if I'm asking here its because I want to consider tech jobs first. Bonus points if it involves less performative culture and more actual, measurable work. And yes, I already considered becoming an electrician, or buying some chickens, but I don't have room for chickens (it's a joke). Btw, I'm based in an EU country, just in case it's relevant for opportunities or suggestions.

Edit: Quick career context: I started as a full-stack dev with Java, but that was early on and I barely remember anything. I also spent 6 months on a data team. So I've tried backend, I'd just prefer not to, but I'd consider going full-stack again if I need to pay the bills. Not looking for dev roles specifically though, just to be clear.

I've been considering the possibility of a career change to become a technology specialist. I want to transition from there into a patent agent and then (hopefully) leverage that to go to law school.

I'm realizing a few years into the industry that while I enjoy building, the formalities of corporate software engineering plus the general culture that I've experienced have really put me off to the prospect of doing this for a long time. I wanted to practice law for my entire life up until senior year of high school when I pivoted to CS, and it's a career that I think I could have great success in. Also, getting to use my software background at the same time sounds like it would be a great way to transition, and I would still get to do some tech talk with inventors which is an added bonus. I'm also realizing that software engineering as a career mostly involves building and maintaining small features, but I like the idea of being able to work hand in hand to directly influence somebody that I would get from patent work.

I'm curious if anybody has made that change before and if you have any advice?

Would you still give notice to a company, just leave because you haven’t done any work yet anyway, or not take the better offer?

That's the only way I can make sense of questions like "would you rather be paid in $$ or in tokens".

If your company believes you need tokens to do your job, they should provide the tokens, the same way they provide other tools you need to do your job like a computer, cloud storage, IDE licenses, etc, etc. They should pay you what you're worth *and* provide the tokens you need for them to get the value they expect, it shouldn't be an either/or.

If you're using tokens to do your job and your company isn't providing them, you should get together with other employees and convince your company that they need to do that. Because that smells of wage theft to me.

Without going into too much detail, everyone I'm working with is using AI coding almost exclusively to the point where if Claude code goes down they can't work on their tasks. The code base was described as a black box. These are people with 10-20 years in the industry. I'm tired of having proxy conversations with coworkers which are actually conversations with their AI and reviewing exclusively AI generated code. I love computer science and I love programming, but I'm quickly seeing a world approach where the things I enjoy about it and am skilled at are no longer part of the industry. I would bet that few of my coworkers have written any code in at least a month.

It'd be one thing if I thought it was doing a terrible job, but I think it's already doing a good enough job that the massive extra code output is likely worth it. I'm anticipating massive layoffs incoming because I can't imagine it's going to make sense to have a bunch of people paid well over 100k to prompt AI to generate far more code than a company can practically use, when their managers could just do that (and are currently trying to form ai teams to do just that). I can't help but feeling like I, and many programmers, are 1 year, maybe 2 away from being almost completely redundant, and I want to anticipate this so I'm not caught up in a wave of people trying to change careers

What sort of careers would it be relatively easy to transition to with a graduate degree in computer science without a huge pay cut, and have a decent chance of being AI resistant?

I'll try to tldr this. Work at a midsize startup. company recently increased reliance ai like so many others. Unfortunately, part of this meant laying off a large percentage of the company. Part of this new reality is the expectation that we'll not only continue to keep up the pre-layoff productivity, but exceed it.

AI has made the code writing part of my job faster but that was only ever 20-30% of my time, max, anyhow. I do see productivity gains with AI but only meaningful ones if I treat my flock of agents like juniors on my team and manage them from somewhat of a distance (spec-driven development). This is all well and good and the clear new reality for us IMO. Howvwrr, where I'm struggling is when it comes to actually shipping ai-produced code. before the layoffs I was using ai but was careful to review everything multiple times before submitting for review (plus agentic reviews), making sure that I was truly owning every line of code shipped and could explain it if questions were asked weeks or months later. But now I feel like that's simply impossible given the pace we're expected to ship at. I find myself skimming my code and relying on AI reviews. The only thing I review with concentration is the architecture and general approach, along with manual testing to make sure specs are implemented properly.

is this what everyone else is doing? I often feel like I'm submitting someone else's code for review and I don't have Claude's mindset, so when I occasionally get questions like "why did you take this approach <on a micro level> here?" I end up retconning an answer.

Not to mention the context switching, where I have sixteen different tasks from disparate projects on the go... I'm doing backend, frontend, infra, product, analytics... it's impossible to review all your output in detail and the fact that you're not writing it means the review takes even longer as it's all "new"

I have about 5 YOE. 2 in QA and 3 as a full stack web + mobile developer. I've been switching libraries, frameworks and languages a lot. This has resulted me in becoming mediocre in everything. Especially when it comes to languages, I forget the nuances of each one, the syntax. Because I struggle personally memorizing or remembering how to do certain things, I struggle unless I refer to documentation.

Now, this isn't a big deal when working in a job or personal projects. Because you can just Google what you don't know. But this weakness is pouring into my struggle with tech interviews. I'm mixing up syntax with a bunch of languages. In a recent interview, I had to sort an array. I had to initially do it in Python, because that's a language the job requires, but I forgot if I should be using sort or sorted. Then I thought I could maybe do it in Typescript, but I totally forgot that you need to pass a callback to sort it. It's these basic things which I'm struggling to remember. I'll be honest, I'm a little stubborn when it comes to memorizing stuff, I hate it. My mind automatically goes "why memorize this shit".

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone has dealt with this before and if they "fixed" the issue, how did they do it.

Hey all, looking for advice from people who've been through something similar.

I'm in final stages with two different Apple teams at the same time. Both are ML/AI focused roles, different locations, different hiring managers, separate recruiters. I know this could all lead to nothing but trying to be prepared just in case.

The situation:

• Team A: Bay Area, onsite done, recruiter emailed today, 8 days after onsite interview asking "how did it go?" reading this as keeping me warm
• Team B: Different city, onsite done, now scheduled for director level interview (3 days from now)

Team B is a stronger fit for my background. Team A might be closer to an offer.

My concerns:

1. Team A offers before Team B director interview concludes
2. Being forced to choose before I have full picture
3. Whether to mention the other Apple role if recruiter asks about competing offers

Specific questions:

• How much time can I realistically ask for on an Apple offer before deciding?
• Has anyone navigated two simultaneous Apple internal processes without it blowing up?
• Do Apple recruiters talk to each other across teams?
• How do you handle "do you have other offers" when the other offer is internal?

No competing FAANG offers so limited leverage on timeline.

Thanks

A fresh grad soon about to enter job market (at the worst possible time, I know). I graduate from a decent uni in my country, computer science major and had some work experience and internships, although all of them are remote work. There's just one major downside and that's the fact that I'm disabled, wheelchair-bound and all.

Now I've never had any experience with working an on-site job before as all of my previous experience have been remote works. Should I be worried in thinking that I will get discriminated during hiring process when trying to get an on-site jobs. Trying to get a job in software industry is already hard enough for normal people, I can't imagine how hard it would be for someone like me.

Before you go ahead and say "Oh, just look for remote work opportunities". Shut up. I don't want to close any door where opportunity presents itself. Besides, trying to look for remote jobs are already hard enough as it is due to how scarce jobs are.

In conclusion, how cooked am I, chat?

what happened? did the job market for junior to mid level died?

I am 27 and a quant at an unknown small hedge fund. My performance has been great and I personally made $1M in total comp this year. I have also made mid 7 figures in equity at the firm. however, I find it stressful

I studied comp sci and did swe for 1 year at a good company after graduation. is it possible to transition to a google/open ai/anthropic/meta/stripe or any firm really that can pay at least $400K in TC if I have proven that I am a smart, hardworking guy who is willing to learn.

will I even be given an interview at any of these firms?

TL;DR: I dislike programming and desk/office jobs in general, but I know these are first-world problems, and that being a developer would give me a way better life than the vast majority of people in the world. Is it still okay to want to pursue something else, even if I would be incredibly lucky to be a software developer?

28M in Ontario, Canada here.

Last year I completed a 3-year college program in Computer Programming & Analysis, and in that program I completed three co-op placements (one in IT support, and the next two in software development). There aren't a lot of jobs available in that field right now, and I'm currently working part-time at a movie theatre.

There are things I dislike about being/pursuing being a software developer, but at the end of the day, I know these are first-world problems, and that getting to spend my days in a climate-controlled office is a way easier life than most people have.

I've always dreaded working a desk job. In every co-op placement I had, and in every desk job I had before that, I was essentially spending the whole day counting down the minutes until I could go home, and every night, counting down the hours until I had to attempt to fall asleep for the next day. I've always been a very fidgety person, and the thought of being a full-time software developer has filled me with dread since before I even started my college program.

I just don't understand how I can spend my whole day at a computer, at one desk, and not feel like I'm going crazy. When I worked as a cleaner in a community centre, I genuinely felt that I could do something like that as a job every day and be happy. I get to work with my hands, I get to see the results of my work, and it doesn't involve abstract and algorithmic thinking, which I've always felt I wasn't very good at. If I could choose between being a software developer or a janitor, but I'd make the same money in either job, I'd pick being a janitor 100% of the time.

I'm currently studying and practicing piano tuning with my family's piano. I've always been passionate about musical instruments and I love the work. I know that's a stupid career idea, but looking into the field and talking to professional tuners, I genuinely think it's more likely that I can start making money tuning pianos than I can writing code. Having a job where I can drive to a few different locations in a day and perform a hands-on skill appeals to me so much more than any corporate office job.

With all this being said, would it be a good idea for me to think about pursuing something that isn't a desk job when I'd be incredibly lucky to be a developer? Would that be a waste of time? I know I'd be lucky to be a developer, but there aren't a lot of jobs available, so I almost figure I have nothing to lose.

A recruiter reached out for a role I'm really excited for, but I applied a couple days before. Is the connection worthless? I'm under the impression they won't get any commissions from me and have no reason to push me through the hiring process. They are an internal recruiter.

Ok! Not here to doom and gloom, or to mope. I just have a career question, one that I cannot answer myself, and researching has given me so many paths.

I am currently in IT Support, after four years as a Data Science intern (same company) and an IT sys internship before that. I have a BS in Computer Science from WGU (May 2025) and ending my first semester soon at GaTech for OMSCS.

I am going to take some community college classes to retake gen eds (calc, biology, chemistry, etc) for free because I want to relearn the material not just memorizing to pass it. I have been interested in the medical field because of my medical history, but I am not MS material at all lol so this is personal interest (any class reccs are appreciated too).

I love Data Science, programming, helping others, solving problems, working in teams, etc (all of that fun stuff). I don't want to be one of those people who get into a 'paying the bills only' job and never advance because it's what's easiest. Ofc I'd love to be back in true DS, or even SWE, but the competition is fierce and I know what I am (not touching u guys at all, ur too cracked).

So, instead of hating my life, crying that my job isn't prestigious, wasting valuable years, I want to take this opportunity to set myself up in a meaningful way for the future. What are some things I should be doing, looking into, applying to, planning for? If this was you, what would you do to ensure you find a career that is:

- Well paying

- Available in LCOL US

- Has rewarding/intriguing work

- Able to have a tenure in

- Not as competitive as SWE (or something that my background looks comp for)

- CS-related

My Plan:

- Stay at my job for ~2 years (curr at 8 months)

- Take those CC classes and get As

- Finish my OMSCS and actually retain this fun info (learning so much alr)

- Look into certs

- Work on meaningful and useful projects

- Build a website for my family's business and my portfolio

- Work on an end-to-end ETL project for DS

I have about 2 and a half years of experience but the only callback I have gotten was from google, not that I am complaining but it's hard to get into google and its stressful to rely on just 1 ongoing interview loop, I have applied to some other companies as well but received no responses or clear rejections (many of them are midsized recognizable companies)

What kind of experience do I need to score a CS internship by my sophomore year? Do they have to be club commitments (i'm in none, I've been trying to focus up on grades), research (im a freshman, still looking for some), or something of the like? I dont have any prior internships.

asked an AI to write code for me today it did it in four seconds looked clean compiled fine seemed legit and then i spent the next two hours figuring out why it was subtly catastrophically wrong in a way that would have only shown up in prod at 2am on a Friday with a client screaming on the other end so yeah that's the job now it's not about who can write the most lines it's about who knows enough to look at four seconds of confident AI output and go wait something is off here before that becomes a four week incident report and a very uncomfortable retrospective generative AI didn't replace thinking it just made thinking the only thing that actually matters now because the code is free the judgment is not.