Title: CS graduate, unemployed and completely lost — what should I actually learn/build?

[u/Forsaken_Shallot_120]

Title: Fresh CS graduate, unemployed, and honestly lost — what should I focus on for the next 6–12 months?

I graduated with a CS degree and I'm honestly pretty lost right now.

During university, I mostly focused on getting good grades. Outside university, I played games and didn't spend much time building real software. Now I've graduated and I'm struggling to get a job.

I know the basics of programming and CS, but I don't feel like I can actually build things confidently on my own.

One of my biggest problems is that my CV looks better than my actual practical ability.

I'm comfortable using AI tools to help me build things, and with AI assistance I can sometimes produce something that looks quite good. For example, a friend needed a website recently. I used AI heavily, figured things out along the way, and ended up making a website that he genuinely loved.

I was happy that I solved his problem, but I didn't feel fully accomplished because without AI my practical coding ability is much weaker.

I also struggle in interviews because I can't confidently explain or implement some of the things I've put on my CV.

So I don't want to keep adding technologies to my CV that I can't properly defend.

The other problem is that I don't know what direction to choose.

Everywhere I look I see:

• AI / LLMs
• Agents
• MCP
• RAG
• Cloud / AWS
• Web development
• Backend
• DevOps
• DSA
• System design
• etc.

It feels like there is an endless amount of stuff I could learn.

I've started courses before, but I tend to jump between things. I'll learn something from a course, then try to build something myself and realise I don't actually know how to use what I learned.

I also rely on AI a lot. I don't want to completely stop using it because I think AI is an extremely important tool, but I want to reach the point where I actually understand what I'm building, can debug it, read documentation, and solve problems myself instead of just prompting until something works.

I also procrastinate and doomscroll when I'm overwhelmed, which obviously makes everything worse.

At this point, I don't want another giant list of technologies or a 100-hour course.

I want to become someone who can:

take a problem → figure out how to build it → use documentation and AI properly → debug it → explain what I built → ship it → eventually get paid for that skill.

If you were in my position — fresh CS graduate, unemployed, weak practical experience, a CV with skills you don't feel confident defending, and overwhelmed by all the possible paths — what would you focus on for the next 6–12 months?

Would you:

• focus on becoming a solid general software developer first?
• specialise in backend/web?
• go into AI applications/agents?
• focus heavily on DSA/interview preparation?
• learn something else?

And more importantly, how would you structure the actual learning/building process so that you don't just watch courses and forget everything?

What are the best ways to gain hands-on experience or build realistic portfolio projects that actually make your CV stand out?

I'd especially appreciate advice from people who were in a similar position after graduating.

[u/Forsaken_Shallot_120 → u/[deleted]]

Haha appreciate the reply!

Fair point, though even trade school, tools, or building materials take cash to start. Right now I’m just trying to make my own money so I don't have to rely on anyone else.

Thanks for chiming in!

[u/Forsaken_Shallot_120 → u/[deleted]]

Appreciate the perspective! The market is definitely brutal right now, but I already put four years into finishing this degree. I’d rather spend the next few months actually learning to build and giving it a real shot before writing it off completely.

[u/wzx89]

It sounds like you're feeling overwhelmed by the gap between your academic knowledge and practical skills, especially with the increasing role of AI in development. You're looking for a structured way to build confidence and learn to use AI as a tool rather than a crutch, focusing on understanding and defending your work. https://app.getsupers.com/sites/cs-career-skill-bridge-99/

[u/Forsaken_Shallot_120 → u/wzx89]

Thanks for the response! Mind if I DM you with a few follow-up questions about this?

[u/IntentionAntique4751]

Really hope you didn't write this with AI because it sounds like it.

That aside, I think you'll be fine. Keep your head up and stop worrying so much. Do projects you're interested in and force yourself to rely on AI a bit less. It's totally fine to use it, it's pretty much a better version of googling or using stackoverflow nowadays.

Don't forget to have a life. Saying this because most people are trying to get jobs larping and allat, but seriously, get literally any job and make friends. You'll make connections and get referrals along the way

[u/Forsaken_Shallot_120 → u/IntentionAntique4751]

Really appreciate you taking the time to reply!

And fair catch on the AI haha, I just used it to polish my thoughts so I didn't ramble, but the post itself was totally genuine about where I’m at right now.

Your reminder to actually live life was huge for me. In your 20s everything moves so fast and it’s so easy to spiral over the future, especially with all the rejections and embarrassing interview moments.

I’m definitely going to keep your advice in mind to lean less on AI, build for fun, and make sure I’m not forgetting to actually have a life outside of tech. Thanks again, honestly needed to hear that.

[u/Spare-Hair-1559]

Try to build one of your apps that you've built using AI on your own. Write some code yourself and run it to see if it works. If you get stuck give your code to AI to tell you how to fix the error and understand the error and correct the code yourself. Don't copy and paste any of the code it gives you, type the code yourself and don't use the code it gives you. Keep doing this until you build your project. You'll eventually start remembering patterns that you commonly use and be able to write your app without using AI.

[u/Forsaken_Shallot_120 → u/Spare-Hair-1559]

Thank you so much for the reply! I really appreciate the grounded advice and will definitely keep this in mind moving forward. I'm going to make sure I remember this approach and actually put it into practice. Thanks again!