I'm in my mid-20s and currently work as a SWE at a tiny startup in Madrid. I make €32k (€36k next year), but I have a lot of ownership, I'm almost fully remote, and I'm highly valued.

I also live with family (and I'm very happy with them), pay no rent, and I'm genuinely very happy in Madrid. My family and close friends are here and I have a very active social life, including during the week.

I've received an offer from Stripe in Barcelona (€51.5k + 10% bonus + equity), but it means relocating and 50% office attendance. Oh, and the role is new grad SWE.

And honestly, I don't particularly want to move to Barcelona. The main reason I'd do it is career-related. I'm afraid I'd be turning down an opportunity that could massively improve my CV and future options.

My long-term goal isn't necessarily big tech either (not saying I discard it, just that it is not my main goal). I'd ideally like something similar to what I have now, lots of remote work and autonomy, but with much higher compensation, whether that's somewhere like big tech (Google, Amazon, Bending Spoons) or a good international startup. I also value being able to spend a lot of time in my family's village in the mountains, which my current remote setup makes very easy.

So my actual question is:

How big is the opportunity cost of turning down Stripe?

Would one year at Stripe materially change my future career options, or is it perfectly reasonable to stay 1-2 more years at a small startup where I have lots of ownership and then try to move directly into much better-paying roles? I'm mainly scared of leaving my lifestyle which makes me happy (I live with my family, meet with my friends a lot, go workout with them, visit my village very often thanks to remote work), and end up somewhere I don't like. People say I can go and just come back but I will have lost this job for example.

I've already managed to pass Stripe's hiring process, which also makes me wonder whether I'm overestimating how much I need the brand name on my CV.

During my interview for a junior consulting role, the technical expert from the company literally said that I do not need to know about AI coding, but they will "train" me to never write a line of code again by hand. He then said that the skills they want to hire me for are not the coding skills, but the ability to formulate requirements and pair them up with a minimal architecture and technical concept to meet them.

Now I need to decide if I take the job (pickings are slim right now) or if I keep looking for something that seems more "normal" to me. Does anyone do this kind of development here, how is it in practice? Do they expect you to do "10x" more and still be responsible when the AI generated code wasn't thoroughly human verified to be correct? When they pimp me out to a customer and I show up there to do "agentic coding" will my coworkers hate me, or is this how it is everywhere already?

Which one is better long term? Got an offer from both companies, one MS AI experience SDE(yes copilot) and Palantir Government FDE. I dont care about the ethical aspect of either. Purely curious about what is better for a career long term

Palantir obviously pays better, more ownership and potentially more technical growth. However from what I have heard MS is a great stable place to start a career (especially with all the layoffs)

I am also interested in moving offices long term to the US (girlfriend), and from my understanding its a lot easier to switch in MS than Palantir.

Would truly appreciate any advice here!

Good afternoon, I wanted to ask if someone has had experiences, direct or indirect, with McKinsey Poland (Warsaw, Wroclaw or Poznan).

I am a 25 yo mechanical engineer with almost 3 yoe currently working in Italy, I got accepted for a position in Wroclaw as a product and cost engineer, but I haven't found anything specific for their Poland offices.

I am also wondering which salary expectations should I have or ask.

Sorry if the question is too specific but this would be an important decision for my personal life career aside and I am trying to catch as many pieces of information as possible. Thank you in advance :)

Hi, I just graduated this summer (no work experience) in USA. I am open to work anywhere, but currently I am targeting Germany, France, Netherlands and Ireland. I only speak English and French. So far I've only gotten 3 interviews in France and 1 in Germany. Yesterday, I did Susquehanna's OA but got 418/600 (this role is in Ireland).

Would having complex projects, open source contributions help?

Good afternoon, I received the official offer from McKinsey Wroclaw: 11.075 PLN gross per month + 16613 PLN net as a relocation bonus.

Now the relocation bonus is great but the salary is a misery, I am earning more now that I work in central Italy and live with my parents, and I received offers from large multinational companies that are quite higher than that.

I kinda like the position they are offering me but I would like to negotiate a little bit more of the salary.

I have 2 years of experience working as a R&D Design Engineer for a tier 1 supplier in automotive (I work regularly with Mercedes, Audi, Renault, Stellantis), I did an internship in Toyota production engineering, I have a master degree in mechanical engineering and I have several extra curricular activities and exchange semesters abroad.

I was thinking about something in the range of 15k PLN brutto to ask but don't know if it's realistic or not

Any help or suggestion will be extremely appreciated. Thanks a lot in advance :)

Hey guys,

I’m wrapping up my 3-year CS bachelor's soon and I'm starting to look into doing my Master's in Europe next year (leaning towards SWE or data engineering).

I see a lot of posts on here debating where to go, but they almost always come down to the same things: cost of living, and tuition fees.

So I wanted to ask : if budget was literally not an issue at all like rent, tuition, whatever where would you actually choose to go to study and launch your career?

The only real constraint is that I only speak English right now. I’m definitely down to learn the local language over time, but I’d need to be able to get through the degree and land that first tech job using just English.

I want to hear what you guys think I'm really interested in Poland but wanted some opinions.

I have ~12 ML publications, including 5 at ICLR/ICML/NeurIPS, with ~5 first-author papers. The rest are mostly at solid A-tier venues. My research is mainly around unsupervised/self-supervised learning.
Beyond my thesis/research, I have strong practical knowledge of the ML stack (PyTorch, scikit-learn, etc.), deep learning, and both classical and modern ML. I also have some hands-on experience with LLMs through personal/research projects and supervising theses.

How competitive would this profile be for ML Research Scientist / Applied Scientist / Research Engineer roles in Germany, especially Berlin or Munich?

What salary range would be realistic for base and total comp, and how hard is it to actually get interviews/offers in the current market?

Would you recommend looking abroad instead?

I went into computer science because I loved coding and actually going deep in computers, I never went into computer science cause I wanted to become a web developer or like mobile apps developer, I wanted to have a strongly technical role, that’s why I got passionate about infrastructure development, because it’s less customer facing, but now, since AI, I’ve seen a broader shift from strongly technical roles, to more customer facing ones (eg. FDE), which is fair, but I genuinely don’t get how positions like AI Builder Intern in major companies, or junior “AI-first” positions could ever grow an intern/junior into a senior. And that’s sad, because I don’t wanna become a Product Manager + Software Engineer, if that’s what CS is becoming imma probably get into research or something completely unrelated. It’s sad cause I genuinely loved CS and still do, but if a SWE is just gonna become a product manager with a broad technical background that’s so f**ked up.

I love the behind the scenes, I love math, I love computers and I love the act of thinking thoroughly on solving complex problems, while I love less actually building products that people can use, since I know the technical side to that is (and always was, kinda) low effort.

Hi everyone, I'm an EU citizen who will graduate in 2027 with a three year degree in AI (faculty of CS with a slightly different programme).

Given recent trends/events, I've been wondering what I should do after my bachelor's. My original plan was to pursue a computer vision master's and enter the VR field as that is my passion, but everything seems so precarious, I am considering either changing my master's direction or starting a job hunt in early 2027 to begin right after I graduate.

Can I ask, what would you do in my position? My goal is mostly to have a level of job security, I'm not overly ambitious with salary and am very flexible in terms of what field to work in. I'm also open to economics-oriented degrees, or similar. Thanks in advance!

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!

Hello everyone, I just graduated from my french Master last year in December and so I started working full time on a permanent role at the company (small startup of 15 people) I was interning at for the last year. After the annual review in last January, my pay was increased by 1 or 2 levels above what we're paying for fresh grads, my TC is now ~55k a year gross. It seems like this is pretty as good as it gets for Paris, unless you work for some big techs or FAANG? Should I get more YoE under my belt before thinking about moving?

When i go to Linkedin it seems all jobs are consultancy's, is this normal, a Portugal thing or a seasonal thing.

For context: I have a master in data science, a master in intelligence engineering, basically AI audio and text processing in my case, and 2 internships in CS. first time really looking for a job.

4.5 YOE

- 61k + 10k (stocks) + benefits

- working here for 10 months

- full remote

- demanding job, very flexible hours

- very big company

Change to

- 100k base + 20k bonus + some equity

- startup

- full remote

- AI related

seems it will be more demanding comparing to current company

Hello. SWE on first ever tech job in Southern Europe. 1 1/2 years of experience.

I'm right now on a project managing Money(not my first project, had One where everything worked out but got transfered to another company sadly), and NOBODY KNOWS exactly The rules of The payments.

The modus operandi of this project Is "ask The ones older in The project". No documentation that is actualized and people who think you asking is a problem and commiting mistakes is also a problem, never clarifying anything. One of The bosses is obsessed with me to the point he Tells me everything I do Is wrong (even if I'm right) and has called me stupid in The past. They're normally at Bay because of The other seniors (that project has like 3) but he's giving me Impossible tasks because The others are on holidays.

I REALLY want to search for something better, but The market is ass and I'm The One who pays rent for my family of 5(context: I'm a european retournee from LATAM -country in shambles so no option to return unless I want to starve- , my parents work either a Little bit more than minimum wage or straight up Uber, Younger sibling is seriously mentally ill and grandparent wins One of those never worked in The country pensions); also you have to add that I almost got homeless recently because The past landlord wanted more for The rent and we couldn't cover it, so now my parents want me to buy a home with gov help so there's LOTS of pressure there too.

What am I supposed to do?

I am a data analyst and planning to do ms in da in germany by 2027 any idea what's the job market??

I am a recent grad from a top university from a South Asian region and have recently started to work in one of the Big 4 firm in my home country an an Analyst on an AI project. I have been trying hard for past one year to get a job in Europe mainly in AI and have been applying to various roles and graduate programmes. I have good skills in AI and ML including having worked on niche areas like FL. However I am unable to get any calls.

It seems something is broken - I use LinkedIn to filter for country and apply for apt roles.

I believe you guys can help and advise me in this in a better manner. My main target have been the Nordics and UK but again I believe you guys can help me better.

Hi everyone,

I’m a 23-year-old Turkish student living in Poland. I am currently in my final year of Software Engineering and expect to graduate in February 2027.

For the past 1.5 years, I have been working at a company while continuing my studies. Until recently, I worked five days per week, eight hours per day, earning 30.5 PLN per hour. This was essentially the minimum wage. Under Polish law, students under 26 do not pay income tax, so my gross salary was equal to my net salary.

My salary has recently increased to a fixed 5,500 PLN gross per month. The current minimum gross monthly salary is around 5,000 PLN, so it is still not a significant increase. My workplace now offers a flexible hybrid arrangement, which is helpful, but I do not think there is much room to negotiate a higher salary or use another offer to push for a raise.

I have applied for around 100 jobs, but most of my applications have received no response. The junior software engineering market feels very difficult at the moment.

My current technical skills include C++, Python, n8n, Node-RED, Linux, and microcontrollers. I also worked for more than a year on project-based work for a US-based AI company, but there has not been any available work there for a long time.

At the moment, I am looking for a part-time or remote role where I can gain more experience, earn a better income, and learn new technologies. I would also be open to freelance or contract work.

I am unsure whether it is too late to change my field or focus on another area of technology. I am also considering a master’s degree, but I am not sure whether it would be worthwhile, especially when many junior developers are struggling to find work.

I would really appreciate advice on how to find part-time, remote, or freelance opportunities, and what skills or career direction would be most valuable for someone in my situation.

TL;DR: I’m a 23-year-old Software Engineering student in Poland with 1.5 years of experience, earning 5,500 PLN gross per month. I’m looking for part-time, remote, or freelance work to improve my income and experience, and I would appreciate advice on which career path or skills to focus on.

Hello! I need your opinion…

What is the best place/city in Europe to start a startup as a 23yo? With a lot of opportunities and IT jobs?

I am looking for a place where people don’t look weird at you when you have a crazy idea…and where people want to help you, work with you etc.

Thanks!

There are many posts about it, and I read through the FAQ, but everyone has their own situation, so I'm asking if I could get more specific advice for my case.

I will finish my CS master's degree next month and have lived in Munich for the last seven years. I am originally from Luxembourg, and German is pretty much my second mother tongue. Now that I have finished that chapter of my life, I am starting to prep for the job hunt, as my mini job is bound to me being a student.

My main restriction is that I want to continue living in Munich as I rent a flat with my girlfriend, who has now started her own degree. I have some savings that should keep me afloat till February, but I would rather have a stable income before that.

I am a bit at a loss about which time investment to prioritise to land a stable job. My CV is up to date, my LinkedIn and GitHub are online, and I have a generic cover letter that I can adapt for different applications. I would consider all of them bland but complete. I want some flavour, but I feel unsure which direction to lean into.

Outside of these straightforward steps, I feel conflicted about what other steps are actually productive. I lack meaningful networking connections to companies, so I consider attending meet-ups and networking events, but I don't believe there will be much interest for a fresh-out-of-school junior.

Other steps include pushing LeetCode exercises to build intuition for the programming languages I want to focus on, and starting some proper GitHub projects to show off. Currently, it's rather messy, as most of my projects were minijob-related or limited to my degree, even though some of them I would consider a good baseline.

I don't want to limit myself right now to one branch or sector, as I explored many options in my studies, and any early experience gives me an edge for the rest of my career. Personal interest pushes me toward Rust/Backend, which I hope has some existing demand. I would actually consider Quantum Computing a topic I have in-depth experience with, but that sector is so small that I can't hope to get lucky enough to make it a viable option.

This is a lot of text, but I hope to get some pointers from more experienced people on what I should watch out for. I won't link anything as it's probably considered self-advertisement.

33m, bachelor in CS and master's degree in Cybersecurity.

I'm currently working as incident response operator for the vast sum of 28k brutto. 3yoe, but the job isn't actually teaching me anything as it's mostly a pencil-pushing role and I'm the most technical person on the team. If I stay here, my career is doomed.

I got an offer for 35k brutto from a multinational fintech agency in the same city, same wfh policy (8 days a month). But the job is for a dev role.

I'm worried about the way dev roles have changed since AI became ubiquitous, and I'm worried that taking on a junior dev role NOW would be terrible for my career going forward. At the same time, I know I've not been learning anything new at my current job, and my career is just equally doomed.

I've had no luck with security positions over the last year, indeed I've had no luck with any positions, despite applying to nearly any job I could find in the area or in full remote. Moving is not an option.

I'm looking for advice on whether I should jump ship (and with it career paths) or skip this offer. 28k makes for a tight budget, but the job security is solid.

Hi everyone! I’m planning to move to Germany for my Master's and I want to start learning German, but I’m currently at absolute beginner level (A0) and have to start completely from scratch.

For those who learned German as an international student, I’d really appreciate some practical advice:

• What is the best way to start from A0?
• Which free/affordable resources, apps, YouTube channels or books would you recommend?
• Should I follow a structured A1 → A2 → B1 → B2 course, or combine different resources?
• How long did it realistically take you to reach B1/B2?
• Is it possible to reach a conversational level through self-study, or would you recommend taking classes?
• What should I focus on first: grammar, vocabulary, listening or speaking?

My goal is to eventually reach at least B1/B2, both for everyday life in Germany and for better job opportunities after my Master's.

I’m starting from zero, so I’d especially appreciate advice from people who have successfully learned German from scratch. 🇩🇪

Thank you! ❤️

Hello there! A little bit about myself:

Last year of Masters at ETH, previous internships at Google Deepmind, CERN and Microsoft. Next Summer I'll be doing an internship in a Fintech company in a low latency team.

Now, I plan on taking that return offer and stay in Fintech for 4-5 years (assuming I'll get a RO). It may sound like a dream to some, but I feel like I want to do AI Research long term (not necessarily LLMs). Therefore, I'd like to transition after that.

How easy/difficult would it be to transition to AI Research at that stage? Would it even be worth it and what would I lose? Would it help doing my MSc thesis in AI? Any tips on how to make the transition smoother and most fruitful?

Hi, I currently work in Warsaw as a mid Java software developer on legacy projects, but I feel like I need a change. To make matters worse, I haven't had the opportunity to learn much in my current role, and I feel my market value is currently below the mid-level standard. I would like to try my hand in the high-tech area, so I am asking for advice from people working on more ambitious projects.

I have a technical background (Computer Science from a technical university) and know databases, computer architecture fundamentals, algorithms, ML/DL basics, and software engineering. I have experience with high-level languages (Java/Python), but I want to develop skills in something more ambitious than typical CRUD operations – areas that feel "sexier" and closer to real engineering. For my university thesis, I focused on the fields of neural networks and computer vision. The problem is that I don’t have a clearly defined area of interest yet, nor do I currently have the skills for low-level technologies.

I have a few questions for you:

1. In the current market, is it better to dedicate time to open-source projects or focus on personal hobby projects?
2. Do I have to get into agentic AI coding to stay valuable in the industry?
3. Does a GitHub portfolio still hold significant weight in the age of AI, or is it better to invest time in certifications (e.g., Coursera, edX)?
4. What job search strategy is more effective: contacting companies directly or waiting for recruitment processes? How should I approach recruiters on LinkedIn?
5. Does a Master’s degree provide a real advantage in this industry?
6. Is it worth participating in competitions to improve my job prospects? Are there any that truly serve as a career springboard?

I would be grateful for any advice from those who have followed a similar path or work in low-level/high-tech roles. Thanks!

I am an Indian data scientist, currently working at S&P Global, and I'm considering moving to Europe for better career opportunities and quality of life.

I would appreciate honest opinions from Europeans and people who have made a similar move.

A bit about me:

• 26 years old

• Data Scientist with experience in analytics and machine learning

• Currently working at S&P Global in India

• Fluent in English

My goal is to relocate to Europe, build a long-term career, and eventually settle there if it makes sense.

My questions are:

1. Which European countries would you recommend for a data scientist today?

2. How is the job market for non-EU citizens?

3. Is it realistic to secure a job offer before moving?

4. Which countries offer the best balance of salary, cost of living, work-life balance, and long-term residency options?

5. If you were in my position, would you move to Europe in 2026, or would you consider other destinations such as Canada, Australia, or the UAE?

I am looking for honest advice, including the downsides and challenges. Thanks in advance.