u/RaiseOrdinary

Hey everyone,

I’m posting this because I honestly don't know what else to do at this point, and my mental health is absolutely tanking.

I graduated back in 2023 with a BCA. Right after I finished college, an immediate family member fell critically ill. I had to step up as a full-time caretaker, which meant my career had to be put on complete hold for a couple of years. Things are finally stable at home now, and I've been trying to get my career started, but I feel like I’m drowning.

I’m trying to break into data analytics. I am completely self-taught. I couldn't afford expensive bootcamps or formal certifications, so I just learned everything I could on my own through free resources. I’ve been applying relentlessly to Data Analyst positions on standard career websites and practicing on LeetCode, but I am getting absolutely zero interview calls. It's just a wall of automated rejection emails or pure silence.

I've attached my anonymized resume. I know it’s very basic and probably screams "fresher," but I would really appreciate some brutally honest feedback. What am I doing wrong? How can I improve this to at least get past the resume screening stage?

I also have a few other questions if anyone has the time:

1. Am I aiming wrong? Should I be looking at other roles just to get my foot in the door? If so, what titles should a fresher like me be searching for?

2. How do I improve my profile? Since I'm self-taught without a fancy internship, how do I prove I actually know my stuff?

3. Is my application strategy flawed? Right now I'm just cold-applying on job portals. Is there a better way?
   I'm just really tired, frustrated, and starting to feel like I missed my window because of my gap. Any advice, harsh truths, or guidance would mean the world to me right now. Thanks for reading.

Hey everyone,

Need some honest advice because I’m feeling pretty lost and mentally exhausted at this point.

I recently interviewed with Google for a US-based SWE III (L4) role and cleared the first 2 interview rounds with very positive feedback. I was really hopeful this time, but later I was told they can’t proceed further because of visa/hiring constraints for the US role.

What hurts more is that something similar happened last year too. I had cleared Google interviews for an L3 role back then as well, but the process got paused because of the hiring freeze before team matching even started.

So now I’m in this weird situation where I’ve cleared interviews multiple times, got good feedback, but still no final opportunity because of external reasons.

I’m currently based in Bangalore and eligible to work in India, so I’ve requested them to consider me for India openings instead, but have not received any positive response on that as well.

Has anyone here faced something similar with Google or other big tech companies?

What would you do in this situation?

- Keep following up with recruiters?
- Reach out to India recruiters separately?
- Ask for interview transfer?
- Just move on and reapply later?

I’ve spent months preparing and it’s honestly been emotionally draining. Would genuinely appreciate advice from people who’ve been through something similar.

Thanks.