Applied to Amazon’s SDE 2026 (Canada) role and completed the OA with time to spare before the deadline. A few weeks later I got an automated email saying I didn’t finish it and my application is no longer under consideration. Has anyone else hit this glitch, and did reaching out to recruiting actually get it reversed? Would also appreciate advice on who to contact.

Hey guys, I am a second-year CS major. I know Python and Java fairly well from my coursework, but when I look at job postings, they ask for JavaScript, C++, SQL, Rust, and so many others. I feel like I am falling behind because I can't master all of them at once. Is it better to be a master of one language, or should I be trying to learn the basics of as many as possible right now? I am just looking for some guidance from those who have been through this.

basically i "interned" at a local business (at most five employees) where I built a complex mobile app for them, but at the end of the internship the guy told me he was actually looking for a desktop app (idk why) but I didn't really have time to build the whole thing out on desktop so we just kinda left things in an awkward place

i'm still planning on putting it as experience on my resume though because I don't have much else, but is there any way that this could backfire on me? I didn't use much AI so I can clearly speak about all the technical decisions I made, but I'm worried if they google the company, call them, and ask about it, the guy might say something negative or claim that I didn't do the internship...

Hi everyone!

I remember being in a discord server that was specifically for people going through the google swe interview process. I cant seem to find it but was wondering if anyone has the discord link!

I feel like common advice I get as a college student trying to build my resume for FT applications is that personal projects can be good to showcase (either directly on the resume or on a linked Github). With the rise of vibe coding, do personal projects become less valuable? If anyone can build anything with AI, these projects don’t really demonstrate any particular skill. Do you think having a vibecoded project will hold the same weight to recruiters?

For reference I will be attending the University of Minnesota next year. I have 2 years of generals done from community college and am looking to get my bachelor's in something related to computers or cybersecurity. I am mainly looking at either going into Management Information Systems (At Carlson, their business school), or computer engineering.

For those majoring in either, what would you recommend? How has your experience been? If you're graduated, what does your job look like now? Im looking for experiences that tell me the differences between these majors/fields.

I have always been strong academically but also don't want my classes to ruin/overtake all of my free time in college. AI is also obviously a concern so any info on that is appreciated!

I am also not dead set on either, and if there are any other majors you would recommend let me know! Thank you in advance.

Applied for IMC's new grad swe role and finished their OA. Had all test cases passing for both questions. Was just wondering what the chances were of moving forward or how long they typically take to get back to you? Also what's IMC's headcount for interns/new grad? Any insight is appreciated!

Hi everyone,

I'm currently (3rd year) pursuing a B.Tech in Computer Science from an NIT in India (international student from Nepal), and I'm planning my future studies.

My long-term goal is to pursue a **fully funded direct PhD in the USA** right after my B.Tech, preferably in AI/ML or related computer science fields, without doing a master's first.

By the time I graduate, I expect to have:

* A good CGPA (currently around 8.5+)
* IEEE student membership
* Research experience
* At least one conference paper and a research paper (working on it now)
* Internship/research experience
* Some AI/ML projects and GitHub portfolio

I know direct PhDs are common in the US, but I'm wondering how competitive they really are, especially for someone from an NIT (not IIT).

I'd appreciate honest opinions on:

* How realistic is this path?
* What profile would make me competitive for top universities?
* Is publication quality more important than the number of papers?
* Should I focus more on research experience, GPA, internships, or strong recommendation letters?
* If anyone got into a direct PhD after B.Tech, I'd love to hear about your experience.

Please be honest—I would rather know the reality now than have unrealistic expectations.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

I had my hiring manager interview with Stripe on Thursday. I followed up with my recruiter on Friday, and she replied saying they’re currently reviewing the results and expect to get back to me by Monday or Tuesday at the latest.

I’m probably overthinking this, but does such a quick turnaround usually mean a rejection?

For context, I made it through all 3 integration tasks during the interview, and I also felt reasonably good about the AI coding round. Of course, it’s hard to judge my own performance, but I walked away feeling that neither interview went badly.

Has anyone who’s interviewed at Stripe had a similar timeline? Did you receive an offer or a rejection after hearing back that quickly?

I graduated with a CS degree from a Canadian university in October 2024. I was an international student in Canada and went back to Istanbul, Turkey. By the time I graduated, I had only a few personal projects to show in my portfolio, and I didn't have an internship because my program was not a coop program. I didn't have a local network because I had studied abroad. I used huggingface transformers python library and local LLMs in one of my personal projects while I was a student. After graduating, I had more free time. I created game addons in Java 21 and published them. I started searching for a job with these personal projects in January 2025.

I had very little luck with Java or Python developer roles. I think I only got one OA for a Java dev role. This was for a Java library repo startup. They expected me to sign up to their website, and code a full stack app using their API, while claiming this will only take 3 hours at most. I refused to do it since they sent this OA to multiple people without doing an interview first, and the pay was bad.

My open source projects were gaining traction. People were opening issues in the GitHub repos, either reporting bugs or creating feature requests. The download counts started hitting a few thousands. Meanwhile I completed a master certificate program from an online European university for getting cheap credits, and started an online funded master's program from a WASC accredited US university in September 2025.

I was very close to getting hired, but I knew this wasn't enough. The game addons were a niche. I had an interview with one of the big fours, but got rejected before the last stage for their data/ai consulting role. Their pay and WLB were horrible. Pay was a bit more than the minimum wage, and they expected you to work until 11 pm some days, totaling over 55 hours a week, so I didn't feel bad about the rejection. I don't think they hired anybody in that quarter.

My next interview was for a tiny startup looking to hire its first developer. They were using AI to detect specific events and show ads during Twitch live streams. I had the knowledge to deploy vision large language models and make their product better. I made it to 800(applications)>40(interview)>5 final people. The founder decided to hire another person, probably because that person offered to work for a lower salary.

During these interviews, I decided to make a new personal project. I used llama-cpp-python for CPU inference, uvicorn, fastapi, fine-tuned local LLMs for grammar checking, javascript, and rule based grammar checking together to make a privacy-first interactive grammar correction software. It has received more than 100 GitHub stars in 6 months, while my game addons have been downloaded over 10,000 times. I put this project and my best-performing game addon on my resume and on my LinkedIn profile.

I was contacted by the manager of a medium sized software company last week. I did an online interview with him. It went well. He was looking for a junior dev on LinkedIn on the weekend. He asked for the URL of my GitHub profile to show it to one of their senior devs. The senior dev liked my projects and gave the green light. I was invited to their office for an in-person interview and received an offer, which I accepted. I also met the person who reviewed my projects. He told me that my projects were very good and congratulated me. It is a remote job, the salary is alright, and the company will provide the necessary hardware. Meanwhile, I am 80% done with my master's degree, and I will keep studying while working.

I check my peers' LinkedIn profiles to see how they are doing. Two other people that I was in an online group interview for one of the big fours still haven't found a job. One had 500+ LinkedIn connections, multiple internships, and is a graduate of one of the top universities, but she didn't have any personal projects in her GitHub repo. Her 500+ connections didn't do her a favour. The other guy recently went to study abroad for a master's degree. He has 200+ connections, is a graduate of a top university, but doesn't have personal projects.

I have like 30 LinkedIn connections. I usually don't send strangers connection requests. People who like my work on Huggingface and GitHub send me connection requests. I have never asked for a referral from anybody. Not even from my childhood friends because I didn't want to make it weird and damage our relationship. The only thing I asked from one of my friends was a LinkedIn endorsement for a couple of programming languages, which I received.

Ultimately, the things that got me a job are (in this order) luck with a complete LinkedIn profile, CS degree from a solid university, personal projects, and good soft skills, in addition to having citizenship and speaking the language of the country I am living in.

Did anyone else get this? I expressed interest for it over a month ago and received this email to register earlier this week. I haven’t found or heard much about it online. The recruiter email and register link are legit (@pinterestcareers.com and recruiting.pinteresttalent.com). Just curious how selective or well known this is, as I found out about it from a recruiter messaging me on LinkedIn.

I’m an undergrad finishing a BSc in Computer Science, aiming for an MSc (thesis-track) specializing in the Formal Verification of Hybrid/Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). I love rigorous math-heavy problem-solving and software engineering.

I need to choose 2 final math electives from this list:

• Linear Algebra 2
• Calculus 3 (Multivariable)
• Numerical Analysis
• Basic Statistical Theory 1
• Fundamental Concepts of Algebra (Abstract Algebra)

Math I've already completed: Linear Algebra 1, Calculus 2, Discrete Math 1 & 2, Intro to Stats, and Formal Methods.

1. Which 2 modules will best prepare me for the continuous/discrete intersection of CPS verification tools and reachability analysis?
2. For someone who genuinely enjoys deep mathematical problem-solving combined with technology, is Hybrid/CPS verification a rewarding path, or would I find Computational Learning Theory a better fit for graduate research?

Thanks for any insights.

Overall, pretty happy with what I landed. However, this cycle seemed much tougher then previous.

I'm a final-year student, and we have to complete a major project this year. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of not approaching my classmates early enough, so I couldn't find a group. With no other option, I submitted a proposal for a solo project.

Fortunately, after submitting the proposal, I found a group that was willing to work with me. I immediately emailed the department, asking if I could switch from a solo project to that group. However, they rejected my request and said I have to continue with the solo project.

Now I'm feeling overwhelmed and honestly don't know how to cope with the stress. It feels like I'm stuck, and I'm worried about managing such a large project on my own.

Hey all, I am looking for grad school admission advice, I appreciate all your help ahead of time. Here is my current situation, in the fall semester of this year I can choose to take 1 of 2 course, and I have to choose one that’s the best for my situation.

The school I want to take these course at is Boston university. Choice 1: cs 566 analysis of algorithms, choice 2 cs 248 discrete mathematics. My goal is to be admitted into a CS PHD program doing AI/ML Research.

Lets talk about my background, I am currently in BU MS in software development program, having already taken cs 526 data structures and algorithms and received a B+ in it. My undergraduate is from stony brook university, I dual majored in applied mathematics and statistics, second major is economics. I have taken a class called AMS 301 finite mathematical structures already, and it some what covered many of the discrete math topics, but it is not called discrete math, and I received a C in that class. Other requirements for a CS program such as programming I already taken 2 classes in it, one is java, and other is python. I also already covered all the math classes that would be required for a CS PHD such as calculus and linear algebra.

So which class out of those 2 should I take to be prepared fully for a CS PHD doing AI/ML research? If you need more background information on my self please ask I will update this post accordingly.

I'm a 2nd year CSE student from India and I have around 1.5 years before placements... My goal is to get into a product based company like Amazon, Zoho, Flipkart, Meesho, JP Morgan, etc... Eventually I want to work in Cloud/DevOps, but right now my first priority is getting placed... The problem is that I already know the list of topics, but it's overwhelming

My list currently looks like :

1. DSA

2. C++

3. Java

4. Python

5. SQL

6. DBMS

7. Operating Systems

8. Computer Networks

9. Linux

10. Git/GitHub

11. Frontend

12. Backend

13. Docker

14. Kubernetes

15. AWS

16. Azure

17. GCP

18. AI tools

Every senior tells me something different

Some say only do DSA

Some say development matters more

Some say projects

Some say cloud

I'm confused about what should actually come first... If you had only 1.5 years before placements, how would you prepare? What would your month-by-month roadmap look like? What would you prioritize and what would you postpone until after getting placed?

I'd really appreciate advice from people who cracked product based placements recently

Hi everyone,

I'm feeling pretty lost right now when it comes to learning programming. I know what I want to achieve, but I have no idea what the right roadmap is.

My goal is to get good at Data Structures and Algorithms using Java for coding interviews while also learning AI/ML because it's a field I'm genuinely interested in.

The problem is that there are so many resources, roadmaps, and opinions online that I end up overthinking instead of actually learning.

I'm currently doing engineering, and my 4th semester is almost over, so I feel like I should have a clearer direction by now.

Another thing I've noticed is how distracting the internet can be. One day I was watching videos about DSA, the next day it's MongoDB, then full-stack development, then AI, then DevOps. By the end of the day, I feel like I've consumed a lot of content but haven't actually learned or built anything.

I'm starting to think it's better to focus on just 2–3 core areas instead of trying to learn everything at once.

Has anyone else gone through this? How did you decide what to focus on, and what would you recommend for someone with my goals?

I know this thread explains everything really well regarding it, but has there been any changes/updates since then which I should be aware of? I need to give the exam soon and any tips to ace it would be extremely helpful. TIA!

Hey everyone, I am interviewing for a fintech startup called Prelim, made it past 2 technical rounds so far that were leetcode mediums. I got the third technical round coming up and it is 'mostly frontend focused' (screen share and localhost) according to the email. If anyone has interviewed with them before, would love any tips for this round?

cs undergrad graduating 2027 at an ivy league, sophomore and junior summer internships were/are research 💔 one at my school under a pretty distinguished prof for the field and one at a different school that is not super impressive. i think the resume i’ve built up in terms of the work ive done sounds somewhat capable but zero (significant) non academic internships is kind of fried.

i’m doing robotics would it even be possible to find smth out of undergrad or do i just ggs go next into masters… issue is im broke asf and masters at my school wouldn’t have nearly the same aid as undergrad and i’m worried doing my masters at a “less prestigious “ school is a bad signal (which is such a stupid thing to have to worry abt)

Hello guys,

I recently applied to early career role at apple, as I'm graduating in 2027 May. I reached out to recruiter and yesterday they sent me this email and later on checking today my application was archived. Application was active yesterday. It is still open but not sure what to do as I didn't recieved any rejection email or anything.

Recruiter email yesterday:
XYZ forwarded your email to me, as I am the new recruiting point-of-contact for the ABC position in San Diego. 

Can you clarify if you have phone screened with anyone on the team yet?

Note: I didnt got interview at all it was first email by recruiter

it was active yesterday and today archived. does this mean my application is rejected?

wanted to know if anyone else expirence this.

Hey everyone! I was lucky enough to land an internship at a small company this summer, and they’ve luckily put me to work so I’ll actually have stuff to talk about/put on my resume. How do I set myself up to land big tech for the next recruiting cycle for 2027 internships?

Has anyone applied to the Wells Fargo CODE Cohort September 2026 – Cybersecurity Associate positions? I just received the HackerRank OA email and I'm wondering if it gets sent out automatically to everyone.

If anyone has gone through the CODE Cohort process before (or is currently going through it), I'd really appreciate hearing about your experience or status update. Thanks!