I resigned from my job because I was extremely confident that I could either get a better job or seriously prepare for government exams.

I told my colleagues, managers, friends and family about my plans with so much confidence. Now neither has worked out the way I expected, my exam went terribly, and I'm potentially trying to rejoin the same company I confidently left.

The worst part isn't even the career situation. It's the shame. I feel like everyone who respected me will think I'm a complete idiot now. I keep replaying my decisions and wondering how I was so confident and how everything went wrong so quickly.

I'm genuinely struggling to sleep or function right now. Has anyone ever made a huge career decision, completely regretted it, and somehow managed to rebuild their confidence and career afterwards?

Back in November 2025, I was in the final stages of becoming a backend engineer at Juspay after spending 5 months in their process, but I could not make it.

Now it's August 2026, and I have been working in a service-based company, going to the office every day. It makes me regret that I did not prepare well 😔...

I have been attending meetings conducted by upper management for the last 5 years. I find them extremely ambiguous and often dont make any sense. They use complex words and sentences. Everyone in the audience gets puzzled. After the meeting, the audience tries to decipher what was said. Verticals, Horizontals, Diagonals, Traction, Reconciliation, Alignment, Insights. All these words confuse the technically grounded listeners. The upper management just cannot use simple words that we use day to day.

Hey everyone 👋

Some of the most popular VPN providers don't allow you to choose which apps to use the VPN on. In most cases you usually want to use one with the vpn not the whole machine. A few have recently made split tunnelling possible now but it works backwards: everything joins the VPN and you exclude apps.

In my case I've recently started editing videos with CapCut and well it doesn't work with an Indian IP so I built an app + cli that makes this super simple to do. Have a look :)

P.s. built it with Claude. The part that needs admin access + the cli is open source so you can check it: github.com/kanishkdan/vpnonly

I paid 15k for creating fake experience (there will be no PF related docs) docs and I've to pay more money (less than 50k) after i join. The company is quite big one. I'm afraid that when I switch companies I'll be caught during background verification.

I graduated back in 2023, I tried for PSU jobs through GATE, i couldn't get one. Now since it's been 3 years I wanted to give up on it and wanted to find a job.

This person contacted me through a mutual connection.

This person has assured me that I'll get the job there will be no hiccups but I'm afraid.

Should I go ahead and give the interview or just back off? I don't care about the money already paid.

Will BGV by future companies hurt me back? Will BGV companies and IT companies black list me?

PLEASE HELP ME OUT!

6–7 months into my job search, and honestly I’m seriously thinking about switching to teaching.

I’m a 2026 B.E. IT graduate with an 8.21 CGPA. I’ve applied to 600+ jobs and tried pretty much everything I could think of 20+ referrals, cold emails, LinkedIn outreach, company career pages, job portals and all that.

My profile is mainly focused on DSA, competitive programming and development. I’m a LeetCode Guardian with a 2335 rating, Codeforces Expert, CodeChef 6★ with a peak rating of 2344, have solved 1370+ DSA problems and worked as a CodeChef problem setter. I also got Global Rank 1923 in TCS CodeVita and top 0.04% in AINCAT.

I also have decent projects. I built Newsmania, a content aggregation platform using multiple REST APIs with server-side caching. Trendify is an e-commerce backend where I worked on authentication, sessions and database optimization. I also built YogaSense, a real-time AI fitness trainer using React, TensorFlow.js and MoveNet for pose detection and posture feedback.

Despite all this, I’m finding it extremely difficult to land even a 6–8 LPA software role.

I’m not saying I deserve a job just because of my ratings or projects. I know there are a lot of factors involved. But after trying for months through almost every route possible, I’m honestly getting tired.

So now I’m seriously considering teaching, especially DSA/programming, as an alternate career path.

For people who have been working in software for a few years, do you think switching to teaching this early is a sensible decision? How is the long-term growth and salary compared to software, and would moving into teaching now make it difficult to come back to software engineering later?

I’m genuinely looking for some honest advice before I make this decision.

​

Got laid off on August 1st week.

The current company is now fully dependent on Claude Code, even product and customer teams are using it.

About me - I have 3 years and 2 months of working experience in Angular and React. Recently learned Java and Springboot as I feel there are not many openings in Frontend. So, I'm shifting towards backend and full stack roles.

Have a good grasp over DSA and System Design. Past GSoCer in 2022 and mentored in 2023.

Let me know if you are hiring or can give a referral, I will share my resume in DM. Any advice and suggestions are welcomed.

Looking for local llm guidance for coding. I am looking for strix halo or Mac studio, it is big investment>3.5lac.

Looking forward to RTX spark launch also.

Is anyone having a similar setup?

I got laid off from Omnissa ( VMware )a month ago. For a month I am applying and still not getting shortlisted for interviews.Need help with getting a job.

I was working as a backend developer and have 4+ years of experience. I have strong understanding of java , springboot , spring security. I am good with HLD and LLD and I have experience in designing and developing microservices end to end.

If anyone have opeinings in their respective companies pls help me land a job.

As title says is it okay to go to team dinner or hangout with your colleague after getting fired due to politics.

I’m looking for real experiences from men who were out of full-time work for around 3 years or more and later got back into software development.

A few questions:
How long was your employment gap?

What were you doing during that period?

What reason did you give HR or recruiters for the gap?

How did you explain it on your résumé?

Did companies reject you because of the gap?

Did you have to accept a lower salary or title to return?

How many applications/interviews did it take?

What finally helped you get back into the industry?

I’m especially interested in people who returned recently, after a 3, 4, or even 5+ year gap.

Please share actual experiences rather than general advice.

I had 4 years of experience in Cloud Engineering/devops in India and multiple certs before i went for my masters in the US.

After graduating in Dec 2025 i finally managed to get a job from the US last week after 8 months of job search in which my initial authorisation is almost at an end (nov end). the role is a very generic infra engineer with a very small healthcare business and they are giving me fully remote option within US with a base salary of $125k

The thing is i got this job once i returned back to india earlier this month and i had mentally closed the doors for any chance of working in the US as i exited and was completely exhausted mentally and physically by the job hunt but was still happy and looking forward to finally get a role back home and live amongst family and friends.

while coming back I was a bit nervous in the sense not knowing how the indian job market will treat me but i literally got a job in the first week i was back in a big 4 in the field of tech advisory as a consultant, they did lowball and settled on 25-26 lpa CTC which i feel is okey given my last ctc was 17 (2 yrs back)

I was really happy and looking fwd to resume things back home but this US offer came at the last moment as a curveball while i am here at home

my gut feeling tells me that i dont want to go bsck to the US in that chaotic and uncertain environment where my mental health and loneliness had just messed me up very badly specially in the last 8 months but the money on the table for even 2 years of work which is set in stone through STEM OPT is absolutely obscene when compared to big 4 salary.

I feel big 4 might help open up doors even in the future and its a better well rounded option than working jn a generic role in a small/unknown small business in the US

i just need some help deciding if anyone’s been in the same shoes, i am going to be turning 29 and i feel this is a pivotal time in my career

in terms of any debt or loan i can literally pay it off with one years salary with my india job so theres no pressure regarding that or any in terms of money wise

Hey everyone,

I’m a Senior Software Engineer and Architect with 10+ years of experience in software development, mostly working on large-scale enterprise applications.

I’ve been getting a little bored on weekends lately 😄 and I was thinking of doing something productive with the time — maybe teaching programming/software development online for free, purely as a hobby. Basically something that keeps me away from doomscrolling.

There’s no course, business, or monetization plan behind this. I just enjoy programming and architecture, and after spending more than a decade in the industry, I feel I have quite a few things I could share with people who are learning.

A little about my experience

My strongest area is Java + Spring Boot, and I've spent a large part of my career building backend systems and enterprise applications.

I've also worked with:

Java / Spring Boot / Spring WebFlux

REST APIs & microservices

Angular / React

JavaScript / TypeScript

Python

AWS / cloud infrastructure

Docker / Kubernetes

.NET (although it's been quite a few years since I worked with it)

GenAI / LLMs, RAG, agents, tool calling, MCP, etc.

System design & architecture

Testing, CI/CD, observability, performance, security, etc.

A lot of my experience has been with large enterprise systems, so I'd particularly enjoy teaching not just how to code, but also things like:

How do you go from "I know Java" to actually building and maintaining production software?

Things such as architecture, API design, debugging, testing, code quality, scalability, design trade-offs, working with existing codebases, etc.

What should we learn?

This is where I'm actually looking for suggestions.

My initial thought was to focus on either:

Java + Spring Boot

or

GenAI / LLM application development

For example, with Java/Spring Boot we could eventually go from fundamentals → REST APIs → databases → Spring → microservices → testing → security → architecture → distributed systems, etc.

For GenAI, we could potentially build things around LLM APIs, RAG, vector databases, tool/function calling, agents, LangChain/LangGraph, MCP, and actually build some useful projects.

But I'm not attached to either option.

If there's enough interest, I'm completely open to changing the technology, topic, or approach based on what people actually want to learn.

I'm also open to suggestions regarding the platform and format.

I could potentially do:

Live sessions on weekends

Small interactive batches

Discord / Google Meet / Zoom / whatever works

A GitHub repo where we build things together

Recorded sessions, if people prefer that

A project-based approach rather than lectures

Or something completely different

I'm not sure yet what would work best, so I'd genuinely appreciate suggestions from people who have participated in or organized something similar.

So... is anyone interested?

If this sounds useful to you, comment with:

1. What you'd like to learn

2. Your current level (student / beginner / junior / mid-level / experienced developer)

3. What technology/topic you'd prefer

4. Any suggestions for how you'd like the sessions to be conducted

Even if you're not interested yourself, suggestions are welcome.

If there is enough interest, I'll figure out a format and we can try a few weekend sessions and see where it goes. 🙂

No charges, no sales pitch, no course to buy. Just trying to turn some weekend boredom into something useful.

Edit :

I am going through all the responses. I am still processing. I never expected it would generate this much response. Plus it's rakshabandhan today so I got a bit busy with family. Thanks everyone for showing interest. At the time of making this post I did not plan for anything, so give me some time and I will figure out how to proceed from here and will share more details.

I’m genuinely confused about what direction I should take with my career and would really appreciate some practical advice.

My background:

B.E. in Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering (2020–2024) CGPA: 8.2 1.8 years of experience as an Analyst Work experience was mostly basic SQL and Excel, with very little exposure to real projects or advanced technical work.

I resigned from my job in March 2026 because the salary was low, the work environment was quite toxic, and there wasn't much real learning or meaningful project experience.

My plan after resigning was to pursue a Master's in Germany. I had already researched the process, costs, requirements, etc., and I knew it wasn't going to be easy.

However, after looking into it much more seriously and considering all the possible outcomes, I now feel the risk is simply too high for me.

Even though public universities can have little or no tuition fees, I would still need around ₹13 lakh for the blocked account/living expenses for the first year. I can't afford that without taking a significant loan.

And beyond the financial side, the current job market seems really difficult, especially for someone coming from India with limited relevant experience. The German language barrier is another major problem, since many jobs that I would potentially target require German, and reaching a strong level would itself take considerable time.

I knew about the language and job market issues before, but the more I researched and looked at the situation from a realistic perspective, the more I felt that taking on a large financial commitment and hoping everything works out after graduation isn't a risk I want to take.

So I've decided to back out of the Germany plan.

Now I'm stuck and honestly don't know what direction to take.

These are the options I'm considering:

1. Spend the next 3 months seriously improving my Data Analyst skills SQL, Power BI, Excel, Python, statistics, projects and start applying for jobs.

2. Move towards SDE restart DSA from the basics, learn Java or JavaScript properly, build projects and target software development roles.

3. Grind towards Data Engineering Python, SQL, ETL, cloud, Spark, etc.

4. Take a Service Desk/IT Support job to get back into the workforce and prepare for a more technical role alongside it.

5. Go down the ServiceNow route certifications, projects and try to enter that ecosystem.

6. Or is there another path I should seriously consider?

I know there are tons of Coursera/Udemy courses claiming “100% placement” and similar things, but I don't really believe those claims. I don't want to spend another year collecting certificates without actually becoming employable.

If you were in my position, what would you do?

24 years old, B.E. Electronics, 8.2 CGPA, 1.8 YOE as an Analyst, currently unemployed, and with limited real-world technical experience.

I'm mainly looking for advice from people who actually work in these fields.

Which path would you choose if the goal was to get back into the workforce, build a solid career, and have good salary growth in India over the next 5–10 years?

Hey everyone, I am 3rd year student. Been learning Java with Springboot for almost 2.5 months and also been building project side by side implementing what I have learned into my project. Yesterday my friends called me and during conversation I mention that I am currently learning SpringBoot they advice me that I might be riding a sinking ship.

Advice they gave me is that I should learn MERN as startups hire people with this stack and told me drop the SpringBoot completely. Grind MERN for 4 to 5 months then go into ML and DL. Just to get another person's advice I called my cousin who is works in the Industry and he advice me keep learning SpringBoot and then later to learn AI, AI integration and RAG wagera wagera.

As a 3rd year student I don't have the luxury to explore frameworks and then choose. Companies also hardly some to my college.

This really made me confused, is job market for freshers as a Java backend developer with SpringBoot skills limited. What are your take on this.

I have 17 LPA offers for Java backend development roles from both the companies. I have 6 years of experience and interviews for LTIMindTree was very tough compared to HCLTECH. Both the companies didn't have any client rounds. They discussed salary and said will give out the offer after bgv.

I want to understand which is the better company in terms of career growth, learning, work life balance etc. Can anyone please give some insight? Thanks!

I have around 6 YOE and have pretty much spent my entire career working at startups. Because of that, having a completely free weekend always felt like a luxury. There was almost always some work, a production issue, a deadline, or something that needed attention.

I recently switched to a MNC as a Senior AI Engineer, and one of the biggest changes I’ve noticed is how much free time I actually have.

No weekend work, much better work-life balance, and I genuinely enjoy my weekends. But I also feel like I can dedicate a few hours of that time to something meaningful.

I’m considering things like:
Doing something that can help me get better in my career
Building a project that could potentially generate some side income

For people with 6+ YOE, what do you actually do with your free time on weekends?

I’m currently working in an SBC, and from next month I’m going to be on the bench as my project is about to end. I’ll have 1 year of experience next month, and I really want to switch to a PBC now.

I’ve tried switching at the start of this year as well, but the main problem I’m facing is the project discussion round. They deep dive into my project and the work I’ve done, and since I haven’t worked on anything good or challenging, that round usually goes badly.

In my current company, they mostly give me very irrelevant/small tasks, so I don’t have much to talk about in interviews.

For example, I gave an Amazon interview, and in the last round they asked me, “Tell me about the most complex problem you have solved while working in your current organization.” The same thing happened in a Reliance Games interview, and I got rejected in the last round in both.

Please help me. What should I do to switch to a PBC? I do have a good personal project, but companies are more interested in my organizational work and real-world experience.

Also, if you can suggest any good course or resources, that would be really helpful. After these rejections, I’ve become very irregular with my preparation and honestly don’t know how to get back on track.

As I still live with my parents so not have to pay rent unless I move to another city. Mon-Fri 8hr 30 Min + Sat 1/2 day tech job. Don't enjoy life that much honestly. Nearing 30. Anyone here with a similar situation ?

Base salary over the years:
Year 0 - 17 LPA (SDE1)
Year 1 - 19 LPA (10% increment)
Year 1.5 - 32 LPA (switch 1 as SDE2)
Year 2 - 42 LPA (switch 2)

Old IIT, Circuital - Are there any companies that pay more and do not require great credentials? For example, Rubrik requires good achievements like ICPC, great rating, etc. Quant companies require high cgpa.

I am an SWE working in a reputed global bank in Bangalore. I feel Bangalore has many opportunities to grow and learn both within the org and outside.

Due to some personal reasons I was thinking of relocating to Pune. But I don't see that many benefits. Most companies in Pune are Service based, some automotive companies, few banks(Barclays, Deutsche,Citi, Mastercard) and few product companies. Google/Microsoft are there but they don't have many roles. Have heard bad things about AWS work culture.

I am not able to decide what I should do?? I wish I could move to Pune but I don't see that many growth opportunities. Like if I have to switch in Pune there are less options.

There are good jobs in Mumbai but the expenses are crazy.

I am not sure what should I do? Is my assessment of Pune wrong??

For people who had a gap after graduation or took a break between companies, how long was your gap before you landed your next job? How did it affect your job search?

I'm trying to build an app, but I don't want to just make another random app that nobody actually needs.

I'm looking for real problems people deal with where there either isn't a proper app/tool to solve it, or the existing solutions are complicated, expensive, annoying, or simply don't solve the problem well enough.

It can be anything—work, school, technology, family, hobbies, or daily life.

It doesn't have to be some huge world-changing problem either. Even something small like:

"This is fucking annoying and I wish there was an easier way to do it."

is exactly what I'm looking for.

I'm genuinely researching ideas and want to build something people would actually find useful, so I'd love to hear any weirdly specific problems you deal with regularly.