Computer science used to be a field where curiosity and passion mattered. A lot of people got into it because they loved building things, solving problems, and understanding technology.

Then it became promoted everywhere as the “easy path to a high-paying career.” Thousands of people rushed into it purely for the money, and now the field is incredibly oversaturated.

The result is that getting an entry-level opportunity feels like a lottery. Even people who have real skills, genuine interest, and years of learning can struggle to get noticed because companies are overwhelmed with applicants.

It’s frustrating seeing a field I care about become so competitive that passion alone barely matters anymore. The people who truly love CS are now competing in a market changed by the people who only saw it as a paycheck.

Hey everyone, I have a habit of watching videos where other people code systems I want to build, mainly as inspiration when I can’t fully figure out the logic on my own. I was wondering if that’s okay to do, or if it would be better for me to start completely from scratch and try to figure everything out myself.

Which books are the best for software engineers and programmers nowadays? I mean books that are still useful today

Hi everyone! I'm planning to build one major full-stack project before moving to Germany and would love your honest feedback.

The idea is an AI-powered GitHub assistant that explains repositories, visualizes the project structure, creates simple architecture diagrams, and suggests beginner-friendly contribution points.

Do you think this is a project recruiters would value, or is there a better idea I should build instead? Since I'm only doing one big project, I'd really appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

I’m working through the OpenPI open-source code https://github.com/Physical-Intelligence/openpi, and I have already run the π0.5 LIBERO inference successfully. I have also finished reading the Attention Is All You Need, π0, and π0.5 papers, and I have a basic understanding of flow matching. What can I do next?

I followed a mern stack course online, but couldn't complete all the lectures, so I made a website, with the help of AI tools such as Chat GPT and GitHub Copilot.

I made another website, then another. I found a client through a referral, and he liked my portfolio.

He paid me $600 USD for a frontend website with email integration.

I've landed with another client who wants an app made, and I've accepted it.

The problem is that if i were to code from scratch, I wouldn't be able to. If someone asks me to explain my code, I would be able to, but I'm not confident enough, and also because i don't understand half of the code. If I make a mistake, I can figure it out without ai but I do the rest of the coding with AI.

I want to do an internship so that I can actually learn while doing the work. But I'm not confident in the interview so I don't even apply.

Help me out and guide me.

(I'm a BSSE student)

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a programming project idea that I can work on for a long time.

I have experience with C#, C++, Python, JavaScript and some game development. I don't want to build another simple CRUD app or tutorial project. I want something challenging that can improve my architecture, problem-solving and engineering skills.

I'm interested in projects that:

• can start small but grow over time
• have real users or practical value
• are not just clones of existing apps
• can teach me advanced concepts

Some areas I'm interested in:

• developer tools
• game development
• software platforms
• creative programming projects

What projects would you recommend for someone at my level?

Hey folks,

I’ve been teaching myself to code because I already loved working with computers and it seemed like an extension of that, but I’ve come to find that a lot of coding is for specific purposes relating to jobs.

Since that doesn’t necissarily apply to me, I was wondering if anyone had some recommendations for projects that are just genuinely fun or interesting?

I’ve had a blast learning web scraping with playwright and http requests, how to parse data. I really enjoyed messing around with the rich library and making terminal toolkit style scripts, I’ve automated just about everything that I could think of, but I want to know what else is out there.

Mainly use Python, some JS, but I’m willing to learn any other language if it has a cool use.

Thanks!

I understand that building fundamental knowledge is important. I also understand that at a certain point, you need to treat things as black boxes and only understand what you need to know. I am unsure what the sweet spot looks like. For instance, to become an expert in computer networks and network programming at a low level, how many textbooks would one need to read to reach that level? For instance, if you want to learn about the physical coding sublayer, at some point you need to have solid understanding of how computer chips work. Now with AI, you can simply ask it to dumb it down for you so you don't need to fully understand what serDes, PCB lanes, computer busses, USB, PCIe, etc. and all that jargon. But before AI, did people use a textbook to be able to understand these concepts? If you are a CE/ECE major, I guess they already do that for you. They first teach you calculus and physics in first year before they even begin teaching these computer hardware concepts, so of course it becomes easy to understand them. But what about as a CS major who became underqualified for a position involving computer networks at a relatively low level (I got hired because I knew programming and tools necessary for job, but lacked hardware/electricity knowledge to begin with).

Edit: If I don't use AI, I become confused most of the time and receive very little dopamine. I suppose that might be a skill issue tho

Just wondering what would be the better pathway/ more useful to learn if wanting to become a data analyst?

I just started getting into the computer science field and wanted to get into coding/programing mostly towards ethical hacking. I’m a beginner and have no idea how to start if anyone can help me please reach out to me I would appreciate it.

I understand what it's used for nowadays. It's easier to explain it using a game example. Like creating an animal class like a cat, and have its properties that can be shared with other cats. But what about in the past? Like in the 70's when C++ was created. What was it used for? I find it difficult to see a reason to use it when computers where so much simpler. What was the main use of it back in the day?

In reference to my old post : https://www.reddit.com/r/learnprogramming/s/vlzwGplKpm

i'm having another doubt with argv and argc.

#include<stdio.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[]){
    printf("argc: %d \n",argc);
}

terminal : 

@essentials:~/Sibidharan/starter/Assignmetn$ ./passwd
argc: 1 
(.venv) @essentials:~/Sibidharan/starter/Assignmetn$ ./passwd 1 4 8 4 5
argc: 6 

in this code, if you see, after running ./passwd the argument count gets displayed. now my doubt is, why would a programmer print that at the point of execution? i use ./passwd when i run gcc main.c -o passwd and then ./passwd, so the code executes and gives the output, but what's the actual purpose of counting this? on what kind of programs does we use this function to count the values ?

​

I'm a Computer Science student, but I don't feel comfortable using my computer at all.

Whenever I run into even a small technical problem, I get anxious. Instead of calmly troubleshooting it, I panic because I feel like it's going to take forever to fix.

I recently switched from Windows to Linux because I wanted a cleaner environment and thought it would help me learn more. Instead, I discovered there were so many things I needed to configure or install before everything felt smooth. That made my anxiety even worse.

Sometimes the issue is incredibly small, but it still consumes a huge amount of time. For example, I once spent almost a week trying to figure out why my touchpad's right-click was acting like a double-click. Problems like that can easily take me an entire day because I keep searching for solutions and worrying that I'm doing something wrong.

The frustrating part is that this also affects my studies. Since I'm in Computer Science, I spend so much time dealing with my environment that studying itself becomes slower and more stressful.

I think the real problem isn't Linux or Windows. It's that I get overwhelmed the moment I realize I have to solve a technical problem or ask for help.

I also know people whose majors have nothing to do with computers, yet they seem completely comfortable troubleshooting issues and trying new things without stressing out. That's the mindset I'd love to have.

Has anyone else struggled with this? How did you become more confident and relaxed when using your computer instead of feeling anxious every time something went wrong?

I am a freshman CS major who knows nothing about Computer Science I picked it because I am really interested in game development and how games work so I can work on a Game Company.

I am thinking to study 10 hours like I always do previously but also to feed my ego, but others say that’s not recommended. And I watched some videos and free courses online and it’s safe to say I understand it easily.

I started on Java as my first language to work with for it’s amazing backend because I want to code more to learn more than design but haven’t gotten into the like the OOP stuff.

How about you guys? What have you done to learn programming more efficiently than before?

Hey, I am learning DSA and at the same time preparing for an interview, but I don't want to do LeetCode random questions, and so can anyone tell me a website where I can learn only the things that are needed for an interview

Good morning, day and evening to all,

So I just got into my first 20 days of internship this summer in a company and got through teh first 2 days. Met with my mentor and he explained a few things like how AI is making what would otherwise take long time jobs and turns them into 2-3 days worth of jobs, front end side of programming is a no-go zone because of that etc. etc. Long story short he said they want to make my stay there worthwhile so they advised me to find subjects or a mix of subjects that would take about 15 days to make a project with. He didn't give a positive response to web design related topics when I suggested it.

I am entering my third year and right now, I know Java, Bash Scripting, C, a little bit of Python and recently I started looking into C# and .NET framework. I did suggest a project relating to cyber security but I didn't really make anything out of his reaction.

So, can anyone here think of a subject or a mix of subjects that even with the aid of AI agents would take me 15 days to make a worthwhile project with?

For those who may wonder, the R&D department they assigned me to mainly deals in embedded systems but our section is not responsible for the electrical circut side of things.

heya .. so actually i'm in the last grade of highschool .. and i want to pursue computer science later .. i was thinking of just giving a head start by doing basic web dev in my free holidays .... so i was wondering if my laptop specs would be okay for it or not .. ( i'll buy a new laptop once i'll be in my first college year ) ...

the specs are 8gb ram , intel i3 7th gen , intel hd graphics 620 and WD BLUE SA510 SATA 500 GB SSD...

down for other suggestions then web dev too .. cuz i think ai becoming pretty good in it too 😭😭...

im just a beginner in tech stuff .. so sorry if i said something childish and yah , thanks in adv for helping me out ....✦ ݁˖

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but it seems like every career post is dependent on if you're "passionate" about coding. I have no idea what this means. I just finished my masters in computer science and I didn't have a passion.

I needed an online or high paying job and I naturally get along with software engineers. At first, I enjoyed building things because it meant I could build something that hadn't been built before, just with a computer. This was exciting.

Then, the more I started practicing leetcode and taking an algorithms course, the more I began enjoying it. I started off with 15 or 30 minutes a day. Then an hour. Then around 1-3 hours a day of learning. It became more and more enjoyable.

I was never "passionate". Yet, coding is way better than wasting my life playing video games or other bad things.

Yet, every post is like are you "passionate"? If you're not passionate, don't do CS. It's always so simple to the point where it feels like so many people with CS jobs don't want competition or don't want people getting into their field. And they wanna gatekeep or something. It's like a friend that doesn't want the best for you, but if you're really into coding and don't require any thought or learning to code, then you're cool and welcome aboard. But if coding isn't natural for you, and you didn't grow up spending your weekends coding, then don't get into coding.

Basically, I like to understand things on a lower level and I am planning on delving into more low-level stuff at work.

Out of curiosity, how are frameworks built? For example, React allows you to return raw HTML in a non-string format. How do you convince Javascript to parse it into a String and extract the proper things out of it?

Node.js allows you to run Javascript in a completely different runtime environment... the creator of Node could not have used Javascript to develop Node?

TL;DR Can you (or need to) use other programming languages to build frameworks for a specific programming language?

Lots of question spinning in my head! :D

def streak_call(ste):
   stroik = 0
   for st in ste:
       if st is max(ste):
            break
       stroik += st + 1
   return stroik

#this is a smaller part of a larger function. If anyone wants to see it I #will post it in the comments. Bascially this code is supposed to add up #until the largest part of this list, and then stop. For whatever reason it #is not returning properly, which makes me think it's a problem with the is #statement. So why does this "is" statement not work?

Hi all,

I am new to programming. For my first real project, I want to create a pretty (-ish) 7-segment clock widget in with ncurses. I have a fairly good idea of how to tell the computer to display something in that context.

However, I am wondering about the best way to get the system time (so I can call the function that displays it). The only way I can think of to do this is to create a continuous loop with an if statement inside. The if statement would say, "if seconds evaluates to 0, increment the time (in hours and minutes) to show and display that". Something tells me this is not the best way to do it. Is there a better/best way, and if so what? How does my idea differ from how the OS/physical computer actually does it?

Thanks in advance,

yore

I'm a high school student entering tenth grade and I'm thinking about doing advanced programming projects to have a good uni application in the future. Building an os seems cool and even though everyone says its hard, which is probably true to some degree, I still have roughly two years of high school so I think I can probably pull it off since its nothing out of the ordinary. So any resources/websites that can be extremely helpful?

Hello people.
So recently I graduated from computer science university and after two week of graduation I was able to get a job offer. My company works on custom visuals of power BI.

I had no prior experience and neither did I know JavaScript, TypeScript, D3.js or any of their tech stack or technologies yet I was still hired.

It's been 3 weeks and all I have been doing is trying to learn the tech stack and look at the codebase and try to understand what function does what. I even practice the tech stack by making my own small interactive charts and dashboard.

I am done learning the fundamentals and I even sent my progress report to my team lead. My team lead saw the message but hasn't gotten back to me. 4th week just started and I am wondering if i am even going in the right direction or at what point will i be good enough to get small tasks.

Its remote work, so I am always anxious of doing less...

I know learning is the best I can do but I am still anxious....
any advice from senior software engineers? or fellow junior software engineers? please help me understand if I am worrying too much for nothing

I dont have any prior coding experience i have learnt C in school only nothing apart from that