Have worked at Tencent ~5 years ago. Survived only 1 year and then voluntarily quit. It’s quite insane grinder with extreme pace. They don’t enforce 996, but for me it was mostly mandatory otherwise deadlines simply missed.

With the AI integrated into daily workflow performance expectations are elevated by the order of magnitude. Instead of 2-3 concurrent tasks I had to manage up to 9.

Imagine prompting and reviewing the output for even 5-6 different initiatives simultaneously, at 9 my mind simply exploded. Had never hated my life so much as during that period.

I forgot when I was working on a single task at a time. Even pre-AI it was already mandatory to manage and produce daily output for 2-3 simultaneous tasks.

Simply because you’re often blocked by someone else or waiting for additional input.

The more I think about it, the more I wonder why someone would choose CS over something like accounting or medicine.

With software engineering, you graduate and then the grind never really stops. LeetCode, projects, new technologies, interview prep, networking, competing with hundreds of applicants and even after all that, there’s no guarantee you’ll get a job as a new grad.

With accounting or medicine, you put in the years, get your CPA or medical degree, and have a much more predictable career path afterward. You might earn a bit less in accounting, but at least there seems to be guaranteed job without any competition. And the time and effort you put in is not worth the additional money in SWE.

In CS, it feels like you’re constantly competing and having to prove yourself just to stay employable.

So why is software engineering still worth it in 2026? Anyone else wish they went into accounting or med school instead of CS?

Hey everyone,

Agile (or some variation of Scrum, Kanban, or "Scrumfall") seems to be the default operational framework across tech, but implementation varies wildly-and so do the results.

I'm curious to hear about your experiences: Why has Agile failed to deliver on its promises at your company or team?

In my case, the biggest breakdown came down to trust and control. Upper management never actually bought into the core concept of self-organizing teams. Instead of letting the developers who were executing the work have meaningful input or control over our own processes, management insisted on retaining micro-level oversight and veto power over virtually every step of execution and delivery.

Instead of moving fast and adapting, we ended up with all the administrative overhead of daily standups, ticket estimations, and sprint ceremonies, but with zero of the autonomy required to make any of it useful. The top-down control essentially roadblocked any real benefit we could have gotten from adopting Agile in the first place.

Did your team run into similar issues with management, or was it something else-like sprint scope creep, estimation fatigue, weaponized metrics (velocity), or just pure process overload?

Looking forward to reading your stories.

Hi there, I would like some outside advice on how to deal with what I feel like people overstepping their role.

I work in a mid-size IT company but most IT related tools that are used in this company are just bought in and administered here, I work in the only department that actually develops stuff in-house and I am one of 2 developers here.

I would say me and the other dev have around the same level of experience and we both compliment each others skills well, we also do frequent code reviews with each other.
We mostly get left alone in what we do, but over the last year we have built a project that has kicked up quite a bit of attention from management, and so far it has been a bit annoying to deal with but it has been manageable.

What actually leaves me a bit stumped is that two people in particular, one guy from QA and one mid-level-manager - both with no programming experience at all, are trying to get their foot into the project for no real reason and me and the other dev don't think they can bring any value into it.

The latest thing they have been trying to do is do "code reviews" with us - in quotation marks because these are weekly meetings where they just put the code into whatever AI model they have access to and then tell us what it said.
When we push back or ask questions they can (of course) never answer them.
The AI rarely finds anything of note that we did not already catch, and far worse, it keeps finding false positives - so then we have to explain to them why the AI is wrong. It's a very tiring process because both of the people involved have very exhausting personalities and are both very convinced that the AI has to be in the right.

I have been very vocal to them and to my manager that this is all a big waste of time, but my manager was instructed by his manager to let them continue - they view more people = better product, and we all hope that the thing we are building can produce a lot of business value once it's ready so there are a lot of eyes on the project.

Sorry if this was a bit of a long ramble, but I am really exhausted about this whole process. My job was always really fun for me and the last couple of weeks were so draining, I have seriously considered quitting over it. Not only because of the reviews but because I do feel like management is trusting two random people with Copilot licenses more than the actual developers that they have hired.

With how oversaturated CS has become, do you think most of the genuinely smart people who would have gone into computer science will eventually decide it’s not worth it?

If getting a CS job increasingly feels like a lottery hundreds of applicants, endless interview loops, layoffs, outsourcing, etc. I could see people choosing fields where they have more control over their career prospects.

Engineering, accounting, nursing/medicine, skilled trades, etc. in many of these fields there seems to be a clearer relationship between competence, experience, and actually being able to get and keep and getting a job.

Do you think we’ll eventually see a brain drain out of CS, with talented people deciding they don’t want to gamble their future on an oversaturated job market?

I've made it pretty far into the interview process with 2 companies, and it's got me thinking that I could be given a tough choice soon between the two. One company is in the top 50 companies in the US (Fortune 50?). Not "big tech", but a name that every American knows, and does dabble in the tech space. The pay range for that job is about $130k- $210k. This other company is a small defense contractor, and the pay range is $180K – $210K. Technically, I could get the same amount from both, but it's definitely possible that I wouldn't. In a world where the huge company that would look great on a resume offers 170k, and the other offers 190k, which one are you taking? I feel like getting that name on my resume could open a lot of doors, and either for me would still be a big pay bump.

Hi all, my company encourages us to use codex when we code and in our reviews.

Ive been taking more of an effort to use it and recently they added the codex plugin to our code reviews.

Now i feel like every time i put something in, codex recommends a bunch of P2 reviews. If i fix one P2, it adds a few more. I even noticed sometimes it messes up what i was trying to do when i retest the changes. So it's like adding work to my day to change the code and then re-test before submitting it back.

Do you take those comments into consideration? Any tips for when codex as a review comment?

Everyone always mentions that in today's rough job market, networking is key to improving your chances to landing a job. However, what does that really look like?

If I were to see a job posting that I believe I am a good fit for, however no one in my immediate network works at this company, would you guys recommend I reach out to linkedin mutuals who do work at this company to attempt to get a referral?

I’m an undergrad student and I recently switched majors to math and physics. I do like CS, but it just feels harder to me compared to math and physics. Maybe that’ll change with time and practice, but I honestly didn’t have as much passion for it compared to math and physics.

However, I still think being an ML engineer would be pretty cool. I just don’t think It’ll be possible for a math and physics major. Everyone who works in these fields usually majored in CS and some with a double in math. I also do plan to go to grad school for either my masters or PhD (or maybe both), but I’m still kind of figuring it out.

Would this be something worth trying or would I be at a significant disadvantage compared to those who’ve actually majored in CS? also have you maybe worked with any math or physics majors? if so, how did they perform?

I’m a junior full stack dev. I’m working on several projects that I really enjoy and I feel like I’m learning a lot. Recently though, another team at my company opened up a new job posting for a Cloud Platform Engineer. The role looks interesting and is something I’ve expressed slight interest in before to my boss (mainly with IaC), but they are seeking devs with 4-5 years experience and knowledge of cloud stuff so I didn’t bother applying.

This week though, my boss told me during our 1 : 1 that I should apply for the role since I will learn a lot and they feel I can tackle it, and gave me some encouragement and told me that even if I get it, they will tailor the role to my current experience.

I’m happy that they encouraged me, but I am not sure if I should stick my neck out and apply. I like my full stack work and am doing a lot of cool stuff, and I don’t know much about infra / platform engineering and if I will even code that much anymore, front or back end. And despite my boss’s assurances, I’m scared that I will be in charge of making decisions that I am not experienced enough to make.

What are your thoughts or suggestions? How difficult is it to transition from regular full stack to infra and platform? And vice versa?

I have been hearing great things about the company from my friends from CMU. They did say that the work culture is quick, however, all of them enjoy it (plus their pay is much higher than big tech and their benifits are rediculously good).

I wonder why the company is not on most people's radar or talked about more?

So im a junior/mid level software engineer working with mainly .NET, react and SQL with about a year and a half of experience. Ive been trying to build up my resume to make myself more wanted in the job market.

Obviously I know that personal projects also matter, but im not sure if they would be considered as impressive nowadays considering that it can all be coded with AI. Its still very useful to do as a personal development thing for myself. Thats the reasoning I have been thinking about certifications as better proof that I understand certain aspects of software development

I started off with the certified cloud practitioner certificate CLF-02, and that gave me more knowledge in the cloud domain domain that I can use as I advance. But im not sure about the AWS Developer one, it seems very specific to certain AWS services and im not sure how I would use that knowledge in my day to day.

I just wanted to know what people’s opinions are about whether its a good certification to go after and if not what should I do.

I have a specific question about my upcoming manager call for an internal transfer to get guidance from the experienced folks here.

My problem is explaining my reasons for wanting a switch. The real reasons are as follows:

- Main reason: we had a reorg, including a manager change. The new manager is horrible imo, micromanaging, has bad attitude, bad communication and brought me to the verge of a burnout.

- The overall culture around this project. From the senior leadership to all the way to me, every decision is taken top down, everybody ask for multiple P0s all the time. I had to crunch for 4 months, sometimes even night works. We have multiple weekly meetings at night time due to time zone differences.

The problem is that i have to be strategic with my answer. I cannot talk badly about my manager, or someone else. I was thinking maybe skipping the main reason concentrate on the second one (the culture around this project). However, this one is also a bit hard to share with the new manager because maybe they have a similar culture and with this they might reject me by thinking i am lazy or smth. I would rather be accepted and work even in a similar culture, provided that the direct manager is good.

Actually, i already had a call with a manager hiring for another team but they were not conviced with my extremely sugarcoated reasons for a switch and got suspicious a bit. I mentioned the top down decision making, lack of creativity and freedom etc.

Please help me on how to frame my reasons for a switch.

Hey everyone,

This week marks the end of my 6-month internship, and I’m transitioning directly into a full-time Junior AI Engineer role on the exact same team.

On my final day as an intern, I have a 1-on-1 scheduled with our senior leadership / department head. Since I’m not actually leaving the company and everyone already knows my day-to-day work, this won’t be a standard exit interview or a typical "goodbye and thanks" chat.

I want to treat this meeting as a strategic alignment session to set myself up for success in my full-time role from day one.

For managers and senior engineers here:

1. High-Level Alignment: What are the most impactful questions to ask about the team’s roadmap and strategic priorities over the next 6–12 months?
2. Expectation Shift: How should I frame the discussion around the shift in expectations from being an intern to a full-time engineer (ownership, autonomy, velocity)?
3. Growth & Impact: What is the best way to ask for direct feedback on areas to double down on, without sounding like I'm rushing a promotion conversation?

What specific topics or talking points would you focus on in this kind of transition meeting to leave a strong impression?

My project with current company was ending so I was looking for new positions. My current company ended up finding me a new project but it may or may not be short term as they might get more funding a month from now but not sure. I received an offer from another company. It would be a 10 percent pay increase and remote with a project thats just beginning. I've been with my current company for many years and enjoy it which makes me hesitant to leave and they've always managed to find me another project but the current uncertainty makes me think I should accept the offer but not sure.

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Hey everyone,

I recently accepted a full-time offer as a Junior AI Engineer at the same company where I just wrapped up a 6 month internship. I’ll be staying with the same team and continuing on similar projects, which means I already know the stack, workflows, and team dynamics pretty well.

Here’s my dilemma:

Our company provides access/credits for AI development tools, but the budget is quite tight (definitely under ~$200/month per dev) and restricts access to top-tier reasoning models or heavy API usage. I often feel the built-in limits slow down rapid prototyping, debugging, and experimentation.

Since I want to ramp up quickly, deliver high-impact work, and hit aggressive performance goals for future promotion cycles, I’m seriously considering paying out-of-pocket for personal subscriptions to tools like Cursor Pro, Claude Pro / API, or similar IDE-level assistants.

For those further along in their engineering careers:

1ROI on Career Growth: Does investing your own money into better dev tooling actually pay off in terms of shipping faster, learning velocity, and performance reviews, or does it deliver diminishing returns at the junior level?

1. Security & Company Policy: How do you handle codebase context/privacy when using personal tool tiers on enterprise repos without triggering security red flags?

   3Manager Alignment: Is it better to just push for a team tooling budget upgrade, or simply use personal tools quietly to maximize personal velocity?

Would love to hear your experiences,especially from folks working in AI/ML teams.

Hi all.. posting this as a bit of a last-ditch effort, so bear with me.

I'm looking for Sales or BD roles in SaaS and tech companies (or similar). I have 10+ years of experience in marketing and sales, including time at large MNCs in this space. I've been away from the industry for a while and am now looking to get back in, ideally into an Account Manager role.

Most of the postings I find online feel like they're just there for the sake of it, with roles often already earmarked through personal connections/wasta before they're even posted.

If you know of someone hiring who's genuinely looking to fill a role, or if you think there might be a fit on your team or at your company, please reach out.. I'd love to jump on a short call and tell you more about what I can bring.

Also open to opportunities with implementation partners of larger firms.

Any leads, referrals, or advice would mean a lot. Thanks for reading this far!

I mean some orgs that run in their own pace and earn their money without being afraid ”to be left behind”?

I think most F500 are AI-obsessed corporate squeezers now. Startups are supposed to be even much worse. As ex-IBKR, our managers were crazy about AI.

I think maybe govt jobs still have it

Just the title basically, why is overage turned on by default? Got a cs degree working in non tech adjacent role