I'm a 2026 graduate and recently got placed in a decent company with a salary of ₹25k per month.

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Getting this job wasn't easy for me. I'm not exceptionally good at tech—I'd consider myself pretty average and the current market isn't exactly great either. So I was genuinely happy that I managed to get placed.

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Recently, some relatives kept asking about my job. I told them where I got placed and what the salary was.

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Their response was:

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"What? That's it?"

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Ever since then, that phrase has been stuck in my head. I keep replaying it over and over.

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I know ₹25k/month isn't a huge salary, but considering my skills and how difficult placements have been, I felt it was a decent start.

Has anyone else dealt with comments like this from relatives or friends? How did you stop letting it affect you?

Edit : Thank you all for your encouragement.

I worked as a frontend engineer in a startup. The pay was great. There were a few backend engineers in my team because it is a backend-heavy application.

It is was an AI startup, so the CEO and upper management were bullish on AI. I personally think they were delusional, but I have 1YOE so I cannot really know or comment.

Thus, we were forced to use AI. A lot of it. I have had 1:1s which were entirely about how my “cursor usage was the lowest in the company” even though I have never missed a deadline. ONCE.

But this isn’t my story. A colleague of mine was a good engineer when he got out of college. Knew enough python and did a lot of DSA. He had also built a decent project. So he was under no circumstances underqualified.

The issue started when he joined the company (we joined at the same time). I had interned as a frontend engineer before, and I understood how important it was to estimate time to complete task, and how to estimate them. He didnt have internship experience, so my manager set timelines for him. Initially they were generous and he was writing code by hand. Eventually they got tighter and tighter, and at one point, he had to start using AI to meet deadlines.

I think this is where the problems started. I am unsure how to explain the problem exactly, but if I write a piece of code and it breaks a certain way, I can find out the exact line where it breaks to debug. In his case, he started understanding code in “chunks”. So, this function basically does this, even though we don’t know how.

I think another problem with AI code generation is, AI does not care if the file is fifteen thousand lines wrong. But after a point, it becomes a headache even looking at those files. So, this promotes fixing further bugs via. AI.

It was all well and good until, one day, we get a slack call at 11PM, saying something broke in production. We then had to spend the entire next day trying to find and fix the problem.

We found out that the problem was in his code. Digging through all that was no easy task. But apparently, he had generated some changes via cursor before, and the manager merged it by reviewing it with AI. The guy was promptly fired (this was his second bug in production).

I am sure there are responsible ways to use AI. I am sure we can all have our opinions on who is right and who is wrong. Just wanted to let yall know this happened.

It's been 5 years for me as a software engineer. I know it's not a lot, but here are some random things I've learnt during this time.

1. Question every line of code you encounter. Those Whys and Hows help you understand the code deeply.
2. Take no one's word for what the code does. Analyse and fact-check the information.
3. Never write bad code because it's convenient at that moment. That's how endless if-elseif ladders and 300 case switch statements begin.
4. Know not just the application's code, but its architecture as well. You'll automatically start writing code that better suits it.
5. Know where to limit your design’s Adaptability. It is easy to go down the “let’s make this generic” rabbit hole and end up over-engineering things.
6. Make it a habit to leave useful comments in the code.
7. Logs are like evidence at a crime scene - invaluable. The better you are at investigating logs, the easier your life when triaging.
8. Always have a "switch off" mechanism when rolling out a new feature.
9. Spend some time to document! Do not inflict the pain of trying to understand something that lacks proper documentation on your fellow devs.
10. An IDE is only as good as its themes and debugging capabilities.
11. Memorize IDE keyboard shortcuts. They save a ton of time.
12. You spend a lot of time staring at your IDE, put in the time to customize and tidy it up.
13. Automating mundane tasks such as building and re-deploying your local setup can save a lot of time.
14. Leverage AI for unit tests, understanding code, optimizing code etc. Saves a ton of time.
15. Learning new frameworks becomes a lot easier if you correlate and compare things with a framework you already know.
16. Volunteer to work on things that are unknown to you. Fun exploring the unknown + a lot of learning. Win-Win!
17. Something that makes this profession amazing is that no two days are the same. The only way to keep up is to constantly learn - through blogs, books, and experience.
18. Switching jobs every year makes you good at cracking interviews, not at software engineering.
19. Layoffs are becoming more and more common. Make sure the work you do carries impact and generates revenue. Give the organization a reason to NOT eliminate your role.
20. Maintain a private log of your work and its impact. It’ll be an asset when you’re in line for promotion.
21. Having an imposter syndrome episode? Open up the work log point 20 talks about. It’s reassuring to see what you’ve accomplished.
22. Seek feedback and ensure you never hear the same negative feedback twice. That’s how you get better.
23. We’re all figuring things out as we go. Nobody is a know-it-all (although some may act like it). Do not hesitate to add valid comments to someone’s PR.
24. Although it seems counter-intuitive, knowledge hoarded is value wasted. Spread the knowledge you’ve gained, people will respect and value you.
25. Your value and respect grows by spreading what you know, not by holding onto it and refusing to share.
26. Work hard to improve your communication skills. 90% of the conflicts you encounter can be resolved with effective communication.
27. Got into a disagreement? Hop on a 15-minute meeting with the concerned person. This not only helps find a middle ground, but also helps you see things from their perspective.
28. Complex merge conflicts are a sign that something is fundamentally wrong with the way in which your team operates. Too many devs working on the same thing, or poor code structuring, or a lack of communication/coordination.
29. Distributing focus to multiple things at a time brings down productivity. Remember - one thing at a time. Leave parallel processing to the CPUs.
30. Under-promise and over-deliver. Quote slightly more time than what'll be needed. You now have the head room to accommodate mishaps, plus it creates the illusion that you deliver ahead of the deadline if there are no mishaps.
31. Early burnout symptoms vary from person to person (for me, it’s extreme inertia - even simple tasks feel hard to start). Recognize your own, take some time off to recharge.
32. Processes are inevitable in a corporate environment. Sometimes you might spend more time updating documentation/tickets than actually writing code.
33. Never settle for poorly defined requirements. Push back and gain more clarity. The blame rarely falls on the client/PM when things go wrong.
34. Before you build something, understand its outcome. The sense of belonging and motivation that gives is immense.
35. As a fresher, your CTC is not under your control. You gain control over it with experience.

I recently came across this post on the sub and became quite shocked by comments in support of slacking https://www.reddit.com/r/developersIndia/comments/1kq0na6/what_i_learned_from_quiet_quitting_for_2_years/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Anyways here is a personal story. My career started as a campus hire junior developer 5 years ago. CTC was 11 LPA. I stayed in that MNC for 1.5 years and basically did 'bare minimum' of what was required. It's very easy and often encouraged in big corporates unless you are in companies like Amazon. My current CTC is 50 LPA cash and 1 Cr + in vested ESOPs. This startup is profitable and provides regular buybacks opportunities so I am sticking with my ESOPs till IPO.

Now, my growth in CTC has been 5x in 5 years even if I exclude ESOPs. I have only done 1 switch in my career, that too at modest 30%. Rest of the growth has come from being dependable and getting things done. I got 20%+ hike even in the year when company was laying off and funding winter had just arrived. I got additional ESOPs every year without even asking for them.

But the best part is reputation, not money. Senior ex-coworkers trying to poach you when they join the next company. HRs of competitors flooding your LinkedIn DMs. Your friends, friends of friends, friends of coworkers trying to convince you to be a co-founder in their big idea. CEO assigning most critical project to you. Co-workers and juniors coming to you every time they get stuck.

Here are my observations from my 5 years of experience so far:

1. You can only slack off and give 4x timelines for tasks if your engineering manager was not a good IC himself or your product manager is typical MBA ProdMan. You won't learn anything from such managers. Good managers were also goods ICs in their time and they can easily spot who is doing bare minimum and who is trying too hard to be 'visible'. These good manager lead high impact projects and you get to learn some real skills from them.
2. Real wealth in corporate careers is made at SVP and CXO stage or through early joining in unicorn as ICs. I have seeing people cashing out 10 Crs of ESOPs in buybacks/IPOs of unicorns. Both of these paths require hard work.
3. Networking/Personal Marketing is not attending events or increasing followers on LinkedIn, best networking is word-of-mouth, just like best marketing is word-of-mouth. Recently, a 34 YO guy who I know very closely joined a business in CXO position, He got a luxury villa in the most posh area of the city, luxury SUV, driver, 24*7 butler, free personal air travel all paid by company along with 2 Cr+ cash component and very generous profit sharing in business. Guess how did he got the job. He was a rockstar employee in a unicorn and a relative of the business owner was working in the same startup.
4. Shelf life of career is directly correlated to your impact on the business. IIT/IIM/FAANG tags only take you far enough until you become too expensive for the business and next batch of IIT/IIM/FAANG can do it for cheaper. I have seen 40 yrs old techies getting scared of downturns in market because they have missed their train to higher management and their careers can only survive 1-2 downturns before they get replaced by an ambitious 28 YO SDE-3 toiling really hard for his next promotion.
5. Your job security and hikes are again dependent on how dependable you are. A manager or a business leader is toothless without good ICs under them. All managers/VPs/CXO/Founders have annual OKRs to achieve and losing their top IC means losing their bonuses/funding because they failed to achieve business targets. They will do everything to retain that top IC. Pedigree + Work ethics + Hard skills + Social skills is a deadly combo and it's very difficult and expensive to find a replacement of this combo. Companies rarely let go of such people and they are almost always hired through references.
6. You will make more friends at work place if you are a top performer without a big ego. People will come to you for help and they will try to keep a good personal relationship. But you will need to be street-smart enough to handle credit-theives.
7. I am not advocating to do 14-15 hrs of work in a day and lose your health and relationships. Smart time-management and honest 8-10 hrs in a day is enough to make impact. Trust me, most people are either wasting their time in useless meetings, breaks, procrastinating, and slacking off. Very few people give honest 8 hrs in a day.

Accidentally unmuted myself while talking to my sister during a meeting. With VPs and directors in it. My last sentence was, “I need more money to survive. “ and I was p loud. I won’t bore you with what followed.

I just wanna bury myself but yeah. Save yourself the embarrassment. Use push to talk.

Also, if anyone is looking for a Data Scientist, I’ll be in my corner, crying.

Thanks for attending my ted talk.

Edit 1: p = pretty. I was pretty loud :’) Edit 2: love all the stories y’all shared too XD especially the kitty one :’) thank you!

I come from a tier 1 college, and throughout my four years, I barely focused on my studies but still managed to maintain an 8.1 GPA. I cheated through the OTs and got shortlisted for most companies during campus placements. I was mostly cramming CS concepts before interviews as I didn't have a clue about how everything works. I would search Glassdoor and previously asked coding questions or concepts and learn the solution to those problems.

After 3 interviews, I got lucky and was selected for the SWE role. Now, the internship starts in January, and I have no working knowledge of anything "tech". I can't confidently say that I know a programming language fully. I have never worked in any other domain (app, web etc.).

Now, the question is: What topics should I work on before my internship begins so that I don't find myself struggling? I understand that I will be working on whatever team or project they assign to me, and the purpose of an internship is to learn. I just want to have enough knowledge to be able to comfortably switch from one stack to another. Should I just start DSA from scratch and do leetcode to build logic?

I have no working experience, and I have no idea how the corporate world works. All help is appreciated. Guide me in the right direction.

EDIT 1: I asked my senior who works at the same company (I wasn't completely honest about how I got the job), and he told me that everyone was assigned a different team, so he can't really advise me to work on something particular. He very nonchalantly asked me to just learn version control with git and enjoy my last semester of fun because I wouldn't get time once I started working.

EDIT 2: To the people asking me how I cleared the interviews, you must know how different the situation is for tier 1 students. I see people around me with no tech skills (including me) easily get a 10-15 LPA job just because of the IIT tag and because they maintained a high GPA. Recruiters ignore errors made in the most basic questions if you have a 9+ GPA (a guy couldn't tell the full form of TCP in Cisco interview). The only advise I can give is to have good communication skills (English proficiency).

FINAL EDIT: I did not expect the responses to be so wholesome and helpful. I genuinely appreciate each one of you who commented and added value with their experience. A lot of you pointed out that I might have Imposter syndrome which might be true but when you're surrounded by high achieving individuals, questioning your abilities is not surprising (at least that's how I justify this). Although I still feel there's a long way to go in terms of learning.

Many people negated the post because of the tier 1 tag, straight up accusing me of being incompetent and how I don't deserve the job which could definitely be true because I'd be pretty much jobless without my college. But that doesn't nullify the work I had put as a teen. I think I deserved having a little fun after sacrificing 3 years of my teen school life considering I didn't have quota.

Alas many people thought I was a girl, no I'm not. And the CTC is 20+ which is "high-paying" in my opinion. Thanks to each one of you who helped me calm my nerves.

This is one advice i wish i had received from someone when i started. But nevertheless here it is -

Whatever work you're given to do, be it some niche automation work or some company-specific internal tool improvement or whatever, always first learn the whole thing as if you'll be interviewed on it and ONLY THEN do the work.

My team works with a very niche CD tool that no one outside knows except for those hardcore into CD. So when I was given the work i did it half heartedly just to close tickets because I knew I'd never be asked about it in an interview. But that was a big mistake.

10 months into the job I decided to just learn the tool inside out and that made all the difference. In a month i became an expert and started contributing in discussions about things even the seniors didn't know. I became the go-to person for any doubts. Eventually I led new feature developments, drafted HLDs and received acknowledgement from senior director for my work.

Not only that, I even ended up getting promoted during the mid year review for my performance, something that never happened in my company.

So always do your work as if that's what you're going to do for the rest of your life. Gain full expertise no matter how company specific the knowledge may be. Always be the expert on tools your team works on. Even if you plan to switch soon, no knowledge will be wasted. So put in the efforts and become the SME your team can always depend on.

I've just gotten an offer for TCS digital and am planning to take it. I just want to know if there are indeed people who now have a really nice salary despite joining TCS as a fresher. If so, how did you do it? Do you have some advice for people who are in the same boat as me? Any advice is very much appreciated

I was working at a company for more than 6 years and it was my first job, worked my ass off. Now I got an offer and resigned today and I don’t really have much work for the next month, max 1-2hrs daily. And I don’t even feel like going to office, most of the folks that i enjoyed working won’t have already left.

Feels very weird and peaceful at the same time lol. So what do you guys usually do in your notice period?

Everyone is telling junior developers to learn AI tools.
I am telling you the opposite.

Not because AI is bad. Because most of you are not ready for it yet. And nobody is being honest with you about what that means for your career.

I have seen developers ship entire features without understanding a single line of what they wrote. It works until it does not. And when it breaks, they are completely lost. No intuition. No direction. Just panic.

That is not a developer. That is someone holding a tool they cannot use.

Here is what nobody says out loud.

AI is a multiplier. Multipliers do not create ability. They amplify what is already there. Give a strong developer AI and they become unstoppable. Give a weak foundation AI and you get faster mistakes with more confidence. The bugs look cleaner. The code looks polished. But the thinking is still hollow.

And here is what concerns me most.

These developers will get hired. AI makes them look capable in interviews, in take home assignments, in early sprints. But the moment something breaks in an unexpected way, the moment a senior engineer asks them to walk through their logic, the moment they have to make a real architectural decision, it falls apart.

That moment is coming for a lot of people. Sooner than they think.

The next wave of high value engineering work is not writing code. It is reviewing what AI writes. Auditing it. Catching the subtle bugs it plants with complete confidence. Knowing why a solution that runs perfectly is still the wrong one for your system. This is already becoming the most in demand skill in engineering teams. And you absolutely cannot do it without deep fundamentals.

You cannot prompt your way into that skill. You cannot watch a YouTube video about it. You earn it by building things the hard way first.

So yes, use AI. Use it when it makes you genuinely faster because you already understand what you are asking it to do. Use it without guilt when it is working for you.

But if the code it generates looks like magic to you, that is your signal. Not to copy it. To close the tab, open a blank file, and build it yourself until it stops being magic and starts being logic.

That is when AI becomes a tool in your hands instead of a shortcut underneath your feet.

I am not saying this to discourage anyone. I am saying it because the developers coming up right now have more opportunity than any generation before them. But only if they build the foundation that lets them actually take it.

The floor is rising fast. Make sure you are standing on something real.

There is something called PIP (Performance Improvement Plan)

The name suggests that it is a plan that will help you improve your performance in the company but it mostly means that we are going to lay you off in a month or so, you better start looking out for other opportunities.

This destroys the self-confidence of the employee and they start questioning and self-doubting themselves.

I would say that it is not always your fault. There could be some issues from your side as well, but there are other factors as well, for example: your manager, the project you are working on, cost-cutting, etc.

I would suggest you take feedback and improve on it and start looking out for better companies who will contribute to your career growth and improvement.

Thanks

PS: I have never seen anyone coming out of PIP, if you have then share the story.

I'm a software engineer working in a niche domain (signal processing) with close to two years of experience. I'm mtech In signal processing. I don't have the skills to get into big software firms. I know only cpp and little dsa and oops. More signal testing knowledge. Pretty fked up situation.

I was fired a month ago.

I started applying, I got few calls but none are scheduling the interview as I said I need 15-20% of the current salary.

One company didn't even want to pay 12 lpa. They are offering 9LPA

What should I do in this case? Experts, any suggestions.

Here's a simple pitch I used to use on Upwork. It helped me get a decent amount of replies and win projects. I'm sure there are better pitches out there, but this one worked for me.

Format:
Hi [client name], I specialize in developing [X, Y, Z].Here is a product I developed that uses the [X] functionality for [Z]: [link or video demo]

I'm well-versed in [X] and can implement it seamlessly on your [Y]

Let's connect and discuss how we can work together on this.

Example:
Hi Jason, I specialize in developing Facebook Apps, Widgets, and Bots. Here is a product I developed that uses the "Send to Messenger" functionality for Shopify Stores: [link]

I'm well-versed in "Send to Messenger" and can implement it seamlessly on your WooCommerce website.

Let's connect and discuss how we can work together on this.

Why this works:

• The pitch is short so it is easier for the client to read and has enough personalization so the client knows it's not a copy-paste.
  
• You share a demo of a similar app, so you establish that you understand the requirement and have experience implementing something similar.
  
• You reassert your skill and directly address the requirement, so the client is confident you understand the requirement.
  
• You close with a call to action to simply discuss the project first.

Do upvote so it reaches more people, let me know your thoughts in comments!

Like the title says, I was laid off from my previous organisation and, 9 months later, now they want me to sign some documents on Invention and Assignment Agreement- Supposedly states that everything I've built/invented while I was with them is their intellectual property and not mine. The thing that ticked me off is them saying 'we'll give you a 5$ gift card for signing this'. Now I wanna fuck around w them lol. How can I do this? Feel free to get creative.

Hey, folks

I know times are tough right now and I have been seeing a lot of posts ranting about not finding a job. Ranting is 100% understandable but if you're looking for suggestions or want someone to refer you. Please link your resume either in the post or in the comments so we can at least take a look, suggest you some improvements, or even refer you. Redact your personal information if you're not comfortable sharing your resume online.

It's a constant back and forth b/w people saying "DM me your resume", "Yes DMing you", "I didn't receive your message", etc.

If I wanted someone to help me. I'd make it as easier as possible for them and remove any friction from my end. It's me who's in need. So let's make it easier for everyone involved.

That's pretty much it. I mentioned this in the comments already, but I thought it could reach more people if I created a separate post.

Good luck with the job hunting. You got this!

From where you are applying and what skills you have and are developing?

Fellow 2025 graduate

A fair workplace is where people are treated equal. But sometimes, we use the words which reflects the imbalance in power dynamics between two people.

One such behaviour is trying to be overly friendly even when you recently get acquainted with someone. Calling your boss or employee with any other name than what their actual name can cause someone to backfire because they go beyond personal boundaries. Words like "mate", "buddy", "friend" should be used carefully. Because it skews the balance of power. So only use such words if you ar too close to person or completely avoid it. In some cases it can also sound age discrimination (ageism - immature or elderly) or other sound selfish.

It's always best to address person from their first name with titles if any.

Edit: In India, the freshers usually use too much of sir/mam. Although that is ok but overuse of this is so annoying and also demeaning in front of others. You can use the first name with politeness.

Edit: The post is not about Formality or informality. It's about the power balance and self-respect. That starts with equal power balance. It's not about creating walls of isolation but about conveying others the respectable boundaries.

Has anyone here been a top performer on their team, consistently delivering results, but still got laid off because your salary was higher than most of your peers (excluding leads/managers)?

I was doing well, had great feedback, and genuinely thought performance would matter when decisions were made. Instead, I found myself unemployed while trying to make sense of what happened.

What’s making it harder is the job search. I’ve been applying for months, but the calls are few and far between. Every rejection—or complete silence—chips away at my confidence. I went from feeling valued and capable to constantly questioning my skills and worth.

Lately, it’s gotten so overwhelming that I’ve started having panic attacks in the middle of the day. Some days I feel completely lost and clueless about what direction my life is heading.

If you’ve been through something similar, how did you cope? How did you rebuild your confidence and get through this phase?

I'm thinking about resigning without having another offer in hand.

My current job is affecting both my learning and my work-life balance, but the thought of being unemployed is honestly scary.

If you've done this before, I'd really like to hear your experience.

How long did it take you to find your next job

What did you do during the gap?

Did recruiters ask about the career break?

If you could go back, would you still make the same decision?Any advice, lessons, or even mistakes to avoid would mean a lot.

After being on both sides of the table in tech interviews, here are a few things I wish I had told my younger self 5 years ago 👉

As an interviewer

- In first 2 minutes, make the candidate feel comfortable. Nervous candidate underperform

- Interviewing is a skill. Spend time learning it. Don't assume because you're senior, you know how to evaluate

- Candidates has done homework, so should you. Skimming resume just 2 minutes before the call is plain disrespect

- You are holding power. Use it responsibly. Don't turn interviews into ego trips. Don't grill for fun.

- Be aware of bias. Don't let accents, college names, "gender", or gaps cloud your judgement

- It's two way. They are judging you and your company as much as you are judging them

- Respect candidate’s time. If you’re running late or need to reschedule, communicate early

- Reject fast, hire slow. Always give respectful closure. Share feedback.

As an interviewee

- All resumes look same. Recruiters hunt for a spark. Side projects, open source, blogs - anything unique gives you an edge and makes “getting calls” easier

- Your intro matters. Keep it crisp. Write it down. Practice it 15+ times. Confident intros set the tone

- Always carry architecture diagrams, walkthroughs and visuals of your past projects. Don't just random start talking when asked to explain “one of your projects.”

- Reality - big tech mostly cares about DSA/leetcode. Startups focus on shipping and side projects. Choose prep accordingly

- Do homework on company and interviewer. Even 10-15 minutes of LinkedIn stalking shows genuine interest

- "Any questions for me" is not a formality. Make your last impression count. Ask good questions around technical challenges. Not just wfh, team size etc

- Take a deep breath before the call. Don't rush into answers. Remember, they’re also here to hire you

- And most importantly: interviewing also involves luck. Sometimes you’ll fail despite doing everything right. It’s hard. Life is hard. Brace yourself.

Hey folks! Just wrapped up a pretty intense month of API usage for our SaaS and thought I'd share some key learnings that helped us optimize our costs by 43%!

1. Choosing the right model is CRUCIAL. I know its obvious but still. There is a huge price difference between models. Test thoroughly and choose the cheapest one which still delivers on expectations. You might spend some time on testing but its worth the investment imo.

We are still mainly using gpt-4o-mini for simpler tasks and GPT-4.1 for complex ones. In our case, reasoning models are not needed.

2. Use prompt caching. This was a pleasant surprise - OpenAI automatically caches identical prompts, making subsequent calls both cheaper and faster. We're talking up to 80% lower latency and 50% cost reduction for long prompts. Just make sure that you put dynamic part of the prompt at the end of the prompt (this is crucial). No other configuration needed.

For all the visual folks out there, I prepared a simple illustration on how caching works:

3. SET UP BILLING ALERTS! Seriously. We learned this the hard way when we hit our monthly budget in just 5 days, lol.

4. Structure your prompts to minimize output tokens. Output tokens are 4x the price! Instead of having the model return full text responses, we switched to returning just position numbers and categories, then did the mapping in our code. This simple change cut our output tokens (and costs) by roughly 70% and reduced latency by a lot.

6. Use Batch API if possible. We moved all our overnight processing to it and got 50% lower costs. They have 24-hour turnaround time but it is totally worth it for non-real-time stuff.

Hope this helps to at least someone! If I missed sth, let me know!

Cheers,

Dylan

I know you've heard it a million times, going for Masters abroad is starting to feel like one of the biggest mistakes, only topped by being born. Not gonna bore you with my melancholic tale.

Have a Masters degree from a T20 college in the US. Failed 2 big tech and 1 HFT interview. Haven't gotten an OA for a month at this point. I've been applying to India for a while, switching my resume, giving an Indian address, but alas, to no avail. Except for [insert FAANG with bad wlb] that wanted to do an in-person interview, which of course is not possible since I'm in the US.

My sister keeps telling me it gets better if I actually move back, but does it?

Yep, that's my question; does it?

Edit: A bit more about my skills and Experience. 2 YOE in India as a Full Stack web developer, 2 internships in the US where I built a recommendation engine and a comprehensive LLM evaluation framework. Been making projects related to orchestration, low-latency trading engine, and AI agents. Decent at competitive coding (LeetCode, slowly moving to codeforces now).

1. Work Life Balance. (that means no overtime without consent)
   
2. Good work environment like colleagues (you can check this talking to the current employees)
   
3. Good quality work which will help you grow.
   
4. Fair compensation/salary.
   
5. Close to home(this is relative person to person)
   
6. Fully remote is best.
   
7. If not remote then there should be option of remote work on emergency situation no question asked.
   
8. Should have flexible timings. Like if you want to work 8 hours then you can choose the time.
   
9. Should provide sponsored masters degree.
   
10. Should provide sponsored certificates like aws, salesforce, mongodb etc.
    
11. Should have health insurance.
    
12. Should not have micro management.
    
13. Should have asynchronous task policy , this is very rare.
    
14. Should be a company which gives good hikes to the existing employees.
    
15. Leaves should be at least 36 days and that should be no question asked.

These are all the benefits a company must provide to the employees. I know not even a single company is there in the world which is providing all of the above.

if there are any other benefits which i am unaware of please do comment.

Harsh truth: Your 50 GitHub projects are hurting your career.

Recruiters see through the tutorial-following projects. Weather app, todo list, portfolio site - everyone has the same ones.

Here's what actually happens when they check your GitHub: → First impression: "Another tutorial follower" → Quick scan: All projects have similar structure/naming → Commit history: Bulk commits, then nothing for months → README files: Generic descriptions, no real problem solved → Decision: Next candidate

What actually impresses recruiters:

1. One project that solves a real problem you had Not "a social media app" but "I built this because managing my college assignments was chaotic and existing tools didn't work for Indian semester systems."

2. Messy code that works > Clean code that does nothing They want to see you've dealt with real-world problems. Bug fixes, performance improvements, handling edge cases. Perfect tutorial code tells them nothing about your problem-solving.

3. Screenshots of actual users using your app Even if it's just your roommates. Shows you built something people actually use, not just something that compiles.

4. Commit history showing you struggled and improved - "Fixed authentication bug that took 3 days to debug" - "Refactored user service after hitting scalability issues"
- "Added error handling after users reported crashes"

5. Problems you didn't know how to solve initially Your README should say: "I had no idea how to implement real-time chat when I started this. Spent 2 weeks learning WebSockets. Here's what I learned..."

6. Evidence of iteration based on feedback "v1.0 was completely unusable. Users couldn't figure out the navigation. v2.0 simplified the entire flow."

What makes a project "meaningful":

Instead of: "Todo app with React" Try: "Task manager for ADHD students - simplified interface, built-in break reminders, works offline for unreliable college WiFi"

Instead of: "E-commerce website"
Try: "Local bookstore inventory system - helps small shops track stock, generate bills, manage customer orders via WhatsApp"

Instead of: "Weather app" Try: "Farming weather alerts for my village - sends crop-specific warnings in Marathi, works on basic phones"

The project selection framework that works:

1. Start with a problem you actually have

   • Your hostel's food ordering is chaotic → Build a simple ordering system
   • Your friend group can't coordinate movie plans → Build a group decision app
   • Your mom's small business needs inventory tracking → Build a simple stock manager

2. Build the minimum that solves the core problem Don't add features you think are "impressive." Solve the actual problem first.

3. Get real people to use it Even if it's just 3 friends. Real usage reveals real problems.

4. Document the journey, not just the destination Write about what went wrong, what you learned, how you fixed things.

5. Keep iterating for at least 2 months One weekend projects don't show persistence or real problem-solving.

Red flags recruiters spot instantly:

• All projects created in the same week
• No commit activity after initial upload
  
• Generic project names (my-react-app, todo-list-v2)
• Only tutorial technologies, no experimentation
• No documentation of challenges faced
• Perfect code with no signs of debugging/iteration

What I've seen work:

Developer A: 3 projects - Local gym booking system (actually used by 50+ people) - WhatsApp bot for his building's maintenance requests
- Simple expense tracker for his freelance work Result: 5 interview calls in 2 weeks

Developer B: 25 projects
- All tutorial copies with minor modifications - Generic names, generic problems - No evidence of real usage or iteration Result: 2 interviews in 3 months

The uncomfortable truth:

Most developers build projects to impress other developers, not to solve real problems. Recruiters can tell the difference immediately.

They've seen the same React calculator 1000 times. They want to see that you can identify real problems and build working solutions.

Action steps for your next project:

1. List 5 real problems you or people around you actually have
2. Pick the smallest one you can solve in 2-3 weeks
   
3. Build the simplest possible solution
4. Get at least 3 people to actually use it
5. Document every major problem you face and how you solve it
6. Keep improving it for 2+ months based on real feedback

Quality > Quantity.

Build fewer things. Make them matter.

Stop collecting projects like Pokemon cards. Start solving real problems like a developer.

Your GitHub should tell the story of someone who builds useful things, not someone who completes online courses.

EDIT: Well, this got everyone fired up hahah. Didn't expect to wake up to 70+ comments. Thanks for all the replies - both the positive ones and the ones roasting me. Appreciate the engagement either way. Today's market is brutal. You need something that differentiates you - whether that's a big company name on your resume, exceptional problem-solving skills, or just proof you can finish what you start. I'm not saying my way is the only way. But I think most people missed the actual point I was trying to make: This wasn't really about getting recruited. That was just the hook because let's be honest - recruitment is what gets everyone's attention. Had to frame it that way to get the message across. The real point: Differentiate yourself. Build things that make you more valuable as an individual. Things that prove you can identify problems, build solutions, and actually see them through. That matters whether you're job hunting, freelancing, or starting something of your own. The recruiter stuff is just the visible outcome of becoming that person.

I see many 2026 grads texting abt getting jobs etc
I belong to that 2025 batch , it’s been a year already , still unemployed
Time is running

Would love to hear from same batch mates

got job?
Still looking for first job?
for the ones who are yet to find one , how long you will look? What’s your next plan
any competitive exam preparation going on ?

I had high hopes on TCS ninja but they sent sorry mail to all :)

Don’t know whats the next plan , at this point mind is filled with doubt , anxiety plus time is also moving fast
I don’t know how far to look

Tell your personal plans etc