Hey everyone!

I'm curious to know how people are actually getting recruiter calls and interview opportunities in 2026.

For those who are actively getting calls, what platforms, strategies, or methods are working for you?

A few things I'd love to know:

• Job portals: Naukri, LinkedIn, Wellfound, Instahyre, Cutshort, or something else?
• LinkedIn: Are you applying directly, messaging recruiters, reaching out to hiring managers, or getting referrals?
• Referrals: How are you approaching people for referrals, especially when you don't know them personally?
• Resume: Are you tailoring your resume for every application, using specific keywords, or following any particular strategy?
• Cold outreach: Have emails or LinkedIn DMs actually helped you land interviews?
• Application strategy: Are you applying to newly posted jobs, mass-applying, or targeting specific companies?

I'd especially appreciate hearing from people who have recently switched jobs or landed interviews at product-based companies or good startups.

Please share what's actually working for you, along with any specific tips, numbers, or strategies. Even small details could help others who are struggling to get interview calls despite applying consistently.

Thanks!

Hello all,

I have an offer of 7.1 LPA, but I am unemployed, now waiting more than 3 months, and it's making me depressed every single passing day. So I got an offer from TCS, and to join TCS, I resigned from my previous organisation and completed the notice period. But TCS is still not sending a joining letter. Whenever I try to contact them, they only respond that, based on business requirements, you will get a joining.

I am thinking of finding some remote work until I get the job or freelancing. If pay is less, it's fine; I just want to do some work, so guys, if you have any work for me, please let me know

Technical background:

- Backend: Python, FastAPI, .NET Core

- AI: Agentic chatbots (LangChain, OpenAI), voice assistants (Whisper STT/TTS, WebSocket)

- Frontend: Angular, TypeScript

- Data and cloud: Redis, SQL databases, Azure, AWS

Hey Guys!

I have a total of 7 yrs of experience in IT

I want to just leave IT and do something else. I am tired of constantly upskilling and keeping up with the pace how technology is growing and since AI has come into picture the management and people have no idea what realistic timelines look like. The lines of roles are almost blur one person is expected to do everyone’s job.

Every day I wake up with fast heartbeat and feel like I should run away from work. The meetings, scrum calls, updates, deadlines and status calls give me anxiety and this is everyday occurrence. The working hours are almost 12 in real and 9 on paper. I feel my entire life is just going in work and nothing is outside it. On weekends I just end up resting to recover and don’t feel like going out and the day I take leave I just feel weird that what should I even do I can’t even think of doing something else apart from work.

I have decided I don’t wanna spend my life like this anymore as it feels suffocating. Do you guys have any suggestion what could I do or have anyone left IT and did something else - pls refrain from saying Farming I already know about it and its definitely not easy

With ai and agents push, everything has to be completed at record speed.The estimates are getting lesser and lesser and managers are pushing more and more

I work in product company , yesterday , I felt sick after office . I thought i have generated the code and maybe test later ,today some personal emergency work and after completing I thought of pushing , when i found that llm has misunderstood some core flows and its wrong

My manager started pinging me like why it took time nad worst part is the repo I am working on is very unfamiliar and I wasn’t even onboarded properly because use ai llm to learn

I survived by using skills. Md file and somehow prompting to give results, but more complex flow it goes it becomes difficult

I know people will say i should have been more mindful, but I am really overwhelmed by lot of things to understand and people expectations that i should complete quickly and deliver more because of AI

I try my best but problem is what takes month to learn and understand is expected to he learned in week and start contributing

Earlier taking some short break would feel good but every minute is counted , like i have to be always at top of game 24/7 and if i took a day off I feel like i am behind

I haven’t coded by hand in last 1 year atleast before this cursor , with copilot also i was doing some kind of manual coding ( around 2024) now I have becomes proompter and feeling anxious and burnout

I feel like falling behjnd because i feel i have become dumber with AI and my grasping power has reduced massively

okay so Im a 2nd year cse student and I'm passionate about physics. I initially saw the kavan gravity sim on youtube and wanted to recreate it.I started working on this 2 months back. I had to learn c++,opengl, make this in 2D (freespace and earths gravity) and a little bit of GR. Although low level programming is a pain in the ass, I had alot of fun making this.

working: The engine runs a dual-layer loop: a physics solver updates the 2D positions of the bodies gravitational forces while a vertex generation pass simultaneously warps the underlying 3D wireframe mesh downward along the Y-axis using the gravitational potential. This keeps the planets orbiting smoothly on a flat plane while the grid dynamically bends around them in real-time to simulate relativistic spacetime curvature.

future improvements: I would love to make this more accurate (physics wise) and add textures after i improve my opengl skills.maybe even make the central star a raytracer :)

github repo-https://github.com/saijahnvi/Relativistic-Gravity-In-3D-

edit:everything is newtonian and the grid curvature is a depiction of what the flamm's paraboloid would look like.I would like suggestions on implementing this relativistically accurate

I see people getting 10+ lpa packages so mine will not seem such a big amount but happy to share that I’ve been placed at a mid level startup
Stipend is 20K for 1 year internship and then (6.5lpa) ppo…best part is I will be working from home as the office is nearby so ya
Idk how good of this opportunity is but I’m grateful for getting one offer atleast
Idk but I’m getting scared , people r scaring me about 1 year long internship and also some r saying there is disparity between the stipend and the ppo
So like all the happiness which I had is going away and I’m again spiralling , I couldn’t even sleep yesterday
What would u do in my place
Even after getting an offer I’m not getting peace, I sometimes feel like reddit can be bad for mental health :(
Please suggest me something I’m stressed

Hey everyone! 👋

I'm looking for real-life problems that could be solved or improved through technology for a project I'm working on.
It could be anything from repetitive tasks at work or college to everyday inconveniences, things that waste your time, or problems you wish had a better solution.
I'm especially interested in interactive tools, apps, or digital experiences that could make everyday life easier.

For example:
An app that simplifies a frustrating daily task.

An interactive tool that helps people make decisions or stay organised.

A better way to manage something people currently do manually.

Something you wish existed but haven't found a good solution for yet.

If you could have one interactive app or digital tool that solved a real problem in your life, what would it be?
It doesn't have to be a big or complicated idea. Even the smallest inconvenience could inspire something useful.

I'd love to hear your experiences, ideas, and suggestions. Thanks in advance!

I am a 2025 grad - I am sooo burnt out like there is sooo much work to do.

AI can write code, yes - but how you want it to be written, how the product should be overlayed around the written code and will the code written have any other dependencies in the system/product stack - all can only be done by the judgement of a human - and there are soo many new things coming up in the industry that the product needs to keep evolving with that.

And one of the major roles SWEs will have now is to minimise the technical debt how much ever possible with these agents adding lines of code in insane speeds.

But as a junior engineer - am i learning anything - its minimal, i do think if i handwrite the code the learning would be exponential

Hi guys,

I lost two offers because of my 90-day notice period. One of them was from a WITCH offering me a 100% hike. Now, I’ve decided not to attend any more interviews until I put down my papers.

What would be the best time to resign: mid-November or mid-December? I’ve heard that there’s a lot of hiring activity until April.

my CTC is not great it's around 4L and I'm having 4+ years of experience.

help me guys.

I am a 2026 B.E. in Information Technology graduate, and for the last few months, I've been trying to get a job in the development field.

However, I've had no luck so far...I'm either getting rejected or ghosted every time. I recently applied for a tech support role and have managed to clear rounds up to the final stage, so I'll most likely get the offer.

I wanted to ask if I should take this tech support role or not. It is a shift-based job with a salary of 6 LPA.

Is it possible to transition from tech support to software development in the future? I would have preferred to keep practicing and trying to crack dev interviews, but my family is not well off and I really need the income right now.

Any opinions/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

My team initially explained that they couldn't assign me tickets because the project is complex and, as a fresher, I might face performance-related concerns from the PM.

However, another fresher joined around the same time as me and is working on the same project, yet his team has started assigning him at least one ticket per sprint. Meanwhile, my team keeps asking me to work with other team members on their tickets instead of giving me individual ownership.

This situation is starting to bother me because I feel like I'm not getting the same opportunity to learn, take responsibility, and demonstrate my abilities. It feels like my team is extracting work from me without giving me ownership of any tickets.

I'm not sure how to approach this anymore. Should I discuss this directly with my team lead, and if so, how can I bring it up without sounding like I'm comparing myself to the other fresher or complaining about my workload?

Hii, I'm a 7th sem CSE Student

Nvidia came for campus placements offering 6 month internship role, and the Online Assessment will be held on 22nd

For anyone who has taken Nvidia's OA before, what topics should I focus on, resources to use for preparation and any details on how the hiring process will be?

Any tips, advice or study material would be greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone!

Introducing BrushMix 3D, our PBR texture painting tool for Unity developers. Paint PBR materials directly on your 3D models and bake them into production-ready textures. Now live on Fab!

Here's what you can do with it:

● Layer blending: mix up to 4 material layers with height-based blending

● Normal & detail stamps: easily add surface height and normal details (dents, domes, rivets, screws) with up to 4 stamp slots

● Stamp stitching: stamps follow your stroke path smoothly

● Edge wear & scratches: procedural wear along model edges

● Dirt & dust generator

● Alpha stencil / decal painting

● Bake clean, production-ready PBR textures (Albedo, Normal, Metallic & Smoothness) for URP and HDRP

If anyone wants to check out the details or give it a try, it's live on Fab

here: https://www.fab.com/listings/0c7e9e16-9b57-4433-9788-68b6de4de678

Thanks a lot for reading and checking it out!

Hi everyone,

I am a senior software engineer (backend) with 3+ YOE in my current company, was placed here through campus drive, for the initial 2 years everything was fine, but since the last year, AI has really took flight, and now the whole system is fucked.

Just because we have access to claude code, we are given unrealistic deadlines, management has gotten extremely toxic over the last year regarding this, and now one person is expected to do in 1 week a task that would normally take a month.

I feel dumber day by day, it's been almost an year since i really wrote code myself, everything is handed off to AI.

My mental health has been fucked for some time, in turn it has impacted my physical health as well, i feel sick regularly, my medical leaves have run dry and i still take LOPs sometimes because it's just too much.

I really have this feeling of leaving this job, this is taking a toll on both my health and my time, as I have been working till late for sometime as well.

I have given 4 interviews in the last 3 months, bombed each one of them due to a lack of system design preparation, which I feel like I'm getting better now, i mostly have dsa and core java covered. I feel like a month of proper preparation will be enough, i believe in myself and know that I am skilled enough to crack interviews.

Please suggest what to do guys. I really need some words of encouragement.

TL;DR -

Senior software engineer with 3+ yoe, fucked mentally because of AI usage and toxic management. Thinking of leaving my job without offer.

Hey everyone,

I’m currently working as a software development intern at a company (let’s call it XYZ), earning ₹7,000 per month. My internship is mainly focused on C# and .NET, and it’s been around three months now.

Honestly, the experience has been pretty confusing so far.

Initially, I was assigned Kotlin as my main technology, so I spent almost a month learning it. Then, out of nowhere, they shifted me to C# and .NET. Since then, I’ve been given basic tasks to complete while learning the technology.

I’ve tried my best to complete every task assigned to me. Whenever my mentor asks me to explain my code, I try to explain the logic behind every line. But the problem is that I often struggle to understand what he’s asking because of the way he communicates, and sometimes he doesn’t seem to understand my explanations either.

For the past two weeks, I’ve been working on a project. I faced so many bugs, spent hours debugging, and kept working until I finally got everything running properly. I even sacrificed my gym time, stayed late, and put in extra effort because I genuinely wanted to do well.

Today, I finally completed the project. He tested everything, and it was working as expected. He couldn’t find any functional issues, so he went through my code and asked me to explain the logic.

After I explained it, he told me he wasn’t happy with it and that he didn’t understand my approach.

Now I’m genuinely confused. 😭 The project works, all the tasks have been completed as requested, and I’ve put so much effort into it. I understand that working code doesn’t automatically mean good code, and I’m open to feedback. But I don’t know exactly what he expects me to improve when he doesn’t clearly explain the problem.

It’s been really frustrating because I’ve spent the last two months trying my best, learning new technologies, fixing bugs, and completing whatever I’ve been asked to do, yet I still feel like I’m not meeting expectations.

I want to ask people who have experience in the software industry:

1. Is this kind of situation common during internships?
   
2. Is it normal for a mentor to reject your approach even when the code works correctly?
   
3. How do you handle a mentor who gives unclear feedback or when communication between you and your mentor isn’t working?
   
4. How can I improve in this situation without constantly feeling like I’m not good enough?
   
5. Have any of you experienced something similar during your internship or first job? How did you handle it?
   

I’m not trying to blame anyone. I genuinely want to learn and become a better developer, but right now, I’m feeling lost and frustrated because I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.

Any honest advice or personal experiences would really help. Thanks! 🙏

Hi all,

I’m a Frontend Engineer with ~4.5 YOE (React, Vue, TypeScript, JavaScript, Electron, some Node.js), working as an SSE at a mid-sized Bangalore startup. I built an Electron desktop app from scratch at my previous company, which shut down due to funding issues.

I’m targeting product companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe and Intuit/Rippling. Pure frontend openings are few, and my backend experience is limited, so I want to grow both as a senior frontend engineer and as a full stack engineer. I learn best by building, so I’d love suggestions I can actually build and learn from.

Questions

1. Senior frontend growth: what separates a senior frontend engineer from a mid-level one? Which areas matter most (frontend system design, performance, accessibility, design systems, testing, build tooling, architecture)?
2. Backend stack: given my React/TS/Node.js background, should I go deeper with Node.js + TypeScript (NestJS/Express/Fastify), or learn something like Go, Java or Python? Does it matter for big-tech interviews?
3. Backend fundamentals: what should I learn, and in what order? Databases and SQL design, indexing, caching (Redis), queues, auth, REST/GraphQL/WebSockets, Docker, cloud basics, observability.
4. System design: what are the best resources for frontend and backend system design at the 4-5 YOE level, and how deep do interviewers go?
5. What to build: which projects teach real backend skills and also look credible on a resume?
6. Positioning: how do I present myself as full stack when my backend experience is limited, without overselling?
7. Roadmap: if you had 3-4 months, how would you split time between DSA, system design and building projects?

Any roadmap, resources or personal experience of making this transition would be really helpful. Thanks!

(Used AI to organise my thoughts.)

Hello everyone,

I'm having close to 2 years of experience on a tech stack which barley exist in today's market and as of now i want to switch to get into revelent tech stack as of now I'm preparing for job switch wanted to which is more preferable tech stack for backend in market right which can get me hired.

I know as software engineer you need to be language agnostic and treat tech as tool to solve problems but at this point I'm really confiused.

Also how can I be revelent in ai development also.

Thank you !

So I have been laid off last week. LWD was 6th oct. It was my first company. Knew it was coming but still felt bad. I am kinda confident on my skills and projects but not very much. Still new to this interview prep grind after 2.9 years from this first job thru campus placement. Started applying as soon as I felt that it was gonna happen in late july. Not actively though. Prepared resume, projects etc. Got shortlisted for assessment by some good orgs as well. But couldnt clear final round due to notice period of 2 months I felt. Now coming to today, I am tired of this grind for almost 2.5 years now. Last job had terrible WLB and hence not very sad of layoff. The plan is can I take a break of 1, 2 months as its the first time I dont have any commitments in a long time. Planning to solo trip for a month almost and prep after coming home. Lets say it may take sometime for new offers and worst case scenario is 3 months, so January.

Now I want your advice, and opinions on whether this is okay or I should stop wondering abt breaks and trips and get next job asap??

I can do that as well but it would be the same corporate BS again with a higher pay. I am getting good hike interviews but its 5 days wfo. And not so great orgs as of now. Can get better orgs too i believe but I am afraid I will lose my negotiation power with 1,2,3 month break.

Will this gap be a big problem in future or next job? Salary negotiation and expectation wise.

I am also planning to upskill myself in a month after the break.

TLDR : Can a 2,3 month gap affect ctc expectation and offer negotiation after a layoff, given the gap is willingly taken for a break and upskilling. I am a 2.6 yoe AI engineer. Pls advise 🙏 if not this then what other thing i can do.

GitHub: https://github.com/ashxris/github-neon-themes

Should I drop this on the Chrome Web Store?

To all experienced engineers, I'm a fresher, a full stack developer with no jobs. I just learned the skills and not sure if this field will get me some real work.

What skill should I learn to be relevant in this industry for at least 2-3 years?

Hey everyone. I’m a designer and this is my first real freelance job. A client sent a long brief for a one-page site for her print magazine. I’m only designing the UI/UX, not building it. I have no idea what to charge for the design side, so I’m hoping you can help.

• All the art is custom and made by me (stickers, starbursts, doodles, cut-outs, mascots). The client strictly doesn’t want AI art or stock. My art is pretty detailed, so each piece takes real time. You can see my style here: https://vishejeetportfolio.vercel.app/
• The brief wants a different look for every section, so I can’t reuse a template. The style is 90s ad meets Y2K, loud and collage-like.
• The buy section needs two designed states, sales open and sales closed.
• She sent two reference videos with 3D-style animation, page transitions, cursor effects and video backgrounds. I’d have to design and explain all of that for a developer.
• Everything has to work in mobile, tablet and desktop layouts.
• The brief asks for a full handoff pack, so a developer can build it without guessing.

Page sections I’m designing

• Hero with logo, tagline and a big visual
• Clear path from the hero to the buy section
• About section
• “What’s inside the mag” preview (spreads, images, snippets)
• Monthly buy section with two states: sales open (live buy button) and sales closed (holding state that sends people to the newsletter)
• Newsletter sign-up with a value pitch and a success message
• Contact section (form, email link, or both, still undecided)
• Menu that jumps to each section
• Mobile, tablet and desktop layouts

Design and custom art (all by me, no AI)

• Stickers, starbursts, doodles, cut-outs and callouts
• Mascots or caricatures, if needed
• Cut-out photography and editorial image treatment
• Oversized type, loud colour blocks, layered and asymmetric layouts
• A different look per section that still feels like one brand
• Temporary placeholders for any unfinished art, replaced before handoff

Motion and 3D (from her reference videos)

• Designing and explaining scroll animations and moving stickers
• Cursor-reactive effects on the artwork
• Page transitions between sections
• Draggable carousel
• Real 3D (flipping cards or a 3D magazine)
• Video backgrounds
• A lighter version for phones

I’m planning to offer three levels (simple animation, medium, full 3D) so she picks. The more motion she wants, the more design and explaining it takes.

Brand rules

• Logo used exactly as supplied, no redrawing or recolouring
• Hi-res transparent logo and alternate versions for non-green backgrounds
• Fixed 7-colour palette (neon green, magenta, bubblegum pink, aqua, butter yellow, black, white)
• Contrast checks, especially neon on pastel
• Custom fonts (original files and web-use licences needed)
• Body font options are Apple’s SF and SF Mono, which need checking for web use

Accessibility and usability (design side)

• Readable body text and easy-to-use forms and menu
• Alt text suggestions for images
• Clear heading structure, page title, meta description and share preview image text

Handoff to the developer

• Editable design file
• Exported assets
• Font and licence notes
• Responsive layouts
• Short guide for updating the monthly sale info

What would you quote for the design side of all this? A rough range for the base design, the custom art and the motion/3D design would help a lot.

Thanks in advance, really appreciate any advice.

Hey everyone, I'm a Programmer Analyst at one of the major service-based IT firms (WITCH), and I'm losing my mind dealing with a recurring loop of project release manipulation. I need some perspective from folks who have survived corporate politics like this.

The Backstory:

The Setup: I joined an SAP project a year ago. Right from the start, I was only tagged to the project code, but never officially onboarded by my primary manager (let's call him Manager A).

First Release Attempt: After a year, I finally got onboarded by Manager A. But just 2 months later, he released me—only for that release to mysteriously get cancelled shortly after.

The Shared Resource Trap: Following that cancellation, Manager A sent me over to work as a shared resource under a secondary manager's project code (Manager B). Manager B gave me Knowledge Transfer (KT), but after a month, I suddenly got a call back from Manager A saying he was releasing me again.

The Second Cancellation: That second release was officially accepted, but right before the PDP/release date, it got cancelled again, and I was pulled right back into the project loop.

Today: Exactly 3 months after that last cancellation, they have "released" me from the project once more.

What I Suspect:

I have a strong feeling they are playing psychological games. Because I am a junior resource, they want to keep my billable headcount safe for their project metrics, but they also want to make my life difficult enough that I get frustrated, burn out, and resign myself so they don't have to deal with official release logistics or attrition tracking.

My Questions to Experienced Folks Here:

Is this a known tactic where managers keep dangling release dates or bounce you back and forth between project codes just to trap junior resources?

Are they intentionally creating a toxic loop to push me to resign out of frustration instead of processing a proper release?

How do I handle this next phase so I don't get played for a third time?

Any insights or advice from seniors who have seen this playbook before would be massively appreciated.

So I am a fresher in B.tech (IT) from a tier 3 college and I am getting interviewed for a company for associate consultant. But this company first trains in oracle cloud and workday for an year with a stipend 12000 then, 3 year bond with 4.3 lpa. So I don't know if I should be accepting or rejecting the company.

So I want to know from the persons in this field what are the possibilities about this role and this technology in the market would I be able to land a better job after whole 4 years or should I try for another company but I am not confident with other companies. Because my dsa is not very strong.

But this company is taking students on purely aptitude and communication skills. So I don't know if I can land another job or not. So please someone will be kind to share their experience about this role these technologies their future prospects.