I didn't study CS. I was an English teacher. I spent 3 years studying web dev in my free time. I made an app that was reasonably successful (50k users) and got accepted for the first job I applied for. Your portfolio is your CV.
@@ndedpdeepepde288 Nobody with a brain would doxx themselves for youtube comments. It would be trivial to link them to their personal project, so obviously they are (hopefully) very unlikely to share it here.
It takes a lot of humility to publish such an unflinching analysis of yourself. That part where you talk about the sacrifices your family made to get you to the US and into a US university, and how you were failing to live up to their aspirations, or your friends politely listening to your entitlement - damn. Not only is your advice spot on here, you have earned my respect for your willingness to share your mistakes so you can help other people steer around them.
I've been there, and you just have to learn to not waste your time with these big software companies. They have to offer six figures because their hiring practices are laughable and insane.
The reason why i see you as inspiration is unlike other youtubers who paint an ideal unrelatable picture of themselves;I find you relatable,like you talk abt struggles etc.
Bro software engineers and tech people are always hiding something. They'll tell you their salary and company but they never mention all their failures and how hard they grinded and they'll act like they aren't working hard while they're behind the scenes, trying to get ahead of everyone else.
This is such an important video. Wanna-be programmers are being fed a lie of "super high demand" but the reality is that there is a demand only for EXPERIENCED programmers. At the end of the day all companies have problems that need to be solved TODAY, not in a few months time after you get your training. This is why they need experienced people who can pretty much start solving their problems immediately. That's the reality of any job in any field really and programming is no exception.
The truth within the lie is that some industries have a top of salaries, where there is the bottom of IT jobs. So demand and higher salaries relate only to the most talented.
This is my story too. I thought my CS degree would be enough. It took another year of self-study and countless rejections before landing my first software job.
Can you tell how u start to self study in detail? Like what language did u start with ? What did you prepare ? What was your flow like solving leetcode or making projects? Please reply i am really in need of a software job , It will be really helpful for your reply
@@siddhantkadam9013 No problemo, and one last thing. I know I put an emphasis on studying for technical skills, but make sure you work on soft skills too. That probably will weigh on much more in the deciding factor of you getting hired or not by a company. You'd be amazed with how much soft skills can do
@@olfrosty7174 Soft skills is basically just small details, like how your posture is, how the way you’re speaking to someone, holding eye contact, etc I would also say it could be how well you’re able to communicate your thoughts while solving technical questions as well.
Man, this is such a wake-up call to me. I've been putting off my responsibilities like doing university assignments and studying for upcoming exams since like 2 weeks ago. I guess letting my parents down is a strong fear for me. Thank you! I'll start working on myself from now on.
As someone who just finished a lengthy bootcamp and got their first job already, a big problem is the entitlement. These boot camps/college programs claim you’ll make $80-100k straight after graduation, and while that was true at some point, and is still true for a few people, the reality is, you might have to just take a low paying job for a year or two to get real experience and get your foot in the door
just finished week 1 in bootcamp. My main concern is if I will remember everything I learned so far at the end of the bootcamp as it is very fast pace.
“What did you do in school?” Similar words struck me hard when I was being interviewed at a big tech company. Till this day, it still stings and those words discourage me from applying to another job. Thank you for your story, I needed this. I will use this as empowerment towards another chance. Best of luck to you and your journey to towards your ultimate goal.
@@ThyCrossroadss It's most likely from the interpreted meaning. Maybe the interviewer didn't mean it this way but it definitely comes off as suggesting you have been slacking off and wasting the last X years of your life.
@@cmelch Basically if you don't have side projects that show the interviewer you have applied what you learned in school, that means you probably have little credibility in your skill. Also, it would feel discouraging that you haven't done something great with your education yet to show off to give people a reason to hire you.
Honestly never thought I would find someone talk about their journey word for word exactly the same way I felt, including in high school and job. Thanks for this video.
As a professional with CS background, I would let you know the reality these years. A CS degree is not so useful from around 10 years ago. Most companies use leetcode style code test to screen candidates. No matter what is your major, you have to pass it. So many non CS people just spent time in leetcode or similar all day. Another cruel reality is that even you have gained years of experience, the interview is still leetcode style code test to start with, and you are competing with people all over the world who spent nearly everyday on leetcode. That is the reason I left the software career because life just gets harder when you are older
I have a CS degree, nearly 2 decades of programming experience, more knowledge and skills than ever before, am acing every interview, and hearing nothing back. Even when I did have a job they treated me like garbage because they knew I'd be easy to replace and that programmers are afraid of losing our jobs since they're so hard to find now. I've had to withdraw my IRA to survive which means that I won't have anything for retirement and will have nothing if I can't find a job before my savings run out. If I could go back in time, I'd go into some medical field like nursing for the elderly or something or maybe a lab tech.
As a fellow cs grad(2019) I felt this video heavy. Wish there was more videos like this showing the realities of getting a job in this industry. How saturated it's become. Every other ad on my feed tries to pitch "break into tech in like two months", or influencers talking about how they pivoted w/zero experience in a ridiculous amount of time. It just amplifies my anxiety and my imposter syndrome. Like bro I'm trying to get in WITH a degree and I'm having a hard time.
You're not alone. I've had to pivot to things that actually make money so I can keep up with bills. This guy would have never made this video had he not eventually found a job. How many poor souls are out there burdened with debt and a skill thats quickly being pushed out of demand by oversaturation and ai? They don't make a video when they don't get the job.
I’ve come to terms that finding a niche, and filling that is the best way to find a job. Get specific and find local companies that need help with their specific needs. Learn what’s needed and apply then. Also a profolio helps impress a lot of job interviewers
Growing up in Brazil wasn't easy, my family didn't have a lot of money and my parents had 4 children to feed. I always went to public school (awful standards in Brazil) and by the time I got to high school, I didn't even know what I wanted to do with my life. My mom, on the other hand, having been through so much hardship to raise all 4 of us, forced me into a technical school to learn programming and IT. Boy, I'm thankful for her decision to this day. That led me to a CS degree later on and because of our financial situation, I was forced to work the entire time I was in college. I used to think this was a tough situation and that I would have liked to socialize more and have time to enjoy other things other than study and work all day every day. But now at 34, living in the US, earning a steep paycheck, and being able to help my family back home, I can see it was all worth it and wouldn't change it. The moral of the story is, sometimes growing up in less-than-ideal situations can be the push you need to grow in life.
I'm in a similar situation to yours, but in the beginning of my journey. Fellow Brazillian, 22, working and studying full-time so I can still pay the bills and possibly become a self-taught developer in the future. Man, it's hard... Hope I can do it too just like you did. The market isn't being nice, but I'll keep going.
@@danielflorencio9661 keep pushing, my friend. It's all a matter of being good at what you do + patience. The second is the hardest part, but it does take time for things to take off.
Rodrigo, você acha que vale a pena começar no estudo de programação atualmente com o avanço das IA? Eu acabei de pedir minha baixa do exército e me interessei bastante pela área mas não sei nada sobre programação e me preocupo sobre a obsolescência do fator humano em um futuro próximo
Doesn't stop once you have a job either. For the first 4-5 years of my career, I made very little progress and got paid very little money. For some reason I thought just having a degree and YOE would automatically put me up for promotions. No, it doesn't work that way. Only once I started taking my job seriously by actively studying and improving my technical expertise, did I start getting praises from my boss/colleagues and getting some serious raises and promotions. Nothing worthwhile in life comes for free. Nothing will change if you do nothing.
@Ben go Just curious, how did you study ? I’m in my second cs year, and just thinking about the future after graduation and looking for a job gives me huge anxiety. It’s one of my biggest worries to graduate and never be able to find a job
@@madgaal I'm not in CS. But I think it's important to keep an open mind to other people's ideas/advice, always be looking for ways to improve the quality and efficiency of your work, and have genuine curiosity and interest in your work and learning more about your work. Dunning-Kruger effect is real. The more ignorant you are, the more likely you are to be ignorant about what's more that's out there. So be humble. If you ever think you already know everything there is about a subject, do a hard reality check. It's probably not the case. One specific thing I find helpful is to watch videos of how other people would solve a problem and compare it to how I would solve it. Do an analysis on what they're doing that's better and what's worse, making sure I understand everything they're talking about. Regarding your first job and getting your career started, skills and experience are everything. Get as many internships as you can. Don't be too concerned about company brand name or how much they'll be paying you. Those things are nice ofc but you should focus on opportunities that can help you learn and get the most experience. Your school and degree are just new grad checklist items. Employers usually don't care about those things after your first or second job. When looking for a job, you need to take it seriously. Apply to many places and personalize your applications. Reasearch and know what it takes to land the jobs you're applying to (ie doing LC and useless interview shit like that so you can pass the technical part of an interview). Looking for a job is itself a job.
Free? Degrees cost money. The problem is the whole CS degree is fraud. You dont even need a degree but they tell you that you do and how in demand that you will be only to graduate with debt that you will never be able to repay with a worthless piece of paper.
As someone who was unemployed for two years after graduating from college with a CS degree, I can attest to the fact that tech interviews are BRUTAL! I probably submitted thousands of applications before I got my software job.
@youssefessam3164 I did a coding boot camp during that time and several projects. Honestly, I got very lucky and still managed to land the job I have now, even with a resume gap.
I didn't graduate, I actually dropped out and learned full stack web dev in 3 months (day and night studying).. I then spent 16ish hour days making a bunch of apps, complete with Rest API's and full comment sections, mobile dev'd, yada yada... and this was fantastic but... what really got me through a door was when I started searching as low as 40k salary. I only had 2 interviews, both for the same employer, after 100+ applications. My second interview was with the owner, and it lasted like 3 hours. I really blew him away with my knowledge and understanding. I knew some stuff he didn't even realize. Anyways, I did like 80% of the talking and I started the next day at 50k after the job being post around 45k. So point is, you gotta be able to tune your expectations down.
You said 3 months???? Well done dude. I might want to learn this and coding. Any tips to start? I will be starting a full time job as electrician apprentice this week so I won’t have as much time as you
This is why ppl need to realize that the whole go to college/uni for a degree to a get a job path is not as safe as ur parents made u think it was. At the end of the day, u need to take control of ur own destiny, and not let it be controlled by others.
It's still useful. I landed a DE job with 0 experience, and have since built alot of personal projects in various languages, and am going for a MS in CS to boost my potential, as after graduating i'll have 2+ years experience + a masters, which makes it way easier to get a $200k+ job, especially cus i don't like to spend every day coding and building a portfolio
@@ci6516 No they don't... It's literally the opposite. Most people don't even ask about your degree or look for one. They look at your projects and skills.
I wish anyone looking for a software developer job good luck. I hope you guys succeed. I’m currently unemployed, studying from scratch (no degree/experience) so I know the road ahead is going to be long and difficult. I’m already feeling episodes of worthlessness during this journey. But no matter how dark this tunnel is, I’m going to keep making steps forward until I reach the end. Wish you all the strength to grit your teeth and keep moving forward!
i wish you luck my man i hope you will achieve what you want i am currently a 1st year college and i am also going through a similar road as i learnt the worthlessness if college and know that getting that piece of paper with a sign on it isnt gonna do anything the power is with you work hard the journey is not always rosy but it is fulfilling once you reach the end goodluck my guy
You got this Justan!! 😎I suggest taking a look at Teddy Smith's youtube channel as well as TheNetNinja youtube channel. Those will definitely help you along your coding journey
I feel like the numbers game is pretty a big contributor. There are definitely people I know who work super hard and are skilled but don't get gigs through "linear" job applications. Then there are people who maybe aren't super skilled, or maybe even average at what they do, but get gigs because they knew someone. Sometimes getting a gig is just charisma, people skills, and communication. So it really does come down to a combination of luck, your experience/knowledge, and who you know.
Well done and relatable. I had no jobs lined up at graduation (same year as you, coincidentally) and so it was a bittersweet moment and maybe even more bitter due to a low GPA and no internships. at all. I quickly had to grow up and shape myself in the months following and yet also had to regress a bit by moving back in with the parents. Humbling, humbling experience, especially coming back home with only a piece of paper. Also, not surprised to hear your friends on their silence or quick change of topic when bringing up touchy, professional matters. Friends meet up to escape from their professional life, not marinate in it with others... That'd be a miserable time otherwise. I will admit you were lucky to be surrounded by such successful friends, even if it was just for a bit of context about the working world in software. I didn't even have that much and had to figure it all out on my own.
"What did you do in school?" That line hit me hard. My answer: I had awesome social life, bartended at a local college bar and made a ton of friends. I thought I was "the sh*t" because I would ace my calc exams while still being drunk from the night before. Now I have a CS degree and I can't find a job. I know I would be able to perform well as a software engineer, but my biggest mistake was spending ZERO time figuring out how I was going to prove that to a hiring manager. I don't stand out on paper at all because my lack of preparation. My advice to anyone still in college would be to start figuring out ASAP how you're going to make yourself stand out from your peers. If you don't think it's that important right now, just read through the rest of the comments on this video.
The biggest regret that most 90 years old in hospices was working too much. You must have balance. You can't be a workaholic and have a great and healthy social life.
@OmegaF77 it's the difference between living to work and working to live. The former is unhealthy because we only get one run around in this lifetime. If we die tomorrow, all that money is worthless. My advice is always focus more on being sufficient over being rich. If you can pay your bills and have money left, you're a success
Everyone can't "stand out" - it's literally impossible, and a race to the bottom in terms of quality of life. If tech is not your dream, and you've hit an 800-foot wall after so much time...simply move on. It's a very saturated field these days, and not the be-all, end-all that so many make it out to be.
If your in college, change your major. I've been in software development for over 20 years, and almost all the work that I've done is for free or freelance.
I've been a software developer for nearly 20 years, have a CS degree, am acing interviews, but hearing nothing back. I agree that if someone is in college, CS will not help much in getting a job. Changing majors is not a bad idea. The medical jobs is probably still a good bet.@@MaxAbramson3
Not a SWE but in my field, design. This happens to so many people to. Kids get to their senior year and think they'll just get an internship handed to them with no good projects on their portfolio or work experience. Hopefully this video finds the people who need the wakeup call.
Fellow Software Engineer here, I felt you a lot when you talked about parents(I am also asian). I am happy that you landed on a job! You might not be at where you wanted to be in the beginning but you will get there if you keep trying. I am in my career almost 2 years and had a recent promotion this year so I am trying to jump to other companies and your video is really motivational and inspirational. It reminds me of how desperate I was right out of the college. I needed this. Thanks man! Wish you the best in your life!!!
Broo, graduating without a job That night, going home and realising it’s just the abyss while your friends all have grad jobs. That was scary and dark. Then realising all the best jobs were taken up by people that already applied for internships and grad roles prior to graduating.
Jesus this sounds exactly like me but it took me longer. Graduated thinking a degree would be enough to land a job. Boy was I wrong, and on top of COVID it was so hard to get something. After 6 months of doing side projects with no luck in a job, I also took a bootcamp thinking that would help land me a job. During my bootcamp I got an unpaid internship that I actually couldn't perform in and was let go. I graduated from the bootcamp and still couldn't find a job. After countless rejections for the past year in a half, it really destroyed me that one night at a friends wedding, I tried to drink the pain away and got into big trouble with the law. I've never felt lower and wanted end my life. After a few weeks, I finally landed a position as a web developer
I don’t have a tech degree. I’m graduating from my bootcamp in about two months but I started applying a few months ago and I’d spend 1-3 hours everyday just applying to jobs because I duly wanted out of the job I was working before. I probably submitted about 6-700 applications. I got hired in my first Dev role late February. It isn’t a remote job but it’s something and I’m grateful for it and the team I work with. If I could say anything it’s just keep applying. Statistically your time will come and don’t take rejections personally.
@@donaldbowler4514 it took me 2 months after graduating and starting to apply , but that number is going to vary for everyone and can have a factor of luck, experience , or networking
it shoudnt be this difficult to SURVIVE - to be able to put food on the table, a place to live, utilies, etc and after all the work you put in to become a developer is no easy feat. This all is so diseheartning.
This is an interesting insight. I'm not working in the software engineering field, but I was definitely lucky. I was born and raised in a small town in the Canadian province of Quebec, isolated from the city centers. In high school, all I was doing of my free time was playing video games. I was never studying or preparing whatsoever for exams, but I always managed to get notes that are higher than the average. What truly helped me was the fact that I was studying in a bad high school where students were mostly fated to become manual workers (we need manual workers as well, this is not necessarily a bad thing) and I was the intellectual one who couldn't use a hammer or fix anything with my hands. Anyway, I was really interested in social sciences, more specifically political science. When the time came, I moved to Montreal (500 km away from my hometown) to study in political science in the highest ranked French-speaking university in Quebec. Normally I shouldn't have been accepted because my rates in math and science were horribly bad. I had to convince them that my very high grades in French, English, history, sociology, philosophy, etc., were compensating a lot considering that political science has nothing to do with mathematical logic or natural sciences. When I arrived at university, I realized how dumb I was because I was surrounded by students who graduated from the best colleges in Quebec and abroad (Stanislas, Jean-de-Brébeuf, Sciences Po Paris, etc). My work ethics didn't change much, I was doing my homework late, I didn't study prior to exams and didn't apply for internships. I only relied on the fact that I was politically involved at the federal level and that meeting politicians would eventually bring me to the top political positions (political advisor for the Foreign Minister for example). However since I wasn't wealthy and I had to work part time to make ends meet (pay my tuition fees and my rent), it soon became clear that I couldn't be the volunteer that would make the difference and that some rich kids who didn't need to work part time had much more time and energy to spend on volunteering and getting their name recognized. When I graduated, I worked for a few years in a call center at the minimum wage. One day, a friend of mine who got a job in a call center but for an actuarial firm (a big name in the industry) advised me to apply because they were looking for folks to assist retirees and answer their questions about their pension plans. He told me that I do not need any past experience or knowledge, they have a knowledge base in their system where I can go get the info and I would be trained before taking inbound calls. After a year working in that call center, I became so familiar with pension plans and the pension regulations that I applied for a job in the pension administration for a very well known multinational company. I was hired because of my knowledge of how pension plans work. I started with a very basic entry level salary and position. But over the years, they upskilled me and offered me to take more responsibilities. Now I'm acting as an analyst for death claims. I can work remotely from anywhere on my laptop, my salary is not very high but good enough to have some savings and travel the world during my vacations. The job is not very stressful (but it was when I started because the learning curve was tough for me and there were management problems that eventually got fixed when a new manager came in with good values of work-life balance and work ethics).
This is a video that every high school senior and college freshman needs to see. Thank you for making this video, your journey and experience is really raw and relatable and I think this will impact many people. Keep creating homie ❤.
Being an Electronics Engineering student in 3rd year, this was such an important video for me. Thank you so much. I have been applying for internships, but either getting rejected or not getting any reply. I know I have to make better projects, and do even more questions on LeetCode. At least, that's what I think I need to do. I love your videos! Keep up the good work!
same experience bro. It's during these times you understand the true value of your parents. people come and go in our lives but only these guys will stick around every step of the way.
I'm a senior in highschool who is about to graduate in a month and I've had this same experience where I procrastinated thinking about my life after high school and now I'm worrying about what will happen after graduation. This video really inspired me to think ahead long term about what I want to do after highschool and how I will do it.
Ong man I’m a senior too things really hit on new years cause man we about to graduate dawg 😂 so I’ve been grinding my way through coding and man I wish you the best let’s both GET THIS DEGREE.
Dude, I seriously thank you for this. I found a lot of comfort in this and just like yourself, my circumstances definitively forced me to rethink a lot. It's nice knowing that there is someone/others just like me who've had this reflective moments and tbh at one time of another got lucky but is still working their way up. LGI fam!
As a SWE with about 35 years of experience, I think this is all spot-on, and you deserve some major credit for being so perceptive and self-reflective at such a young age. I'd also add that your advice is critical to take when you're young and still have the fire and energy of youth - it's a lot easier to push yourself to put the work in and make real changes before time and the responsibilities of life have worn you down a bit. As much as a lot of older folks like to talk smack about the younger generations, as an older GenX'r I've found you guys are generally a lot more on top of things than my generation was when we were your age and the only API/framework you really needed to know for PC development was the MS-DOS int 21 interface and how to deal with 8086 small/large memory models.
I’ve found it a super honest story👏 I studied a MSc IT and I’m here with an H1B visa which makes everything even tougher. Master doesn’t help at all, exp neither. What will help is a good connection with the interviewers, that’s all. I trained myself to code a BFS, DFS, Graph, … all from scratch, sort algorithms and all weird stuff you can find in internet. Even though you need lucky. They told me I need certifications, I got some and I’m getting new ones… same results. Finally, the interviewers look for what they want, not what they need (or the company need).
“People won’t change unless they are forced to change.” Really true. It’s all about the mindset. To begin that journey of change, you need to fix your mindset.
Thank you so much. I really need this talk during the hard time. I failed 8 interviews in the final round within the past six months and every time I thought I aced it but it turned out I failed and I'm so disappointed. I believe there are people out there same with me and still thriving to get their first job and I wish you all the best!
Getting an internship is the best thing I was able to do college. I’m able to graduate and work full time and applying to other companies is a lot easier ( I still get rejected a lot lol). I went through this when I was trying to get my first internship. It gets better guys. For all you guys in this predicament keep going. It only takes one yes
Yeah, it really is incredibly important to get that internship. Otherwise you have to compensate quite a bit with strong projects, strong website, connections and that could be harder than getting the initial internship in college.
@@human-ft3wk I have an Associate's and managed to get my first job during that time by luck. Back when I was in college, I was worried about how to get my first work experience, that I didn't know how I was supposed to go about it. Now I realized after my first job, that it's just doing internships. I stressed myself out for no reason not realizing that I could have just applied to any internship positions and get experience leading to a job offer. There's no losing risk with internships. But how was I supposed to realize that after high school and in college. Better late than never, but damn internships would have helped me a ton. I know a girl who has had various jobs after college, and she never did internships but friends she know did. Now she's a business analyst for a healthcare IT company.
@@Melbester9 The Problem with many Internships after graduation is that these companies will not accept you because they only take enrolled students at universities.
@youssefessam3164 And thats the issue for people that didn't do internships in college. They get screwed after they graduate and not knowing they were supposed to do internships.
@@Melbester9 The entry level market is currently effed up no matter how you look at it. The best choice is to make sure you get internships and find jobs through your college career fair. Looking for entry level positions through LinkedIn or Indeed as a fresh graduate on your own is a hellish experience
I applied for 80 Data Science Internships, and worked my ass off to build a portfolio before getting a simple "Internship". Yes, we all think it's a walk in the park until we meet reality and realize it's indeed a marathon.
@@richardwayne5452 there is a shortage of experienced people. Companies have to invest in you for your internship because you wont be making any profit in the first few months
It's relieving to read people's journeys here. Having hard time and failing at first, even many times, seems to be more like a rule than an exception. Thank you for sharing, this makes me feel a little better about my possible future failures. Anxiety disorder (or any other mental illness) and job hunting is a tough mix.
This is extremely relatable. Graduated at a pretty decent university with a B.A. in Computer Science and I've been applying for a few months now. I needed to hear this though because I was studying Leetcode problems for a while and I got a couple interviews, but then things slowed down. And as I was getting fewer responses, I also stopped going through Leetcode problems. I have a few opportunities now that I don't want to screw up. Gotta get back on track. Thank you.
Nice dude. That’s literally my job hunt experience. Summary of the story: try to make a habit around learning new skills and technology so that you are always upskilling/learning new skills incrementally and can pass your future interviews with flying colors
I just got out of grad school with top university back in 2011 right after financial crisis. Getting an interview was such a big achievement. If you landed a job or an internship then you were a mega star. It was terrible times and I really don’t want anyone to experience those days again!
Yeah that is definitely something that affected me too. Through society and our social circles, we are conditioned to think that just because we have a C.S degree, we are entitled to a six-figure salary right out of college. And boy does it hurt when we actually get a taste of reality.
@@syrus1233 basically this. I make slightly more than an unskilled servant job like Mac Donald’s. 22-24k (24 now I guess cos it’s April) it’s very painful to know I worked so hard and got such little for it but that’s life
@@syrus1233 my first job and current job , I started at 65k before bonuses , I am now base salary of 74k , but the last 2 years I have been slightly above 90k including bonuses. Been at the job for like 3 and 1/2 years now
I was incredibly lucky. That’s it. Incredibly lucky to have heard about the right thing at the right time, and have put my full self out there like I always do. The interviewer liked my passion. Somehow, insanely, looked past the fact I was a freshman, and I got an internship that panned out to be a part time job, with a informally guaranteed job after college. One of the top ten best things to happen to me, honestly. Maybe top five.
3rd year of college rn and ngl its scary knowing that my education alone wont make me a good candidate because I'm sure that's exactly what everyone thought going into college. i understand that I need to take accountability now for my future if I want to have a say in how I'm looking after college. appreciate the honesty in the video
Its your 3rd year, you got time. I just gradated in May and I'm in the exact situation as the guy in the video. 0 prep is dangerous. Start doing side projects/interships/leetcode during your time left, it should help a lot
this video was comforting since I'm going through a similar situation. I started college with so many plans and at the beginning I used to study a lot, but then I started to work (internship) and suddenly I didn't have the time or was too tired to study. I was an intern in four different tech places, but I didn't code, it was mostly support because the software engineer internship always required experience (it gets me angry everytime). Now I just graduated and I'm losing my current internship, none of my goals were ever completed and I don't know how to program. It's like I watched my life being thrown away.
I had a 3 year career gap during Covid. I thought this was normal. Turned out the opposite. I was rejected by pretty much every company. I had a PhD in Stats and currently pursuing a CS master. I try not to overthink and not to let myself fall into depression, but man, this is hard! It’s hard for me to get up in the morning everyday to receive tons of rejection emails and then continue to apply for positions and then do leetcode…I hope there was a support group for me and for anyone who is struggling in the same situation. I don’t see an end 😢
I believe in you, just don't give up! Maybe the reason why you're like this is because life prepared a really great thing for you but will show itself later but soon❤
I'm also feeling the same, going through job application, getting rejection, and have to get up trying again is HARD. Very hard when you also feel as a burden to your family and a failure compared to your friends. Aging is also not helping at all, I just hope everything will get better. All the best for everyone out there going through same process of finding meaning in life, we can do this!
UM PHD IN STATS?? Get a job as a quant bro. They make an ungodly amount of money and I think they just never get layoffs because I never see the quant profession spoken about o the news. Like you can easily make 6 figures
A fellow anteater! Currently in my last year there for computer science (: I transferred and they dont tell you in community college how important getting an internship is in your college years. Back in the day, it was considered "extra", but in the SWE world, you're basically looked at like you are unemployable if you havent had a SWE internship or any sort of volunteer experience. My biggest advice to anyone pursing CS or SWE is to grind every Fall to apply to as many summer internships as possible, and if it doesnt work out, join a club that BUILDS! At UCI, the club CTC builds software for free for local non profit organizations. It really does give you the professional experience you need! Thanks for the video
With all due respect. No kid out of high school should be so focused on academic achievement that they forget to be a kid. Less so at college level but still you did graduate and if that is not enough go get a job after 600 applications then there are some serious societal problems that are beyond your control. If everyone out of college needs to be Einstein level super genius level to get an entry level job, then good luck to us all when AI takes over.
I don't know if he was looking for entry level job though. My friend got an entry level job within 2 months paying 40k. Some people in CS expect 100k+ with no experience thinking that they are still in demand and wonder what is wrong lol
@@davidyang3068thats a big thing too. My friend was in a similar situation. Fresh out of school for animation and computer graphics with barely a portfolio to show and he was applying to big name companies towards mid level positions with a resume that looks like a teenager made it(followed his professors advice who was probably out of touch). After tempering his expectations which was painful but necessary wake up call things worked out and was able to find some work that can lead him to the job he wants. Its good to be confident but its important to understand that you are not where you think you are yet.
Spot on. This is why studying CS today is never worth the effort today. The amount of struggle and sacrifices you need to put into the whole process, just to have a slight chance of finding a job is hilarious.
@@TimePlayerOfficial you have to legitimately like CS otherwise you won't be making it through the countless hours of study it takes. if you really like it and want to pursue it in the face of all this than that's great, I wish you the best. but if you don't like CS to the point of taking a chance on it than don't. there are plenty of careers out there that are just as good if not better. And you can very much still learn CS and use it to supplement your skillset.
It's not a pep talk. Very few videos I've come across that spit facts like this one. Please do whatever is in your power to be the best of version of yourself, in whatever field you're pursuing. The path is not easy and involves many compromise, but it's all going to be much better than the regret of not putting in the work earlier. My best wishes to you!
Hey KC, I just want to say thank you for this video. Although the situation is totally different form you, I'm 44 years old Japanese in Japan, one of grats from a bootcamp last year to try to change my life, and had been struggling to find a job. I somehow found your 600 rejections story 2 month ago, which gave me passion not to give up. Finally got offered last week.
Do you know which is more difficult to find a job in the United States or Japan? Is it harder to be the same age in the United States, or easier than in Japan?
i'm 3rd year cs student. i'm panicking about my life after college, the expectation from my family and my friends made the stress worse. this video is really insightful, i might learn from your mistakes or my own😅
Oh goodness gracious, I just decided to make the switch to be a software engineer. I enrolled into a boot camp program that starts this October. If a CS graduate had a hard time finding employment I can't imagine what I might go through. I appreciate the honesty here man, sometimes in life we lose focus, we're human. Thankfully you found something solid that works for you. I just hope I find the same at the end of my course.
Me after graduate from computer science, I applied for easy job (such as Desktop engineer) and got in. So I worked as Desktop IT engineer for 2+ years but I study programming and do researching at my free time. By then, I've saved money and so I could use the money for anything (buy domain for website/ deployment and stuff...). Yup I don't just plan to land a job in a company as a software engineer, but I plan to CREATE MY OWN BUSINESS. With that mindset, I'm able to create portfolios and slowly consistently learn latest programming topics and leetcodes. Also I watched technical interviews. Then I applied for programming jobs and got in my first job as software engineer after 3 years of being desktop engineer. Point is, try to get a job in anywhere as long as you have some free time and work life balance. So you can use the free time to practice or create your own business. Also, you can do freelancing for practice.
Holy shit man this is the exact thing I came through, but after finding my first job and spending a year there. Early career stagnation was killing my mental health. My friends were getting higher pay, investing in a bunch of different assets, and making progress in their careers at the time ... I was so clueless about the whole career thing. It very embarrassing to think back to periods you have outgrown, but it's part of everyone's growth process. I didn't quite understand why my friends responded to my naive outlook back then that way, but now it's definitely because they have outgrown me at the time and were not straightforward enough to tell me the better. Obviously, I formed friendships with better friends who are more honest and direct. Realising "I'm not smart, I'm not special" is huge. It can be a little hard for those who get straight A's and luckily get jobs right after college.
I'm an English teacher who recently has started studying programming for like 5 months now, and prior to that I studied basic IT to learn about everything tech related. Right now, I'm going through the same struggles and I feel very behind compared to others who have already been working/studying for years and not having a degree related to CS is also something that makes me feel insecure, but despite that, I just keep going to build more projects and study to learn more. When I search for the job market, mostly all that I can see is jobs that are for people with diplomas, or some sort of experience. I'm even willing to work for free until I gain some experience and show some work experience on my resume but it seems like companies expect more professional and experienced employees so until I get to that level, I will need to work on my own to create such projects that I can finally say that I have experience of some sort. I encourage all of you who are like me, to keep going no matter what. Plus, feel free to contact me and collaborate!
I have a degree in CS. For anyone who feels insecure about not having a CS degree I would recommend studying a "Data Structures and Algorithms" online course by yourself. That's some of the most important stuff in the degree and doesn't take years to learn.
Im in that moment exactly right now. Thought i was completely ready to get a job, but when i start aplying im watching my confidence get down. I will not give up, will keep learning and doing. Im gonna be a great software engineer no matter how many time take me. I got this. Thanks for this video.
@@qTnationX you’re only at 50? Not gonna lie it may not be the best career for you. Even after finding a job resilience is a must. At least if you’re not some kind of genius. If you’re serious then keep going until someone gives you a shot. Small companies will be your best bet, that’s how I got my first gig. I did Wordpress for 6 months. Absolutely sucked but well worth it
Finding your first job is a humbling experience for everyone. You will adjust your expectation and skills and find something suit you. Have some faith and keep going.
Thanks for sharing and glad it worked out for you after all. Self-esteem and communication are major factors in getting hired. The time you put into writing and understanding software and software systems is a lot more important for how successful you'll be on the job. Degrees, boot camps, etc. can be accelerators for learning but ultimately will not prepare you if you don't prepare yourself.
It takes more strength to admit one’s mistake than to not make the mistake. It’s also easy to downplay one’s achievement by associating it with luck. You landed the job not because of luck but because you realized your mistake and were willing to fix it - not many people can. And to others who are still struggling: never give up!
This video truly captures the frustration and anxiety that comes with job searching. It can be incredibly overwhelming to send out countless resumes and cover letters, only to receive rejection after rejection. But it's important to remember that this is a common experience and it doesn't define your worth or abilities. Keep pushing forward, stay positive, and eventually the right opportunity will come your way. Thank you for sharing this important message
I am the guy at the end of high school, looking for colleges but not ending up with good marks ends up in rejections. I thought that my life was tough, no one understood me but as I am slowly growing mentally and improving myself, I am able to see the bigger picture. My delusions of being unique and special has now come to stop and become something being a procrastinator through my life. Like you, I am able to see the pain and disappointment in my parents eyes, I am not even able to make eye contact, but listening to you I think I know what I should do. I am sharing this because there was something buried in me , feeling of being in a jar, and now as I am opening up I know I feel better. And yeah, I will work hard for the next four years and try to make something of my life and look up to my parents, look into their eyes , hand them the job letter and see the glimpses of a pride I was never able to see!!
To be honest. No company should expect a fresh graduate to know anything beyond what they learned at university. They should focus on the PERSON behind the wheel instead. It just seems to me that companies focus on the wrong thing all the time.
I think it should be a bit more than what they learned at university. We all know students have spare time to learn additional things provided that they don't work in a part time job.
I feel incredibly lucky for securing and having the opportunity to be a Software Engineering Apprentice, been working here 7 months now from the age of 18 and finally picking up some valuable skills
As someone on the exact opposite end of the spectrum (i.e never gotten rejected for a job I've interviewed for, and at this point there have been about 4 different ones) I think it's important to highlight some points from this video and really emphasize just how important they are. 1. He stated that he started to fall off in college and didn't really do any kind of personal projects. This is sooo important. When I was in school almost all of my free time went to doing personal projects - specifically creating things I was passionate about. When I got interviews I was able to talk about these projects along with all of the skills they taught me (i.e network protocols, process memory, etc...). My interviewers almost always commented on how interested I seemed in the subjects. This is essential. 2. He stated that he did not get an internship in college. Going to college and getting a degree without doing an internship is almost worse than not going to college at all, in my opinion. It gives the impression that you're lazy, which is one of the worst possible things an interviewer can think about you. Additionally, internships are your exposure to the real world. College degrees are great for introducing you to a topic, but barely teach you any practical real world skills. A person walking out of a college with a computer science degree is, in almost all accounts, a novice programmer/engineer. College simply cannot teach you the skills you need in a real world environment. That is what internships are for. You should be pursuing internships the moment you get into college. Getting one as a freshmen is difficult, but not impossible. However, you should absolutely have one by sophomore year, and continue having internships for the remainder of your college career (whether that be at the same company or multiple different ones doesn't really make a difference). 3. He stated that he thought it would be easy to get a job for these tier 1 tech companies. The key here is connections. You can be qualified for a job and still not get it. This is because there are multiple applicants for every job opening. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you will get an offer simply because you are capable. The reality is, you need to be overqualified for the position. Someone that knows react/node/data structures is qualified for a full stack position at google. However, someone that knows the aforementioned things and has built multiple full stack applications in use by different companies is also qualified. Guess which one they're going to choose. Now imagine someone that has done all of the above AND has a referral from within the company. Give yourself every advantage. In addition to personal projects, you should be networking in college. Go to career fairs, talk to your classmates, join clubs related to your field, keep in touch with people from your high school going into the same field as you, etc... You really never know where a connection will come in handy. 4. Just from reading through the comments... I see a lot of talk about the industry being saturated and how there really aren't that many empty positions. This is simply not true. There are still a ton of positions. Unfortunately, the difficult truth you have to accept is that you're either not qualified, or you don't appear to be qualified to the recruiter. You should look at job applications the same way you would look at writing software. Don't blame the computer when the program doesn't do what you expected. It's your code that is the problem 99.9% of the time. After starting full time at my first position after college, I helped out with the company's internship program. I was in charge of interviewing/selecting candidates for the team I was leading. We had six slots on my team, and about 50 for the entire internship. Additionally, we had hundreds if not thousands of resumes/applications for these slots. Now I bet you're reading this and thinking... well that literally goes against what you just said - way more applicants than seats. You're only partially correct. I read through every resume, and had a very difficult time filling my seats. This is not because it was hard to choose between the very qualified candidates. It was because, out of the hundreds/thousand resumes very few were even worth considering for more than a second. You'd be surprised at how poor your competition's resumes are. I'm talking no personal projects whatsoever - they just listed their coursework (news flash, everyone applying for the job with your degree has those classes as well). Additionally, some of them had completely misspelled basic words. Things like that show very little attention to detail - especially when you can just use spellcheck. Poor wording of sentences was also very common. Additionally, the resumes were extremely generic. There was nothing on there indicating that they would be good for *this* job. I get it - a lot of people like to play the numbers game. That's fair, but know that generic resumes really won't get you far, which is part of the reason you have to play the numbers game in the first place. Every job I have applied to had a tailored resume, and everyone gave me an interview followed by an offer. Find out what this job position cares about. Try reaching out to people on linkedin doing that job at that company. You'd be amazed at how much of an edge that gives you. Finally, don't lie on your resume. I can't tell you how many candidates I interviewed that had a stellar looking resume, and then didn't remember half of the things they put on it, or couldn't speak to it at all. I had one candidate from Harvard say he had built a debugger from scratch. This is something I had also done in college, so it peaked my interest. When I asked him about it... he didn't even remember it was on his resume. Red flag, but ok fine... so I asked him some technical questions about how debuggers work... he had no clue. I nicely ended the interview and removed him from the pool so that no other teams would interview him either. Bit of a long comment, but these are the things I've really noticed, and what I found to be the most beneficial for me. Hopefully this helps someone looking for a job, and good luck!
Yes, it was long comment, but every single sentence in your comment bears important aspects of what novice/fresh programmer should expect in the real world. I applaud your time and effort for putting out such critical points.
I also didn't study CS. I have bachelor degree in Biophysics, but decided to spend 3 months of my last year learning C++ from free sources: web, TH-cam. After summer holidays I was able to find a job as C++ developer making 30k$ a year. I am not from US - in my country I am in top 0.5% by salary already, and that's only a start for me. Hoping to make it to some big tech companies in a year or two
i don't usually comment on youtube videos, but this was one of the most eye-opening videos i've seen in a while. i'm a first yr studying computer engineering also at uci and my attitude up until now has been very similar to what you have described. i just wanted to say that i'm grateful you made this video. i'm very lucky to have seen this as who knows how long it would've taken me to realize all of these things. thank you!
Went through a similar path, and didn't even land a software job until over year after graduating (and what I got was in a dead-end language). It is hard, and setting the right expectations is key. Working for a no-name company at a low salary to get 6-12 months of experience is really what you need to be focusing on first. The market will absolutely open up after that.
I have being looking for a job as software engineer for more than two years, and nothing. My life is a living hell. After a few years working as RoR developer I think I’m banned somehow. It’s insane but it’s too much coincidence. It’s mathematically impossible to have such bad luck. Nobody hires me anymore. I regret my decisions of the past every single F day!!
I'm starting my fourth year as a computer science undergraduate and this is the scariest video I've ever watched. I'm at an identical position to the one you were in and you have honestly sparked something in me to try to change starting now.
Bruh I’m about to start CS next fall in college. This video is making me rethink some things and making me consider double majoring just to have a chance at getting a job. Best of luck dude.
@@lololoololdudusoejdhdjswkk347Someone in this comment section said they have a Phd in Stats and that they were working on a masters in CS. They were rejected by every job despite this. Make sure you work on leetcode and projects.
The best thing to do is to get a “dumpy” job at a retail establishment and use that as a platform for spring boarding you to a better job. The mental struggle should be avoided. Trying too hard will make you fail interviews. It will show up as desperation. No employer wants to be your desperate choice. The money will make you float indefinitely (no financial worries). Plus, dealing with customers in retail is very similar to the social pressure of being interviewed. Helping others gets you away from thinking about yourself too much. This sharpened my interviewing skills considerably.
I have never gotten a job at a top tech company because I don't have the patience to grind useless leetcode questions. Fortunately through a combination of hard-work, job switching and other factors I have been able to achieve TCs comparable with top tech jobs after a few years. I am in my 8th year now as an SWE and the worst part of my experience looking back was just how completely useless college was, the stuff that was super hard to learn like discrete math, assembly and other topics I have literally never used. If college wanted to prepare you for real and good jobs there should be courses that only teach you how to grind LC otherwise you have to find their own path
I relate with that discrete math thing rn, I know I’m going to forget nearly all of it as soon as the semester is over and I know that it won’t really help me anyway.
Primary objective of engineering schools is to create problem solvers and thinkers for the job market. Most professional skills are learned on the job.
Im not a dev, but i work closley with them (im a Motion Designer). It took me 6 month to land the first job - over 200 applications. Don't give up folks. I had about 190 rejections... thats right, I only had 10 call backs... and 1 of those took a chance on me.
❤Thank you for being transparent about this. When I was looking for my first job as a software engineer it was a really difficult time. I REALLY try to tell coding bootcamp grads this stuff but they often don’t listen. I literally interviewed a bootcamp grad the other day and she said… “If I just keep studying hard, I will get a job”… She literally refused to listen to the guidance I was trying to give her. It was painful to sit and listen to. I thought… “You are talking to an actual software engineer who worked at Airbnb and you refuse to listen” It’s sad.
Going back some years, but at one point I was unemployed for over a year, and had sent out over a thousand resumes, all with no job offer. At that point I decided I had to bite the bullet, and start calling past co-workers send THEM my resume and see if that, along with a good word from them would at least get me an interview. It worked, and that is how I landed a 10 year stint, in my field. That though came to an end with new management, and general degredation of that company. It never ends!
I’ve been working on content and writing up some stuff on this topic. The gap between graduation and that first job is a huge leap. Thanks for sharing your experience!
I just stumbled upon this, and I am an experienced developer with no CS degree, I have 7 years of experience including experience from a FANG company. I got laid off 2 months ago, The job market is tight right now, and even the interviews are really tense, those that do leetcode interviews are usually leetcode hard and you have to be perfect right down to the detail, I have been rejected in the final rounds of behavioral interviews for the slighted lack of clarity. I say keep on at it and up your game, I spend 10-12 hours a day perfecting my leetcode, systems design, and behavioral interviews, I find the trickiest part is not losing hope with each rejection
I am in the same situation that I can't land a job now. The real problem is that I have no idea what I am supposed to do next. I have solved over 500 LC problems, had an internship, asked professionals to revise my resume, filed hundreds of job applications. But, I barely get interviews. Literally everyone I know who works in the industry have told me that it is not possible to get a job without big name company or long full-time experience, especially for a foreign student like me. Anyway, I am going be kicked out the US within 2 months after graduation. It seems too late to save myself.
Start at lower prestiege job, or look in other partnof the world or in your home country. I so many beginner west europeans not getting jobs at home, so had to move in lower stamdard of living countries (where anyhow the jobs were relocated)
The feeling of letting your parents down after all they sacrificed is a pain that is commonly suffered by people that where always driven to success internally but like you said "where not forced to change". I landed a SW job with a salary that I did not imagine based on 1. Luck 2. Side projects, as a first generation student I discovered resources, clubs, competition, undergrad research, etc by ACCIDENT and if not done any of those I would have not have a chance to land any of my internships or current offer. If you are facing the same situation time is not your enemy, but your willingness and appreciation for the career of your choice. Such that if you studied the major for the money only, well, I wish you the best of luck, but if there is some actual passion and interest then start, somewhere, but start putting in the sacrifice and things will come.
socializing and making friends doesn't need to sound like such a bad thing. Also if your friends didn't bother telling you you were messing up then that kind of shows how good of friends they are. That being said your story is very similar to mine I worked through college and found that juggling school and work and trying learn outside of school was increasingly hard There were many days I fell asleep at the wheel and almost crashed. I also got down on my self for not getting a crazy good dev job out of school but honestly if people think they to be at google straight out of college then they are truly delusional. People at those companies really misrepresent what it means to work there with their shitty day in the life vids where they just eat all day at work. Honestly everyone has their own path it doesn't matter what you have to go through to get to where you need to be. I think that is the biggest lesson people should take away from this.
"if your friends didn't bother telling you you were messing up then that kind of shows how good of friends they are" Exactly. Those aren't good friends. Regarding the job search - we need to look at the bigger picture. You mentioned trying to juggle learning outside of school with classes and work to the point of falling asleep at the wheel. What if you had crashed your car? What if you had been maimed for life? I ask you, which of your would-be employers would give a rat's ass about you after all you've done to make yourself more valuable to them? None. Not a single one. The problem is that we're busting our asses and feeling all depressed and spending years - YEARS - of our lives trying to contort ourselves into the narrow, highly-specified molds these employers want us to fit in. But for what? What is the reward? To work 50+ hour weeks for pennies on the dime compared to what your boss and your boss' boss take home? To have our hearts in our throats at the mere mention of the word "layoffs"? To get a knot in our stomach if the boss sends an unexpected meeting invitation addressed solely to you, the most junior member of the team? If you really did have the skills to pass seven rounds of interviews, answer medium Leetcode questions in 40 minutes, and confidently talk through a few solid portfolio projects, then you're worth more than whatever they're paying you. And you're more capable than they're letting on. Let me say that again. You are more capable than they are letting on. So you should be focused on putting that value to use in ways that provide a return to you. Not to your boss, not to the company you're employed at. To you. Find ways to work for yourself or cultivate income streams. Train in such a way that, should you fall short of breaking into whatever bullshit dream company you're looking at, you still wind up with a skill set that enables you to go out and make your own money. And chances are, as soon as you're good enough to do that, BAM. Those same employers who rejected you left and right suddenly deem you "worthy" enough to work for them.
@@AnotherPersonStoppingBy exactly what I was trying to say I thought I needed to be at a big tech company and graduate in 4 years because society puts emphasis on that. I worked my self to a dangerous point chasing that and it could have really affected my life. Looking back I could have honestly pumped the brakes and had a healthier work life balance but that wasn't what was perceived as a college kid trying to be "successful" the point is you don't have to be rise and grind every day to be successful. You don't have to work at a FAANG company to be successful. There are 1000's of people from FAANG companies that got laid of and some how I still have a developer job compared to them and I don't work at a FAANG company. You don't have to code day and night to be successful. At the end of the day its a job thats it. Go work put in medium effort, get paid, live below your means live a comfortable life(whatever that means to you). People need to stop chasing the image of wanting to be the next Elon
Yeah, it's definitely rough out there. I was a bootcamp grad in 2021 and the job search nearly broke me with how intense and stressful it was. Lots of applications, a few failed interviews, continuous studying...it was a lot. Finally landed a job as a frontend developer in a smaller company and just put in my two weeks last Monday, so I get to do it all over again :D I will say, going into it the second time around is not nearly as intimidating, so I'm hoping to have better success this time.
@@Anime_Empire_2.0 I’ve heard some people read bootcamp and throw out applications, and would prefer it not even be in there. I think that’s messed up personally, because they can be just as good as anyone with a portfolio, you know? They call coding bootcamps a joke and all, and if they see that on a resume, they don’t take it as seriously. At least I’ve heard many recruiters say that. I’ve heard them say putting that can hurt the resume. If you still can’t find a job, consider getting rid of that on your application maybe, but look into what I’ve said first just in case I’m incorrect. I heard this from recruiters on Reddit and Quora.
@@Anime_Empire_2.0 Just a bad work environment all around. It was no longer worth it, so I quit. And keep at it! I know it's hard, but I'm sure you'll find something soon :)
I am currently enrolled in the ALX software engineering program. I'm in my second month. Thank goodness I stumbled upon this video. Late last year I gave up a dream of doing music to fully focus on software engineering. Feelings of worthlessness set in most days but I press on. Lacking food and rent has been the order of the day but I still believe the future is bright and all this will be worth it only if I really work hard. In need of everyone's prayers.
Thank you KC for sharing your story and being so honest about the experience. I really resonated with you on how people don't just change overnight. Like you in high school, I was a mediocore student and in college continued to do things half assed. Luckily I was somehow able to land a corporate job, but quickly realized how the corporate world and high paying jobs are not kind to people that settle for mediocrity. Trying to be a more responsible person now and push myself to give 100% to everything I do now.
I'm an accounting graduate. From my early years of college, I realized that accounting is not for me. I started assembling PCs for family and friends and made a tiny small business out of it. This introduced me to hardware maintenance and firmware related troubleshooting. Then I moved to working in customer service and I started to learn software engineering & coding on the side. The combination of getting experienced in customer service, learning Operating systems fundamentals, and coding, landed me a job in one of the top telecommunication companies as a network engineer. Then 7 years later, I landed a software engineering job at one of the top 3 tech companies. And I've been in that position for 10 years now. The morale of the story, take your graduation certificate and store in somewhere on a shelf at home. You won't get the job of your dreams up until you learn the skills needed for it, and weaponize your soul with nothing but patience!
I thought my degree was enough to. I decided to eventually go down the IT support route after failing countless coding interviews and needing money to support myself. I disappointed myself and my family at the time. But I climbed up the ranks with hard work and now am in a much better place than I was 3 years ago
THANK YOU for talking about this because people really out here talking as if landing a job is a videogame and the only problem is choosing the best options to get the best build endgame, while not knowing they aren't even ready to start the tutorial yet
Seriously, a great video. I appreciate all the honesty from your part. Its very easy to be delusional and essentially lie to yourself in this field. I wish all of you the best of luck in the job search.
Great video. I’ve found myself in a somewhat similar position. The past 3 years I’ve been completely directionless. Lacking motivation or drive to do anything. Constantly anxious or on edge. When I was in college, I felt ahead of the curve. In HS we had little courses going over our plans for the future, and I thought I was well prepared, and so did other people. But I didn’t have a specific plan, and found out the hard way. I always had this thought that “as long as I keep my grades up and finish my degree everything else will work out.” It didn’t. Got my associates. Tried a semester at university. Dropped out in late 2020 because it was a waste of money. And I’m just now starting to take a risk and make a change because I just can’t take it anymore. I’ve been working retail for the past 11 months. My final day is next week. Here’s hoping that I can focus on my successes and put in some harder work. Change is hard. But staying the same is harder. Cheers!
Thanks for this video because in a year and a half im going to start applying for apprenticeships and before i watched this video, i was heading the same way as you did so i very much appreciate you opening my eyes and helping me stop procrastinating and being deluded
Just a year ago, everyone was saying tech jobs were in high demand and companies couldn’t find enough workers locally (they had to hire foreign workers on VISA). There are actually jobs outside of tech, many positions have to lower the hiring criteria to get filled (hint: high schoolers are filling positions used to be for college grads). Market fluctuates. Look around and you’ll find something.
I’m a college drop out. After the pandemic I picked up some construction jobs. Eventually got really good at it. I’m 30 now and making decent cash. I’m not rich but I think in a few years I can make middle class. All I did was work 14 hours a day. Work weekends. Do online courses. Get heat exhaustion. And watch my friends have fun at the beach. Been 3 years doing that. Now I solve problems my managers can’t fix. The process sucked but the end result was ok. I hope everyone can find their path.
Went through something similar in 2009 when I left college and there was that lovely 2008 crash to deal with. I applied for everything I could find. Yet, after 330 applications and resumes, I got nothing. Had to join the Army just to keep from being homeless
@champagneredneck Yes, the 2008-2010 crash was real. There was joblessness, underemployment, and lack of prospects. I remember those times. We may be approaching them again, and people act completely oblivious. Even now, it feels as though we have to hustle and struggle for everything we get. The great job out of college, leadership opportunities, and a living wage seem fairly unobtainable. It can be frustrating to see where we are today and where we might be heading. There is a reason to learn from history and reflect. Not everything can be STEM, history has real lessons. Perhaps since I am older I have seen this trend of computer engineers play out before. My dad tried to hook me up to an early computer, so I could find some way to connect and become a computer programmer. Kids were enrolling in droves to law school to become corporate lawyers. Anyone with any artistic ability would work for hours to become graphic designers. Students would run to the IT and computer science majors to get a job in tech. The end result is the same - oversaturation and fool's gold. Really, you have to develop a variety of skills rather than put all your eggs in one basket. One thing I do appreciate about my college was that it allowed you to have double majors and minors. The open curriculum needs to be the future. I have done more with my minors than much of anything else. I minored in Latin American Studies and linguistics. I had extensive coursework in political economy and communications. After school, I marketed myself as an econ and communications student, and that is how I got my positions. Colleges need to spend more time helping their students get decent jobs out of school. If I had relied on my major or small liberal arts school outside of the Midwest, I would still be unemployed today. Point blank, the economy changes and nothing is guaranteed.
@TheBuzzHub585 I’ve seen it happen in my own company. Fired all the American workers over the course of the year, replaced them all with H1B’s from India. Far from incompetence.
This was incredibly relatable. Instead of majoring in CS, I graduated with a degree in Aerospace Engineering. So far, I am on month 3 post-graduation trying to find a job. I got one interview last month, but that did not go well. The interviewer also ended the screening early, and I feared that the job was not going to be mine. Although I am thankful for the opportunity given to me, I cannot help but know that I should have been more proactive during my college tenure. I should have joined more projects, talked to more hiring managers at career fairs, etc. Instead, I am here doing my best to present myself as able as possible, while everyone I know has a secure income. To those reading my comment: 1) Thanks for taking the time to read this and 2) I know you are struggling, but keep trying. Maybe start new projects, relearn some important curriculum, do anything while you apply to more jobs. It's all you can do at this point. I will be fighting alongside you all. I hope this gives you a little glimmer of hope. You are not alone.
I felt the exact same way when I graduated from college. I knew deep down I was screwed. I thought I was the only one that had this deep empty feeling. It didn’t come until I finished my final project.
I didn't study CS. I was an English teacher. I spent 3 years studying web dev in my free time. I made an app that was reasonably successful (50k users) and got accepted for the first job I applied for. Your portfolio is your CV.
How did you get 50k active users?
whats the app
can you show your portfolio or app?
@@ndedpdeepepde288 Nobody with a brain would doxx themselves for youtube comments. It would be trivial to link them to their personal project, so obviously they are (hopefully) very unlikely to share it here.
This is so ridiculous, 99% of people aren't going to have this route, simply because they're not in web. Also, web dev is code monkey shit.
It takes a lot of humility to publish such an unflinching analysis of yourself. That part where you talk about the sacrifices your family made to get you to the US and into a US university, and how you were failing to live up to their aspirations, or your friends politely listening to your entitlement - damn. Not only is your advice spot on here, you have earned my respect for your willingness to share your mistakes so you can help other people steer around them.
I've been there, and you just have to learn to not waste your time with these big software companies. They have to offer six figures because their hiring practices are laughable and insane.
The reason why i see you as inspiration is unlike other youtubers who paint an ideal unrelatable picture of themselves;I find you relatable,like you talk abt struggles etc.
Very good point, and also most engineers don't make 150k or more as well.
4th year, lack of focus, procrastination. Its like I am looking in a mirror.
Bro software engineers and tech people are always hiding something. They'll tell you their salary and company but they never mention all their failures and how hard they grinded and they'll act like they aren't working hard while they're behind the scenes, trying to get ahead of everyone else.
@@zaheerquraishi5494hey, that's exactly me rn. This is a good wake up call.
It’s very raw and talking about personal flaws helps a lot to relate
This is such an important video. Wanna-be programmers are being fed a lie of "super high demand" but the reality is that there is a demand only for EXPERIENCED programmers. At the end of the day all companies have problems that need to be solved TODAY, not in a few months time after you get your training. This is why they need experienced people who can pretty much start solving their problems immediately. That's the reality of any job in any field really and programming is no exception.
That’s why it’s vital to do multiple internships before graduating
The truth within the lie is that some industries have a top of salaries, where there is the bottom of IT jobs. So demand and higher salaries relate only to the most talented.
As someone that worked for 4 companies in the tech world from startup to big tech I wanna tell you that you are spot on!
This wouldn't be a problem if companies invested in people, promoted internally, etc.
college should just teach kids how to actually program then, instead of useless theory and math and physics
This is my story too. I thought my CS degree would be enough. It took another year of self-study and countless rejections before landing my first software job.
Can you tell how u start to self study in detail? Like what language did u start with ? What did you prepare ? What was your flow like solving leetcode or making projects? Please reply i am really in need of a software job , It will be really helpful for your reply
@@lashondamiller2982 thank you brother
@@siddhantkadam9013 No problemo, and one last thing. I know I put an emphasis on studying for technical skills, but make sure you work on soft skills too. That probably will weigh on much more in the deciding factor of you getting hired or not by a company. You'd be amazed with how much soft skills can do
@@lashondamiller2982 What is soft skills? Like conversing and stuff?
@@olfrosty7174 Soft skills is basically just small details, like how your posture is, how the way you’re speaking to someone, holding eye contact, etc
I would also say it could be how well you’re able to communicate your thoughts while solving technical questions as well.
Man, this is such a wake-up call to me. I've been putting off my responsibilities like doing university assignments and studying for upcoming exams since like 2 weeks ago. I guess letting my parents down is a strong fear for me. Thank you! I'll start working on myself from now on.
You aren't alone on that brother
Easier said than done, however we all wish you luck and strength
You shouldn’t worry about failing your parents but failing yourself… your priories are fucked
💪
Even that isn't enough.
As someone who just finished a lengthy bootcamp and got their first job already, a big problem is the entitlement. These boot camps/college programs claim you’ll make $80-100k straight after graduation, and while that was true at some point, and is still true for a few people, the reality is, you might have to just take a low paying job for a year or two to get real experience and get your foot in the door
There is no engineer shortage
Which boot camp?
just finished week 1 in bootcamp. My main concern is if I will remember everything I learned so far at the end of the bootcamp as it is very fast pace.
@@wootdfook1 you probably won’t. You remember stuff by doing it a bunch of times over a long period of time
@@richardwayne5452 Redundant?
“What did you do in school?” Similar words struck me hard when I was being interviewed at a big tech company. Till this day, it still stings and those words discourage me from applying to another job. Thank you for your story, I needed this. I will use this as empowerment towards another chance. Best of luck to you and your journey to towards your ultimate goal.
I don’t want ask but why do you find those words discouraging
@@ThyCrossroadss It's most likely from the interpreted meaning. Maybe the interviewer didn't mean it this way but it definitely comes off as suggesting you have been slacking off and wasting the last X years of your life.
@@cmelch Basically if you don't have side projects that show the interviewer you have applied what you learned in school, that means you probably have little credibility in your skill. Also, it would feel discouraging that you haven't done something great with your education yet to show off to give people a reason to hire you.
@@alejandromaldonado6159 totally me right now. Currently looking to learn angular since here it's demanded....
You can do it man. If they want experience, that comes with time. You'll get there eventually
Honestly never thought I would find someone talk about their journey word for word exactly the same way I felt, including in high school and job. Thanks for this video.
As a professional with CS background, I would let you know the reality these years. A CS degree is not so useful from around 10 years ago. Most companies use leetcode style code test to screen candidates. No matter what is your major, you have to pass it. So many non CS people just spent time in leetcode or similar all day. Another cruel reality is that even you have gained years of experience, the interview is still leetcode style code test to start with, and you are competing with people all over the world who spent nearly everyday on leetcode. That is the reason I left the software career because life just gets harder when you are older
What do you do now?
What career path are you in right now? I failed the CS path too, but I already got the degree. Kind of confused what way should I go
Fxnsnck leet code
I have a CS degree, nearly 2 decades of programming experience, more knowledge and skills than ever before, am acing every interview, and hearing nothing back. Even when I did have a job they treated me like garbage because they knew I'd be easy to replace and that programmers are afraid of losing our jobs since they're so hard to find now. I've had to withdraw my IRA to survive which means that I won't have anything for retirement and will have nothing if I can't find a job before my savings run out. If I could go back in time, I'd go into some medical field like nursing for the elderly or something or maybe a lab tech.
A CS guy in construction management making more money than I ever did in tech. Unless you’re starting your own company, that’s a dead end career
As a fellow cs grad(2019) I felt this video heavy. Wish there was more videos like this showing the realities of getting a job in this industry. How saturated it's become. Every other ad on my feed tries to pitch "break into tech in like two months", or influencers talking about how they pivoted w/zero experience in a ridiculous amount of time. It just amplifies my anxiety and my imposter syndrome. Like bro I'm trying to get in WITH a degree and I'm having a hard time.
You're not alone. I've had to pivot to things that actually make money so I can keep up with bills. This guy would have never made this video had he not eventually found a job. How many poor souls are out there burdened with debt and a skill thats quickly being pushed out of demand by oversaturation and ai? They don't make a video when they don't get the job.
I would advise you to take any job you can find.Apply for start ups, stay there for a year or 2 then switch to another job
I’ve come to terms that finding a niche, and filling that is the best way to find a job. Get specific and find local companies that need help with their specific needs. Learn what’s needed and apply then.
Also a profolio helps impress a lot of job interviewers
You’ve had a degree for five years and haven’t found a single job?
@HieronymousLex where are you in your cs degree journey? You get in early or too late?
Growing up in Brazil wasn't easy, my family didn't have a lot of money and my parents had 4 children to feed. I always went to public school (awful standards in Brazil) and by the time I got to high school, I didn't even know what I wanted to do with my life. My mom, on the other hand, having been through so much hardship to raise all 4 of us, forced me into a technical school to learn programming and IT. Boy, I'm thankful for her decision to this day. That led me to a CS degree later on and because of our financial situation, I was forced to work the entire time I was in college. I used to think this was a tough situation and that I would have liked to socialize more and have time to enjoy other things other than study and work all day every day. But now at 34, living in the US, earning a steep paycheck, and being able to help my family back home, I can see it was all worth it and wouldn't change it. The moral of the story is, sometimes growing up in less-than-ideal situations can be the push you need to grow in life.
W
I'm in a similar situation to yours, but in the beginning of my journey. Fellow Brazillian, 22, working and studying full-time so I can still pay the bills and possibly become a self-taught developer in the future. Man, it's hard... Hope I can do it too just like you did. The market isn't being nice, but I'll keep going.
@@danielflorencio9661 keep pushing, my friend. It's all a matter of being good at what you do + patience. The second is the hardest part, but it does take time for things to take off.
Congrats. 🎉
Rodrigo, você acha que vale a pena começar no estudo de programação atualmente com o avanço das IA? Eu acabei de pedir minha baixa do exército e me interessei bastante pela área mas não sei nada sobre programação e me preocupo sobre a obsolescência do fator humano em um futuro próximo
Doesn't stop once you have a job either. For the first 4-5 years of my career, I made very little progress and got paid very little money. For some reason I thought just having a degree and YOE would automatically put me up for promotions. No, it doesn't work that way. Only once I started taking my job seriously by actively studying and improving my technical expertise, did I start getting praises from my boss/colleagues and getting some serious raises and promotions. Nothing worthwhile in life comes for free. Nothing will change if you do nothing.
Very very well said!
@Ben go Just curious, how did you study ? I’m in my second cs year, and just thinking about the future after graduation and looking for a job gives me huge anxiety. It’s one of my biggest worries to graduate and never be able to find a job
@@madgaal fucking same :(
@@madgaal I'm not in CS. But I think it's important to keep an open mind to other people's ideas/advice, always be looking for ways to improve the quality and efficiency of your work, and have genuine curiosity and interest in your work and learning more about your work.
Dunning-Kruger effect is real. The more ignorant you are, the more likely you are to be ignorant about what's more that's out there. So be humble. If you ever think you already know everything there is about a subject, do a hard reality check. It's probably not the case.
One specific thing I find helpful is to watch videos of how other people would solve a problem and compare it to how I would solve it. Do an analysis on what they're doing that's better and what's worse, making sure I understand everything they're talking about.
Regarding your first job and getting your career started, skills and experience are everything. Get as many internships as you can. Don't be too concerned about company brand name or how much they'll be paying you. Those things are nice ofc but you should focus on opportunities that can help you learn and get the most experience. Your school and degree are just new grad checklist items. Employers usually don't care about those things after your first or second job. When looking for a job, you need to take it seriously. Apply to many places and personalize your applications. Reasearch and know what it takes to land the jobs you're applying to (ie doing LC and useless interview shit like that so you can pass the technical part of an interview). Looking for a job is itself a job.
Free? Degrees cost money. The problem is the whole CS degree is fraud. You dont even need a degree but they tell you that you do and how in demand that you will be only to graduate with debt that you will never be able to repay with a worthless piece of paper.
As someone who was unemployed for two years after graduating from college with a CS degree, I can attest to the fact that tech interviews are BRUTAL! I probably submitted thousands of applications before I got my software job.
How did you fill that large gap on your resume? Do you do projects during those times and put them on your resume with their dates?
@youssefessam3164 I did a coding boot camp during that time and several projects. Honestly, I got very lucky and still managed to land the job I have now, even with a resume gap.
I didn't graduate, I actually dropped out and learned full stack web dev in 3 months (day and night studying).. I then spent 16ish hour days making a bunch of apps, complete with Rest API's and full comment sections, mobile dev'd, yada yada... and this was fantastic but... what really got me through a door was when I started searching as low as 40k salary. I only had 2 interviews, both for the same employer, after 100+ applications. My second interview was with the owner, and it lasted like 3 hours. I really blew him away with my knowledge and understanding. I knew some stuff he didn't even realize. Anyways, I did like 80% of the talking and I started the next day at 50k after the job being post around 45k. So point is, you gotta be able to tune your expectations down.
But you still did the hardwork tho, congratulations
You said 3 months???? Well done dude.
I might want to learn this and coding.
Any tips to start? I will be starting a full time job as electrician apprentice this week so I won’t have as much time as you
How did you study so much
3 months? I’m calling a heap of shiiiit on that
@@astrumstellarsame
This is why ppl need to realize that the whole go to college/uni for a degree to a get a job path is not as safe as ur parents made u think it was. At the end of the day, u need to take control of ur own destiny, and not let it be controlled by others.
Almost all tech jobs require a degree of some kind
@@ci6516 that’s true I’m fact
College degree is the new HS diploma now… hustling for a master’s is still as depressing in this job market.
It's still useful. I landed a DE job with 0 experience, and have since built alot of personal projects in various languages, and am going for a MS in CS to boost my potential, as after graduating i'll have 2+ years experience + a masters, which makes it way easier to get a $200k+ job, especially cus i don't like to spend every day coding and building a portfolio
@@ci6516 No they don't... It's literally the opposite. Most people don't even ask about your degree or look for one. They look at your projects and skills.
I wish anyone looking for a software developer job good luck. I hope you guys succeed. I’m currently unemployed, studying from scratch (no degree/experience) so I know the road ahead is going to be long and difficult. I’m already feeling episodes of worthlessness during this journey. But no matter how dark this tunnel is, I’m going to keep making steps forward until I reach the end. Wish you all the strength to grit your teeth and keep moving forward!
i wish you luck my man i hope you will achieve what you want i am currently a 1st year college and i am also going through a similar road as i learnt the worthlessness if college and know that getting that piece of paper with a sign on it isnt gonna do anything the power is with you work hard the journey is not always rosy but it is fulfilling once you reach the end goodluck my guy
You got this Justan!! 😎I suggest taking a look at Teddy Smith's youtube channel as well as TheNetNinja youtube channel. Those will definitely help you along your coding journey
Wish you best luck too, buddy. God bless.
I wish you all the best of luck.
You can do this! I hope the universe bless you with a lot of opportunities and luck!
I feel like the numbers game is pretty a big contributor. There are definitely people I know who work super hard and are skilled but don't get gigs through "linear" job applications. Then there are people who maybe aren't super skilled, or maybe even average at what they do, but get gigs because they knew someone. Sometimes getting a gig is just charisma, people skills, and communication. So it really does come down to a combination of luck, your experience/knowledge, and who you know.
Well done and relatable. I had no jobs lined up at graduation (same year as you, coincidentally) and so it was a bittersweet moment and maybe even more bitter due to a low GPA and no internships. at all. I quickly had to grow up and shape myself in the months following and yet also had to regress a bit by moving back in with the parents. Humbling, humbling experience, especially coming back home with only a piece of paper.
Also, not surprised to hear your friends on their silence or quick change of topic when bringing up touchy, professional matters. Friends meet up to escape from their professional life, not marinate in it with others... That'd be a miserable time otherwise. I will admit you were lucky to be surrounded by such successful friends, even if it was just for a bit of context about the working world in software. I didn't even have that much and had to figure it all out on my own.
"What did you do in school?" That line hit me hard.
My answer: I had awesome social life, bartended at a local college bar and made a ton of friends. I thought I was "the sh*t" because I would ace my calc exams while still being drunk from the night before. Now I have a CS degree and I can't find a job. I know I would be able to perform well as a software engineer, but my biggest mistake was spending ZERO time figuring out how I was going to prove that to a hiring manager. I don't stand out on paper at all because my lack of preparation. My advice to anyone still in college would be to start figuring out ASAP how you're going to make yourself stand out from your peers. If you don't think it's that important right now, just read through the rest of the comments on this video.
The biggest regret that most 90 years old in hospices was working too much. You must have balance. You can't be a workaholic and have a great and healthy social life.
@OmegaF77 it's the difference between living to work and working to live. The former is unhealthy because we only get one run around in this lifetime. If we die tomorrow, all that money is worthless. My advice is always focus more on being sufficient over being rich. If you can pay your bills and have money left, you're a success
Everyone can't "stand out" - it's literally impossible, and a race to the bottom in terms of quality of life.
If tech is not your dream, and you've hit an 800-foot wall after so much time...simply move on. It's a very saturated field these days, and not the be-all, end-all that so many make it out to be.
If your in college, change your major. I've been in software development for over 20 years, and almost all the work that I've done is for free or freelance.
I've been a software developer for nearly 20 years, have a CS degree, am acing interviews, but hearing nothing back. I agree that if someone is in college, CS will not help much in getting a job. Changing majors is not a bad idea. The medical jobs is probably still a good bet.@@MaxAbramson3
Not a SWE but in my field, design. This happens to so many people to. Kids get to their senior year and think they'll just get an internship handed to them with no good projects on their portfolio or work experience. Hopefully this video finds the people who need the wakeup call.
Fellow Software Engineer here, I felt you a lot when you talked about parents(I am also asian). I am happy that you landed on a job! You might not be at where you wanted to be in the beginning but you will get there if you keep trying. I am in my career almost 2 years and had a recent promotion this year so I am trying to jump to other companies and your video is really motivational and inspirational. It reminds me of how desperate I was right out of the college. I needed this. Thanks man! Wish you the best in your life!!!
Broo, graduating without a job
That night, going home and realising it’s just the abyss while your friends all have grad jobs. That was scary and dark. Then realising all the best jobs were taken up by people that already applied for internships and grad roles prior to graduating.
Jesus this sounds exactly like me but it took me longer. Graduated thinking a degree would be enough to land a job. Boy was I wrong, and on top of COVID it was so hard to get something. After 6 months of doing side projects with no luck in a job, I also took a bootcamp thinking that would help land me a job. During my bootcamp I got an unpaid internship that I actually couldn't perform in and was let go. I graduated from the bootcamp and still couldn't find a job. After countless rejections for the past year in a half, it really destroyed me that one night at a friends wedding, I tried to drink the pain away and got into big trouble with the law. I've never felt lower and wanted end my life. After a few weeks, I finally landed a position as a web developer
Oh man hope you're doing well 😊❤. Life is hard but the hope that takes us through is that it will get better.
What a rollercoaster
May I ask your work in web developer mainly about web interface development? Or web backend development?
How did you get that job bro;?..Like after that wedding incident did something change in you?? Did you change your approach??
Bless your heart, sir.
I don’t have a tech degree. I’m graduating from my bootcamp in about two months but I started applying a few months ago and I’d spend 1-3 hours everyday just applying to jobs because I duly wanted out of the job I was working before. I probably submitted about 6-700 applications. I got hired in my first Dev role late February. It isn’t a remote job but it’s something and I’m grateful for it and the team I work with. If I could say anything it’s just keep applying. Statistically your time will come and don’t take rejections personally.
how many months did it take for the first dev job?
Anyone have any idea which college or university KC went to? I'm just really curious.
Based on the picture in the video it looked like UC Irvine.
I came from boot camp too and I can't find anything. I sent out many many applications. Working full time and looking for a job is killer
@@donaldbowler4514 it took me 2 months after graduating and starting to apply , but that number is going to vary for everyone and can have a factor of luck, experience , or networking
it shoudnt be this difficult to SURVIVE - to be able to put food on the table, a place to live, utilies, etc and after all the work you put in to become a developer is no easy feat. This all is so diseheartning.
This is an interesting insight. I'm not working in the software engineering field, but I was definitely lucky. I was born and raised in a small town in the Canadian province of Quebec, isolated from the city centers. In high school, all I was doing of my free time was playing video games. I was never studying or preparing whatsoever for exams, but I always managed to get notes that are higher than the average. What truly helped me was the fact that I was studying in a bad high school where students were mostly fated to become manual workers (we need manual workers as well, this is not necessarily a bad thing) and I was the intellectual one who couldn't use a hammer or fix anything with my hands. Anyway, I was really interested in social sciences, more specifically political science. When the time came, I moved to Montreal (500 km away from my hometown) to study in political science in the highest ranked French-speaking university in Quebec. Normally I shouldn't have been accepted because my rates in math and science were horribly bad. I had to convince them that my very high grades in French, English, history, sociology, philosophy, etc., were compensating a lot considering that political science has nothing to do with mathematical logic or natural sciences. When I arrived at university, I realized how dumb I was because I was surrounded by students who graduated from the best colleges in Quebec and abroad (Stanislas, Jean-de-Brébeuf, Sciences Po Paris, etc). My work ethics didn't change much, I was doing my homework late, I didn't study prior to exams and didn't apply for internships. I only relied on the fact that I was politically involved at the federal level and that meeting politicians would eventually bring me to the top political positions (political advisor for the Foreign Minister for example). However since I wasn't wealthy and I had to work part time to make ends meet (pay my tuition fees and my rent), it soon became clear that I couldn't be the volunteer that would make the difference and that some rich kids who didn't need to work part time had much more time and energy to spend on volunteering and getting their name recognized. When I graduated, I worked for a few years in a call center at the minimum wage. One day, a friend of mine who got a job in a call center but for an actuarial firm (a big name in the industry) advised me to apply because they were looking for folks to assist retirees and answer their questions about their pension plans. He told me that I do not need any past experience or knowledge, they have a knowledge base in their system where I can go get the info and I would be trained before taking inbound calls. After a year working in that call center, I became so familiar with pension plans and the pension regulations that I applied for a job in the pension administration for a very well known multinational company. I was hired because of my knowledge of how pension plans work. I started with a very basic entry level salary and position. But over the years, they upskilled me and offered me to take more responsibilities. Now I'm acting as an analyst for death claims. I can work remotely from anywhere on my laptop, my salary is not very high but good enough to have some savings and travel the world during my vacations. The job is not very stressful (but it was when I started because the learning curve was tough for me and there were management problems that eventually got fixed when a new manager came in with good values of work-life balance and work ethics).
Merci pour l'histoire.
This is a video that every high school senior and college freshman needs to see. Thank you for making this video, your journey and experience is really raw and relatable and I think this will impact many people. Keep creating homie ❤.
And this video is something for every college student to see as well.
Being an Electronics Engineering student in 3rd year, this was such an important video for me. Thank you so much.
I have been applying for internships, but either getting rejected or not getting any reply. I know I have to make better projects, and do even more questions on LeetCode. At least, that's what I think I need to do.
I love your videos! Keep up the good work!
I didn't realize electrical engineers needed to know in depth programming and study leetcode. Damn you guys do have a tough program.
@@donventura2116 I think he might be trying to get a software job if he's doing leetcode.
You don't need to do leet code, I guess he really is aiming for software and not really electronics
Anyone have any idea which college or university KC went to? I'm just really curious.
your pfp is beautiful, send me the image link?
same experience bro. It's during these times you understand the true value of your parents. people come and go in our lives but only these guys will stick around every step of the way.
I'm a senior in highschool who is about to graduate in a month and I've had this same experience where I procrastinated thinking about my life after high school and now I'm worrying about what will happen after graduation. This video really inspired me to think ahead long term about what I want to do after highschool and how I will do it.
Vocational bro.
Ong man I’m a senior too things really hit on new years cause man we about to graduate dawg 😂 so I’ve been grinding my way through coding and man I wish you the best let’s both GET THIS DEGREE.
I wished I planned my life since I was 16.
Congratulations on graduating!
Dude, I seriously thank you for this. I found a lot of comfort in this and just like yourself, my circumstances definitively forced me to rethink a lot. It's nice knowing that there is someone/others just like me who've had this reflective moments and tbh at one time of another got lucky but is still working their way up. LGI fam!
As a SWE with about 35 years of experience, I think this is all spot-on, and you deserve some major credit for being so perceptive and self-reflective at such a young age. I'd also add that your advice is critical to take when you're young and still have the fire and energy of youth - it's a lot easier to push yourself to put the work in and make real changes before time and the responsibilities of life have worn you down a bit. As much as a lot of older folks like to talk smack about the younger generations, as an older GenX'r I've found you guys are generally a lot more on top of things than my generation was when we were your age and the only API/framework you really needed to know for PC development was the MS-DOS int 21 interface and how to deal with 8086 small/large memory models.
I graduated my software engineering degree in December ‘23 and I’m glad to announce my new truck driving job 🎉
I’ve found it a super honest story👏
I studied a MSc IT and I’m here with an H1B visa which makes everything even tougher. Master doesn’t help at all, exp neither. What will help is a good connection with the interviewers, that’s all.
I trained myself to code a BFS, DFS, Graph, … all from scratch, sort algorithms and all weird stuff you can find in internet. Even though you need lucky. They told me I need certifications, I got some and I’m getting new ones… same results.
Finally, the interviewers look for what they want, not what they need (or the company need).
1000s of applications
“People won’t change unless they are forced to change.” Really true. It’s all about the mindset. To begin that journey of change, you need to fix your mindset.
Thank you so much. I really need this talk during the hard time. I failed 8 interviews in the final round within the past six months and every time I thought I aced it but it turned out I failed and I'm so disappointed. I believe there are people out there same with me and still thriving to get their first job and I wish you all the best!
Getting an internship is the best thing I was able to do college. I’m able to graduate and work full time and applying to other companies is a lot easier ( I still get rejected a lot lol). I went through this when I was trying to get my first internship. It gets better guys. For all you guys in this predicament keep going. It only takes one yes
Yeah, it really is incredibly important to get that internship. Otherwise you have to compensate quite a bit with strong projects, strong website, connections and that could be harder than getting the initial internship in college.
@@human-ft3wk I have an Associate's and managed to get my first job during that time by luck. Back when I was in college, I was worried about how to get my first work experience, that I didn't know how I was supposed to go about it. Now I realized after my first job, that it's just doing internships. I stressed myself out for no reason not realizing that I could have just applied to any internship positions and get experience leading to a job offer. There's no losing risk with internships.
But how was I supposed to realize that after high school and in college. Better late than never, but damn internships would have helped me a ton. I know a girl who has had various jobs after college, and she never did internships but friends she know did. Now she's a business analyst for a healthcare IT company.
@@Melbester9 The Problem with many Internships after graduation is that these companies will not accept you because they only take enrolled students at universities.
@youssefessam3164 And thats the issue for people that didn't do internships in college. They get screwed after they graduate and not knowing they were supposed to do internships.
@@Melbester9 The entry level market is currently effed up no matter how you look at it. The best choice is to make sure you get internships and find jobs through your college career fair. Looking for entry level positions through LinkedIn or Indeed as a fresh graduate on your own is a hellish experience
I applied for 80 Data Science Internships, and worked my ass off to build a portfolio before getting a simple "Internship".
Yes, we all think it's a walk in the park until we meet reality and realize it's indeed a marathon.
Because their ain’t no shortage
Also full of "capitalists" who exploit people...
@@richardwayne5452 Damn right!
It’s really tough in tech than I thought
@@richardwayne5452 there is a shortage of experienced people. Companies have to invest in you for your internship because you wont be making any profit in the first few months
It's relieving to read people's journeys here. Having hard time and failing at first, even many times, seems to be more like a rule than an exception. Thank you for sharing, this makes me feel a little better about my possible future failures. Anxiety disorder (or any other mental illness) and job hunting is a tough mix.
Not sure what’s more epic… this dude spilling out his failure’s or the background track 🙌
This is extremely relatable. Graduated at a pretty decent university with a B.A. in Computer Science and I've been applying for a few months now. I needed to hear this though because I was studying Leetcode problems for a while and I got a couple interviews, but then things slowed down. And as I was getting fewer responses, I also stopped going through Leetcode problems. I have a few opportunities now that I don't want to screw up. Gotta get back on track. Thank you.
UVA?
Where are you at now?
Nice dude. That’s literally my job hunt experience.
Summary of the story: try to make a habit around learning new skills and technology so that you are always upskilling/learning new skills incrementally and can pass your future interviews with flying colors
I just got out of grad school with top university back in 2011 right after financial crisis. Getting an interview was such a big achievement. If you landed a job or an internship then you were a mega star. It was terrible times and I really don’t want anyone to experience those days again!
I have been thinking that they are on the horizon. Yes, it was horrible and highly underrated, especially for those of us coming out of grad school.
Yeah that is definitely something that affected me too. Through society and our social circles, we are conditioned to think that just because we have a C.S degree, we are entitled to a six-figure salary right out of college. And boy does it hurt when we actually get a taste of reality.
So how much is the pay really like?
@@syrus1233 now 4 dollars above a Starbucks employee yay
@@syrus1233 basically this. I make slightly more than an unskilled servant job like Mac Donald’s. 22-24k (24 now I guess cos it’s April) it’s very painful to know I worked so hard and got such little for it but that’s life
@@syrus1233 my first job and current job , I started at 65k before bonuses , I am now base salary of 74k , but the last 2 years I have been slightly above 90k including bonuses. Been at the job for like 3 and 1/2 years now
@@hippievd9696 I’m at my second job currently after college it’s 45k
I was incredibly lucky. That’s it.
Incredibly lucky to have heard about the right thing at the right time, and have put my full self out there like I always do. The interviewer liked my passion. Somehow, insanely, looked past the fact I was a freshman, and I got an internship that panned out to be a part time job, with a informally guaranteed job after college.
One of the top ten best things to happen to me, honestly. Maybe top five.
3rd year of college rn and ngl its scary knowing that my education alone wont make me a good candidate because I'm sure that's exactly what everyone thought going into college. i understand that I need to take accountability now for my future if I want to have a say in how I'm looking after college. appreciate the honesty in the video
Its your 3rd year, you got time. I just gradated in May and I'm in the exact situation as the guy in the video. 0 prep is dangerous. Start doing side projects/interships/leetcode during your time left, it should help a lot
this video was comforting since I'm going through a similar situation. I started college with so many plans and at the beginning I used to study a lot, but then I started to work (internship) and suddenly I didn't have the time or was too tired to study. I was an intern in four different tech places, but I didn't code, it was mostly support because the software engineer internship always required experience (it gets me angry everytime). Now I just graduated and I'm losing my current internship, none of my goals were ever completed and I don't know how to program. It's like I watched my life being thrown away.
The fact that you pushed through and finally made it give me hope. Thanks for sharing man
I had a 3 year career gap during Covid. I thought this was normal. Turned out the opposite. I was rejected by pretty much every company. I had a PhD in Stats and currently pursuing a CS master. I try not to overthink and not to let myself fall into depression, but man, this is hard! It’s hard for me to get up in the morning everyday to receive tons of rejection emails and then continue to apply for positions and then do leetcode…I hope there was a support group for me and for anyone who is struggling in the same situation. I don’t see an end 😢
You got this! Don't let the emotions overwhelm you, just focus on your work!
I believe in you, just don't give up! Maybe the reason why you're like this is because life prepared a really great thing for you but will show itself later but soon❤
I'm also feeling the same, going through job application, getting rejection, and have to get up trying again is HARD. Very hard when you also feel as a burden to your family and a failure compared to your friends. Aging is also not helping at all, I just hope everything will get better. All the best for everyone out there going through same process of finding meaning in life, we can do this!
UM PHD IN STATS?? Get a job as a quant bro. They make an ungodly amount of money and I think they just never get layoffs because I never see the quant profession spoken about o the news.
Like you can easily make 6 figures
Programmer work is also stressful and not for everyone
A fellow anteater! Currently in my last year there for computer science (: I transferred and they dont tell you in community college how important getting an internship is in your college years. Back in the day, it was considered "extra", but in the SWE world, you're basically looked at like you are unemployable if you havent had a SWE internship or any sort of volunteer experience. My biggest advice to anyone pursing CS or SWE is to grind every Fall to apply to as many summer internships as possible, and if it doesnt work out, join a club that BUILDS! At UCI, the club CTC builds software for free for local non profit organizations. It really does give you the professional experience you need! Thanks for the video
With all due respect. No kid out of high school should be so focused on academic achievement that they forget to be a kid. Less so at college level but still you did graduate and if that is not enough go get a job after 600 applications then there are some serious societal problems that are beyond your control. If everyone out of college needs to be Einstein level super genius level to get an entry level job, then good luck to us all when AI takes over.
Couldn't have said it better myself. The expecations employers have for entry level positions are preposterous.
I don't know if he was looking for entry level job though. My friend got an entry level job within 2 months paying 40k. Some people in CS expect 100k+ with no experience thinking that they are still in demand and wonder what is wrong lol
@@davidyang3068thats a big thing too. My friend was in a similar situation. Fresh out of school for animation and computer graphics with barely a portfolio to show and he was applying to big name companies towards mid level positions with a resume that looks like a teenager made it(followed his professors advice who was probably out of touch). After tempering his expectations which was painful but necessary wake up call things worked out and was able to find some work that can lead him to the job he wants. Its good to be confident but its important to understand that you are not where you think you are yet.
Spot on. This is why studying CS today is never worth the effort today. The amount of struggle and sacrifices you need to put into the whole process, just to have a slight chance of finding a job is hilarious.
@@TimePlayerOfficial you have to legitimately like CS otherwise you won't be making it through the countless hours of study it takes. if you really like it and want to pursue it in the face of all this than that's great, I wish you the best. but if you don't like CS to the point of taking a chance on it than don't. there are plenty of careers out there that are just as good if not better. And you can very much still learn CS and use it to supplement your skillset.
This video couldn't have come at a better time. Thanks a lot man, I really needed this pep talk.
You got this man!
It's not a pep talk. Very few videos I've come across that spit facts like this one.
Please do whatever is in your power to be the best of version of yourself, in whatever field you're pursuing. The path is not easy and involves many compromise, but it's all going to be much better than the regret of not putting in the work earlier.
My best wishes to you!
Hey KC, I just want to say thank you for this video. Although the situation is totally different form you, I'm 44 years old Japanese in Japan, one of grats from a bootcamp last year to try to change my life, and had been struggling to find a job.
I somehow found your 600 rejections story 2 month ago, which gave me passion not to give up. Finally got offered last week.
Do you know which is more difficult to find a job in the United States or Japan? Is it harder to be the same age in the United States, or easier than in Japan?
@@jostarjet4096 japan is easier to find one because of the aging population but its still hard
i'm 3rd year cs student. i'm panicking about my life after college, the expectation from my family and my friends made the stress worse. this video is really insightful, i might learn from your mistakes or my own😅
You find anything?
Oh goodness gracious, I just decided to make the switch to be a software engineer. I enrolled into a boot camp program that starts this October. If a CS graduate had a hard time finding employment I can't imagine what I might go through. I appreciate the honesty here man, sometimes in life we lose focus, we're human. Thankfully you found something solid that works for you. I just hope I find the same at the end of my course.
how has it been going?
Me after graduate from computer science, I applied for easy job (such as Desktop engineer) and got in. So I worked as Desktop IT engineer for 2+ years but I study programming and do researching at my free time. By then, I've saved money and so I could use the money for anything (buy domain for website/ deployment and stuff...). Yup I don't just plan to land a job in a company as a software engineer, but I plan to CREATE MY OWN BUSINESS. With that mindset, I'm able to create portfolios and slowly consistently learn latest programming topics and leetcodes. Also I watched technical interviews.
Then I applied for programming jobs and got in my first job as software engineer after 3 years of being desktop engineer.
Point is, try to get a job in anywhere as long as you have some free time and work life balance. So you can use the free time to practice or create your own business. Also, you can do freelancing for practice.
Holy shit man this is the exact thing I came through, but after finding my first job and spending a year there. Early career stagnation was killing my mental health. My friends were getting higher pay, investing in a bunch of different assets, and making progress in their careers at the time ... I was so clueless about the whole career thing. It very embarrassing to think back to periods you have outgrown, but it's part of everyone's growth process.
I didn't quite understand why my friends responded to my naive outlook back then that way, but now it's definitely because they have outgrown me at the time and were not straightforward enough to tell me the better. Obviously, I formed friendships with better friends who are more honest and direct. Realising "I'm not smart, I'm not special" is huge. It can be a little hard for those who get straight A's and luckily get jobs right after college.
I'm an English teacher who recently has started studying programming for like 5 months now, and prior to that I studied basic IT to learn about everything tech related. Right now, I'm going through the same struggles and I feel very behind compared to others who have already been working/studying for years and not having a degree related to CS is also something that makes me feel insecure, but despite that, I just keep going to build more projects and study to learn more. When I search for the job market, mostly all that I can see is jobs that are for people with diplomas, or some sort of experience. I'm even willing to work for free until I gain some experience and show some work experience on my resume but it seems like companies expect more professional and experienced employees so until I get to that level, I will need to work on my own to create such projects that I can finally say that I have experience of some sort. I encourage all of you who are like me, to keep going no matter what. Plus, feel free to contact me and collaborate!
In a similar situation as you. Do you think going back to get a master in CS or web development would be a good idea?
I have a degree in CS. For anyone who feels insecure about not having a CS degree I would recommend studying a "Data Structures and Algorithms" online course by yourself. That's some of the most important stuff in the degree and doesn't take years to learn.
Im in that moment exactly right now. Thought i was completely ready to get a job, but when i start aplying im watching my confidence get down. I will not give up, will keep learning and doing. Im gonna be a great software engineer no matter how many time take me. I got this. Thanks for this video.
You got a good attitude. Keep going soldier
u need to run ur own business
500+ applications before I got a low paying web dev job. 1.5 year later I’m at 95k. It’s worth the struggle. Bootcamp grad btw
@@qTnationX you’re only at 50? Not gonna lie it may not be the best career for you. Even after finding a job resilience is a must. At least if you’re not some kind of genius.
If you’re serious then keep going until someone gives you a shot. Small companies will be your best bet, that’s how I got my first gig. I did Wordpress for 6 months. Absolutely sucked but well worth it
@@jonahblack5942I've applied for thousands of jobs but haven't been accepted anywhere. What would you suggest to me?
Finding your first job is a humbling experience for everyone. You will adjust your expectation and skills and find something suit you. Have some faith and keep going.
For elite computer science students who have done multiple internships the first job is easy.
Thanks for sharing and glad it worked out for you after all. Self-esteem and communication are major factors in getting hired. The time you put into writing and understanding software and software systems is a lot more important for how successful you'll be on the job. Degrees, boot camps, etc. can be accelerators for learning but ultimately will not prepare you if you don't prepare yourself.
It takes more strength to admit one’s mistake than to not make the mistake. It’s also easy to downplay one’s achievement by associating it with luck. You landed the job not because of luck but because you realized your mistake and were willing to fix it - not many people can. And to others who are still struggling: never give up!
This video truly captures the frustration and anxiety that comes with job searching. It can be incredibly overwhelming to send out countless resumes and cover letters, only to receive rejection after rejection. But it's important to remember that this is a common experience and it doesn't define your worth or abilities. Keep pushing forward, stay positive, and eventually the right opportunity will come your way. Thank you for sharing this important message
I am the guy at the end of high school, looking for colleges but not ending up with good marks ends up in rejections. I thought that my life was tough, no one understood me but as I am slowly growing mentally and improving myself, I am able to see the bigger picture. My delusions of being unique and special has now come to stop and become something being a procrastinator through my life. Like you, I am able to see the pain and disappointment in my parents eyes, I am not even able to make eye contact, but listening to you I think I know what I should do. I am sharing this because there was something buried in me , feeling of being in a jar, and now as I am opening up I know I feel better. And yeah, I will work hard for the next four years and try to make something of my life and look up to my parents, look into their eyes , hand them the job letter and see the glimpses of a pride I was never able to see!!
To be honest. No company should expect a fresh graduate to know anything beyond what they learned at university. They should focus on the PERSON behind the wheel instead. It just seems to me that companies focus on the wrong thing all the time.
I think it should be a bit more than what they learned at university. We all know students have spare time to learn additional things provided that they don't work in a part time job.
I feel incredibly lucky for securing and having the opportunity to be a Software Engineering Apprentice, been working here 7 months now from the age of 18 and finally picking up some valuable skills
As someone on the exact opposite end of the spectrum (i.e never gotten rejected for a job I've interviewed for, and at this point there have been about 4 different ones) I think it's important to highlight some points from this video and really emphasize just how important they are.
1. He stated that he started to fall off in college and didn't really do any kind of personal projects. This is sooo important. When I was in school almost all of my free time went to doing personal projects - specifically creating things I was passionate about. When I got interviews I was able to talk about these projects along with all of the skills they taught me (i.e network protocols, process memory, etc...). My interviewers almost always commented on how interested I seemed in the subjects. This is essential.
2. He stated that he did not get an internship in college. Going to college and getting a degree without doing an internship is almost worse than not going to college at all, in my opinion. It gives the impression that you're lazy, which is one of the worst possible things an interviewer can think about you. Additionally, internships are your exposure to the real world. College degrees are great for introducing you to a topic, but barely teach you any practical real world skills. A person walking out of a college with a computer science degree is, in almost all accounts, a novice programmer/engineer. College simply cannot teach you the skills you need in a real world environment. That is what internships are for. You should be pursuing internships the moment you get into college. Getting one as a freshmen is difficult, but not impossible. However, you should absolutely have one by sophomore year, and continue having internships for the remainder of your college career (whether that be at the same company or multiple different ones doesn't really make a difference).
3. He stated that he thought it would be easy to get a job for these tier 1 tech companies. The key here is connections. You can be qualified for a job and still not get it. This is because there are multiple applicants for every job opening. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you will get an offer simply because you are capable. The reality is, you need to be overqualified for the position. Someone that knows react/node/data structures is qualified for a full stack position at google. However, someone that knows the aforementioned things and has built multiple full stack applications in use by different companies is also qualified. Guess which one they're going to choose. Now imagine someone that has done all of the above AND has a referral from within the company. Give yourself every advantage. In addition to personal projects, you should be networking in college. Go to career fairs, talk to your classmates, join clubs related to your field, keep in touch with people from your high school going into the same field as you, etc... You really never know where a connection will come in handy.
4. Just from reading through the comments... I see a lot of talk about the industry being saturated and how there really aren't that many empty positions. This is simply not true. There are still a ton of positions. Unfortunately, the difficult truth you have to accept is that you're either not qualified, or you don't appear to be qualified to the recruiter. You should look at job applications the same way you would look at writing software. Don't blame the computer when the program doesn't do what you expected. It's your code that is the problem 99.9% of the time. After starting full time at my first position after college, I helped out with the company's internship program. I was in charge of interviewing/selecting candidates for the team I was leading. We had six slots on my team, and about 50 for the entire internship. Additionally, we had hundreds if not thousands of resumes/applications for these slots. Now I bet you're reading this and thinking... well that literally goes against what you just said - way more applicants than seats. You're only partially correct. I read through every resume, and had a very difficult time filling my seats. This is not because it was hard to choose between the very qualified candidates. It was because, out of the hundreds/thousand resumes very few were even worth considering for more than a second. You'd be surprised at how poor your competition's resumes are. I'm talking no personal projects whatsoever - they just listed their coursework (news flash, everyone applying for the job with your degree has those classes as well). Additionally, some of them had completely misspelled basic words. Things like that show very little attention to detail - especially when you can just use spellcheck. Poor wording of sentences was also very common. Additionally, the resumes were extremely generic. There was nothing on there indicating that they would be good for *this* job. I get it - a lot of people like to play the numbers game. That's fair, but know that generic resumes really won't get you far, which is part of the reason you have to play the numbers game in the first place. Every job I have applied to had a tailored resume, and everyone gave me an interview followed by an offer. Find out what this job position cares about. Try reaching out to people on linkedin doing that job at that company. You'd be amazed at how much of an edge that gives you. Finally, don't lie on your resume. I can't tell you how many candidates I interviewed that had a stellar looking resume, and then didn't remember half of the things they put on it, or couldn't speak to it at all. I had one candidate from Harvard say he had built a debugger from scratch. This is something I had also done in college, so it peaked my interest. When I asked him about it... he didn't even remember it was on his resume. Red flag, but ok fine... so I asked him some technical questions about how debuggers work... he had no clue. I nicely ended the interview and removed him from the pool so that no other teams would interview him either.
Bit of a long comment, but these are the things I've really noticed, and what I found to be the most beneficial for me. Hopefully this helps someone looking for a job, and good luck!
Yes, it was long comment, but every single sentence in your comment bears important aspects of what novice/fresh programmer should expect in the real world. I applaud your time and effort for putting out such critical points.
Thank you for this comment, not just a reality check but full of such great advice.
I also didn't study CS. I have bachelor degree in Biophysics, but decided to spend 3 months of my last year learning C++ from free sources: web, TH-cam. After summer holidays I was able to find a job as C++ developer making 30k$ a year. I am not from US - in my country I am in top 0.5% by salary already, and that's only a start for me. Hoping to make it to some big tech companies in a year or two
30k after tax ?
@@Goodmanrondy Yes, after tax
These stories sound so unreal to me
i don't usually comment on youtube videos, but this was one of the most eye-opening videos i've seen in a while. i'm a first yr studying computer engineering also at uci and my attitude up until now has been very similar to what you have described. i just wanted to say that i'm grateful you made this video. i'm very lucky to have seen this as who knows how long it would've taken me to realize all of these things. thank you!
Went through a similar path, and didn't even land a software job until over year after graduating (and what I got was in a dead-end language). It is hard, and setting the right expectations is key. Working for a no-name company at a low salary to get 6-12 months of experience is really what you need to be focusing on first. The market will absolutely open up after that.
I have being looking for a job as software engineer for more than two years, and nothing. My life is a living hell. After a few years working as RoR developer I think I’m banned somehow. It’s insane but it’s too much coincidence. It’s mathematically impossible to have such bad luck. Nobody hires me anymore. I regret my decisions of the past every single F day!!
I'm starting my fourth year as a computer science undergraduate and this is the scariest video I've ever watched. I'm at an identical position to the one you were in and you have honestly sparked something in me to try to change starting now.
Bruh I’m about to start CS next fall in college. This video is making me rethink some things and making me consider double majoring just to have a chance at getting a job. Best of luck dude.
@@lololoololdudusoejdhdjswkk347Someone in this comment section said they have a Phd in Stats and that they were working on a masters in CS. They were rejected by every job despite this. Make sure you work on leetcode and projects.
The best thing to do is to get a “dumpy” job at a retail establishment and use that as a platform for spring boarding you to a better job. The mental struggle should be avoided. Trying too hard will make you fail interviews. It will show up as desperation. No employer wants to be your desperate choice. The money will make you float indefinitely (no financial worries). Plus, dealing with customers in retail is very similar to the social pressure of being interviewed. Helping others gets you away from thinking about yourself too much. This sharpened my interviewing skills considerably.
I have never gotten a job at a top tech company because I don't have the patience to grind useless leetcode questions. Fortunately through a combination of hard-work, job switching and other factors I have been able to achieve TCs comparable with top tech jobs after a few years. I am in my 8th year now as an SWE and the worst part of my experience looking back was just how completely useless college was, the stuff that was super hard to learn like discrete math, assembly and other topics I have literally never used. If college wanted to prepare you for real and good jobs there should be courses that only teach you how to grind LC otherwise you have to find their own path
Took me about 100 hours of grinding Leetcode to get a big tech job. I did math comps so it was fairly straightforward.
Anyone have any idea which college or university KC went to? I'm just really curious.
I relate with that discrete math thing rn, I know I’m going to forget nearly all of it as soon as the semester is over and I know that it won’t really help me anyway.
@@labadaba5088 Look at the graduation photo at 0:49 he went to UC Irvine.
Primary objective of engineering schools is to create problem solvers and thinkers for the job market. Most professional skills are learned on the job.
Im not a dev, but i work closley with them (im a Motion Designer). It took me 6 month to land the first job - over 200 applications. Don't give up folks. I had about 190 rejections... thats right, I only had 10 call backs... and 1 of those took a chance on me.
Thing is, I already received 5+ calls for a potential position in a company but I had fear cuz I don't have the English skills they need(C1 at least)
❤Thank you for being transparent about this. When I was looking for my first job as a software engineer it was a really difficult time. I REALLY try to tell coding bootcamp grads this stuff but they often don’t listen.
I literally interviewed a bootcamp grad the other day and she said… “If I just keep studying hard, I will get a job”…
She literally refused to listen to the guidance I was trying to give her. It was painful to sit and listen to.
I thought… “You are talking to an actual software engineer who worked at Airbnb and you refuse to listen”
It’s sad.
Going back some years, but at one point I was unemployed for over a year, and had sent out over a thousand resumes, all with no job offer. At that point I decided I had to bite the bullet, and start calling past co-workers send THEM my resume and see if that, along with a good word from them would at least get me an interview. It worked, and that is how I landed a 10 year stint, in my field. That though came to an end with new management, and general degredation of that company. It never ends!
I’ve been working on content and writing up some stuff on this topic. The gap between graduation and that first job is a huge leap. Thanks for sharing your experience!
I just stumbled upon this, and I am an experienced developer with no CS degree, I have 7 years of experience including experience from a FANG company. I got laid off 2 months ago, The job market is tight right now, and even the interviews are really tense, those that do leetcode interviews are usually leetcode hard and you have to be perfect right down to the detail, I have been rejected in the final rounds of behavioral interviews for the slighted lack of clarity. I say keep on at it and up your game, I spend 10-12 hours a day perfecting my leetcode, systems design, and behavioral interviews, I find the trickiest part is not losing hope with each rejection
I am in the same situation that I can't land a job now. The real problem is that I have no idea what I am supposed to do next. I have solved over 500 LC problems, had an internship, asked professionals to revise my resume, filed hundreds of job applications. But, I barely get interviews. Literally everyone I know who works in the industry have told me that it is not possible to get a job without big name company or long full-time experience, especially for a foreign student like me. Anyway, I am going be kicked out the US within 2 months after graduation. It seems too late to save myself.
Start at lower prestiege job, or look in other partnof the world or in your home country. I so many beginner west europeans not getting jobs at home, so had to move in lower stamdard of living countries (where anyhow the jobs were relocated)
You need to make money to eat first. If you can't find a job as a dev. Just build small app to create a portfolio.
this story actually applies to all new grads. Your first job will suck. Getting it is super hard when companies are laying off like crazy
The feeling of letting your parents down after all they sacrificed is a pain that is commonly suffered by people that where always driven to success internally but like you said "where not forced to change". I landed a SW job with a salary that I did not imagine based on 1. Luck 2. Side projects, as a first generation student I discovered resources, clubs, competition, undergrad research, etc by ACCIDENT and if not done any of those I would have not have a chance to land any of my internships or current offer. If you are facing the same situation time is not your enemy, but your willingness and appreciation for the career of your choice. Such that if you studied the major for the money only, well, I wish you the best of luck, but if there is some actual passion and interest then start, somewhere, but start putting in the sacrifice and things will come.
wrong u scammer
socializing and making friends doesn't need to sound like such a bad thing. Also if your friends didn't bother telling you you were messing up then that kind of shows how good of friends they are. That being said your story is very similar to mine I worked through college and found that juggling school and work and trying learn outside of school was increasingly hard There were many days I fell asleep at the wheel and almost crashed. I also got down on my self for not getting a crazy good dev job out of school but honestly if people think they to be at google straight out of college then they are truly delusional. People at those companies really misrepresent what it means to work there with their shitty day in the life vids where they just eat all day at work. Honestly everyone has their own path it doesn't matter what you have to go through to get to where you need to be. I think that is the biggest lesson people should take away from this.
"if your friends didn't bother telling you you were messing up then that kind of shows how good of friends they are"
Exactly. Those aren't good friends.
Regarding the job search - we need to look at the bigger picture.
You mentioned trying to juggle learning outside of school with classes and work to the point of falling asleep at the wheel. What if you had crashed your car? What if you had been maimed for life? I ask you, which of your would-be employers would give a rat's ass about you after all you've done to make yourself more valuable to them?
None. Not a single one.
The problem is that we're busting our asses and feeling all depressed and spending years - YEARS - of our lives trying to contort ourselves into the narrow, highly-specified molds these employers want us to fit in. But for what? What is the reward? To work 50+ hour weeks for pennies on the dime compared to what your boss and your boss' boss take home? To have our hearts in our throats at the mere mention of the word "layoffs"? To get a knot in our stomach if the boss sends an unexpected meeting invitation addressed solely to you, the most junior member of the team?
If you really did have the skills to pass seven rounds of interviews, answer medium Leetcode questions in 40 minutes, and confidently talk through a few solid portfolio projects, then you're worth more than whatever they're paying you. And you're more capable than they're letting on.
Let me say that again.
You are more capable than they are letting on.
So you should be focused on putting that value to use in ways that provide a return to you. Not to your boss, not to the company you're employed at. To you. Find ways to work for yourself or cultivate income streams. Train in such a way that, should you fall short of breaking into whatever bullshit dream company you're looking at, you still wind up with a skill set that enables you to go out and make your own money. And chances are, as soon as you're good enough to do that, BAM. Those same employers who rejected you left and right suddenly deem you "worthy" enough to work for them.
@@AnotherPersonStoppingBy exactly what I was trying to say I thought I needed to be at a big tech company and graduate in 4 years because society puts emphasis on that. I worked my self to a dangerous point chasing that and it could have really affected my life. Looking back I could have honestly pumped the brakes and had a healthier work life balance but that wasn't what was perceived as a college kid trying to be "successful" the point is you don't have to be rise and grind every day to be successful. You don't have to work at a FAANG company to be successful. There are 1000's of people from FAANG companies that got laid of and some how I still have a developer job compared to them and I don't work at a FAANG company. You don't have to code day and night to be successful. At the end of the day its a job thats it. Go work put in medium effort, get paid, live below your means live a comfortable life(whatever that means to you). People need to stop chasing the image of wanting to be the next Elon
how bout u people finally realize its all scam?
Yeah, it's definitely rough out there. I was a bootcamp grad in 2021 and the job search nearly broke me with how intense and stressful it was. Lots of applications, a few failed interviews, continuous studying...it was a lot. Finally landed a job as a frontend developer in a smaller company and just put in my two weeks last Monday, so I get to do it all over again :D
I will say, going into it the second time around is not nearly as intimidating, so I'm hoping to have better success this time.
OMG why you quitted? I am a BootCamp graduate as well I have not landed a job yet after putting in 200+ applications :/
@@Anime_Empire_2.0
I’ve heard some people read bootcamp and throw out applications, and would prefer it not even be in there. I think that’s messed up personally, because they can be just as good as anyone with a portfolio, you know?
They call coding bootcamps a joke and all, and if they see that on a resume, they don’t take it as seriously. At least I’ve heard many recruiters say that. I’ve heard them say putting that can hurt the resume. If you still can’t find a job, consider getting rid of that on your application maybe, but look into what I’ve said first just in case I’m incorrect. I heard this from recruiters on Reddit and Quora.
@@Anime_Empire_2.0 Just a bad work environment all around. It was no longer worth it, so I quit.
And keep at it! I know it's hard, but I'm sure you'll find something soon :)
I am currently enrolled in the ALX software engineering program. I'm in my second month. Thank goodness I stumbled upon this video. Late last year I gave up a dream of doing music to fully focus on software engineering. Feelings of worthlessness set in most days but I press on. Lacking food and rent has been the order of the day but I still believe the future is bright and all this will be worth it only if I really work hard. In need of everyone's prayers.
Thank you KC for sharing your story and being so honest about the experience. I really resonated with you on how people don't just change overnight. Like you in high school, I was a mediocore student and in college continued to do things half assed. Luckily I was somehow able to land a corporate job, but quickly realized how the corporate world and high paying jobs are not kind to people that settle for mediocrity. Trying to be a more responsible person now and push myself to give 100% to everything I do now.
Good luck bro
Anyone have any idea which college or university KC went to? I'm just really curious.
I'm an accounting graduate. From my early years of college, I realized that accounting is not for me. I started assembling PCs for family and friends and made a tiny small business out of it. This introduced me to hardware maintenance and firmware related troubleshooting. Then I moved to working in customer service and I started to learn software engineering & coding on the side. The combination of getting experienced in customer service, learning Operating systems fundamentals, and coding, landed me a job in one of the top telecommunication companies as a network engineer. Then 7 years later, I landed a software engineering job at one of the top 3 tech companies. And I've been in that position for 10 years now.
The morale of the story, take your graduation certificate and store in somewhere on a shelf at home. You won't get the job of your dreams up until you learn the skills needed for it, and weaponize your soul with nothing but patience!
Ironically, I’m switching to accounting lol
I thought my degree was enough to. I decided to eventually go down the IT support route after failing countless coding interviews and needing money to support myself. I disappointed myself and my family at the time. But I climbed up the ranks with hard work and now am in a much better place than I was 3 years ago
THANK YOU for talking about this because people really out here talking as if landing a job is a videogame and the only problem is choosing the best options to get the best build endgame, while not knowing they aren't even ready to start the tutorial yet
Seriously, a great video. I appreciate all the honesty from your part. Its very easy to be delusional and essentially lie to yourself in this field. I wish all of you the best of luck in the job search.
Great video. I’ve found myself in a somewhat similar position. The past 3 years I’ve been completely directionless. Lacking motivation or drive to do anything. Constantly anxious or on edge.
When I was in college, I felt ahead of the curve. In HS we had little courses going over our plans for the future, and I thought I was well prepared, and so did other people. But I didn’t have a specific plan, and found out the hard way.
I always had this thought that “as long as I keep my grades up and finish my degree everything else will work out.” It didn’t.
Got my associates. Tried a semester at university. Dropped out in late 2020 because it was a waste of money. And I’m just now starting to take a risk and make a change because I just can’t take it anymore. I’ve been working retail for the past 11 months. My final day is next week.
Here’s hoping that I can focus on my successes and put in some harder work. Change is hard. But staying the same is harder. Cheers!
Thanks for this video because in a year and a half im going to start applying for apprenticeships and before i watched this video, i was heading the same way as you did so i very much appreciate you opening my eyes and helping me stop procrastinating and being deluded
Just a year ago, everyone was saying tech jobs were in high demand and companies couldn’t find enough workers locally (they had to hire foreign workers on VISA).
There are actually jobs outside of tech, many positions have to lower the hiring criteria to get filled (hint: high schoolers are filling positions used to be for college grads).
Market fluctuates. Look around and you’ll find something.
I’m a college drop out.
After the pandemic I picked up some construction jobs.
Eventually got really good at it.
I’m 30 now and making decent cash. I’m not rich but I think in a few years I can make middle class.
All I did was work 14 hours a day. Work weekends. Do online courses. Get heat exhaustion. And watch my friends have fun at the beach. Been 3 years doing that.
Now I solve problems my managers can’t fix.
The process sucked but the end result was ok. I hope everyone can find their path.
Thats really humble. Great going.
Went through something similar in 2009 when I left college and there was that lovely 2008 crash to deal with. I applied for everything I could find. Yet, after 330 applications and resumes, I got nothing. Had to join the Army just to keep from being homeless
@champagneredneck Yes, the 2008-2010 crash was real. There was joblessness, underemployment, and lack of prospects. I remember those times. We may be approaching them again, and people act completely oblivious. Even now, it feels as though we have to hustle and struggle for everything we get. The great job out of college, leadership opportunities, and a living wage seem fairly unobtainable. It can be frustrating to see where we are today and where we might be heading. There is a reason to learn from history and reflect. Not everything can be STEM, history has real lessons. Perhaps since I am older I have seen this trend of computer engineers play out before. My dad tried to hook me up to an early computer, so I could find some way to connect and become a computer programmer. Kids were enrolling in droves to law school to become corporate lawyers. Anyone with any artistic ability would work for hours to become graphic designers. Students would run to the IT and computer science majors to get a job in tech. The end result is the same - oversaturation and fool's gold. Really, you have to develop a variety of skills rather than put all your eggs in one basket. One thing I do appreciate about my college was that it allowed you to have double majors and minors. The open curriculum needs to be the future. I have done more with my minors than much of anything else. I minored in Latin American Studies and linguistics. I had extensive coursework in political economy and communications. After school, I marketed myself as an econ and communications student, and that is how I got my positions. Colleges need to spend more time helping their students get decent jobs out of school. If I had relied on my major or small liberal arts school outside of the Midwest, I would still be unemployed today. Point blank, the economy changes and nothing is guaranteed.
The main issue is H1B visa. It’s killing wages and making it difficult for American graduates
@TheBuzzHub585 I’ve seen it happen in my own company. Fired all the American workers over the course of the year, replaced them all with H1B’s from India. Far from incompetence.
This was incredibly relatable. Instead of majoring in CS, I graduated with a degree in Aerospace Engineering. So far, I am on month 3 post-graduation trying to find a job. I got one interview last month, but that did not go well. The interviewer also ended the screening early, and I feared that the job was not going to be mine. Although I am thankful for the opportunity given to me, I cannot help but know that I should have been more proactive during my college tenure. I should have joined more projects, talked to more hiring managers at career fairs, etc. Instead, I am here doing my best to present myself as able as possible, while everyone I know has a secure income. To those reading my comment: 1) Thanks for taking the time to read this and 2) I know you are struggling, but keep trying. Maybe start new projects, relearn some important curriculum, do anything while you apply to more jobs. It's all you can do at this point. I will be fighting alongside you all. I hope this gives you a little glimmer of hope. You are not alone.
I felt the exact same way when I graduated from college. I knew deep down I was screwed. I thought I was the only one that had this deep empty feeling. It didn’t come until I finished my final project.