r/cscareerquestionsIN

My younger brother finished his class 12th. He didn't have any coaching and cannot join in IIT,NIT or tier 1 college.

Based on state level engineering exam result he might join in tier 3 college, where placements are less, mostly service based companies.

context: I joined engineering in 2021 in a tier 3 private college.I feel situations have changed a lot in past 5 years.

I worked very hard and secured an internship. later switched to another company.But at the same time, I’ve seen many talented people struggle to get good placements mainly because of being in a Tier 3 college.

I know how bad the market is , what struggles freshers face.The competition has increased. For ex: when I joined college , we had around 1000 students across all departments of first year. now same college has 1000+ only in CS branches.lot of competition has increased now.

Also, with AI tools,cluade code becoming so advanced now, I’m honestly worried about how things will look 4 years down the line. By 2030, will entry-level opportunities reduce even more?

So my question is:

By the time he finishes Btech , then will there be chances to join any decent service based company and work for few years atleast. then improve skills , switch to better roles after getting some experience.

I request people in this field, students to share their honest opinion.

Thanks in advance

I am doing an internship with 1L/mo stipend they are also saying they will give me a PPO with some esops and stuff, i also got Infosys L1 specialist programmer offer which one should i join currently in startup i am mostly working the whole day, what will be the better choice help me decide

I’ve spent 25+ years across engineering leadership, product engineering, cloud, AI/ML, digital transformation, and scaling global tech teams.

Over the years, I’ve interviewed, mentored, and coached hundreds of professionals — from freshers to senior architects, managers, and directors.

Happy to answer questions around:

• Resume reviews

• Job switching strategy

• AI/GenAI impact on careers

• Leadership growth

• Salary negotiations

• Breaking into Data/AI/Cloud roles

• Interview preparation

• Mid-career transitions

Ask away — will try to give practical, industry-grounded advice.

Cheers,Vatsy

-----

In case you are looking for free evaluation and any specific questions on your profile, share me the profile on vatsycoach@gmail.com.

I also help with 1:1 paid consultations on detailed resume refinement and mock interviews for roles like Technical Program Manager, Scrum Master, Engineering Manager roles.

YOE: 3.5, Age: 25, Top 20% of the graduating class in RVCE, BLR. 9ish GPA.

I'm strictly of the opinion that I need to upskill myself to survive in this field. I think within the next 3-4 years, we'll see changes where the USP of a developer will come down unless they upskill massively.

I have a hectic job and really it's impossible to focus on other things. WLB is almost non-existent for many people on my team.

I currently earn around 50L pre-tax (including bonus) at a startup with some stock component with questionable share price (as it's unlisted). If I grind in India for the next few months and make a really nice switch, I'll easily reach a place where someone can pay me 75-80L. However I'm of the assumption that I'll just be "costly" and not really justify the amount they'll be paying me.

Since upskilling is a major factor in my career, I'm potentially considering doing my masters in the US. I've got an admit from USC (I know, every kid gets from there) but most other top schools rejected me. I have very little research during my bachelor's, so I understand the reasoning of major unis rejecting me.

From my estimates, it's going to cost atleast 1.5Cr over 2 years (Tuition+Stay+Experiences) to find my education. That combined with the opportunity cost value in India, the figure will likely be 2Cr in total.

Now that I've set the financial context, let me also explain why I'm considering the masters in the first place. I think (personal opinion), in the next 3-4 years, the cost optimization kicks in to a large extent for companies. They will want to stop paying developers the high salaries that we've seen in the last 2 decades. The 'first class citizenship' that a CS graduate has today in comparison to a Mechanical or Electrical Engineering grad will start to erode slightly due to Agentic developments. The huge number of CS grads entering the workforce everyday will contribute to this more. The only things that will work against this trend are the offshoring of jobs from the west and Indian currency currency depreciation i.e. cheap labour (lovingly called the "Bangalore Buffer" by VCs).

With these things in context, my aim for approaching a master's in US is for the following:

1. Get a higher QOL

2. If I'm slogging here (startup culture, bad WLB), why not do the same there and earn better?

3. If I'm lucky enough, I get to work on some cutting edge tech in US startups that might contribute to my expertise.

I have no PhD plans and plan to do only research that will genuinely help me in my professional career (if at all I get a chance to do research in the first place).

Pros vs Cons:

Pros:

1. If i assume that I work my ass off and land a 150-200k role in the US, I'll easily be able to net-net with my hypothetical Indian Counterpart who didn't go to the US at the end of just 3 years of employment i.e. by 2031.

2. Having 4 YOE across MNCs and startups will help me get my foot in the door for interviews quickly when applying for jobs. Afterall, a 4YOE employee has "some edge" compared to a fresher when applying to SDE1 roles in the US.

3. My workex will also help me perform my job more maturely and has given me some foresight on how to bring structure and take decisions. I feel this will help me grow in the job faster than others.

4. Will get to live in the US experiencing much healthier lifestyle. Will get to grow as a person, handling my own cooking, cleaning etc. which helps me gain more discipline. Overall better QOL.

5. Family has my brother looking after my parents. No familial blockers. In fact, my parents urge me to go.

Cons:

1. Obviously as you all guessed, huge financial cost. It's essentially a "bet" that I'll be able to land a job.

2. Away from parents and family. Grandparents are getting older. Won't be able to spend any time with them in the next 5 years. With the immigration scrutiny, I have to assume the worst when it comes to having frequent travels between US & India.

3. Aged 25, this is kind of the right time to start planning for marriage. I'm of the opinion to get married early and have kids early so that you get to enjoy life with them when they get older. With me being in the US just studying without a job & all the news that Indian TV/WhatsApp forwards show, arrange marriage prospects become extremely hard. One criteria I have in my partener is for them to be ambitious in their own career and not be a house-wife. So, with that criteria, the hunt for a partner becomes extremely tough until I graduate and get a job I guess? Probably will remain hard even after that.

With everything laid out, I'm mostly leaning towards going, but I'm most conflicted about just one thing: How does the US industry change with the AI-led Development? Will it affect a lot of jobs to the extent that meritorious people will have extremely bad job market in 2028?

I'm not too worried about the current political weather in the US. The current adminstration might go out of power in 2.5 years (almost by the time I graduate) and Trump himself is actually NOT against Merit-based Immigration. It's the republican party who's forcing his hand. With the tech giants strictly against it, I don't think I'll have problems completing my studies and work for 3 years. I'm happy to return back if I don't get a H1B after that.

**MY HUMBLE REQUEST FOR PEOPLE READING THIS IS:**

**1. Give a Yes or No opinion**

**2. A reason if possible (OPTIONAL)**

**3. Your credentials in the industry (No personally identifying information). Just enough for me to understand how experienced you are and what position you hold in the industry to have this point of view.**

REGARDLESS OF WHETHER YOU COMMENT OR NOT, I'm extremely glad that I was able to type this out and bring a clear structure to my confusion. Im glad that we have such a subreddit in India that's active and concentrates on dev issues. I'm glad that you guys exist to help. Thank you so much :)

Ive committed a document theft and was fired. Will i get a job again or my career id is destroyed? They threatened stating they'd fuck my career

Hi everyone,
I recently joined a company as a fresher and I have to choose between two domains: System Integration and Automation Testing.

My goal is:

1. Good career growth
2. Decent salary progression
3. Ability to switch companies in the future

I’m still early in my career, so I don’t want to make a wrong decision.
Can someone with experience in either field share:
Long-term growth and opportunities
Difficulty level for beginners

Which option is better in today’s market
Any honest advice would really help. Thanks!

Hey everyone,

Seeing a lot of negative posts lately about the market being bad, no calls, etc. Wanted to get a more balanced and realistic view.

If you’ve successfully switched jobs recently (2025–2026) with \~1.5 to 2.5 YOE, could you share your experience?

Would be really helpful if you can mention:

Your tech stack (Java backend / Data / QA / etc.)

Previous CTC → new CTC (or % hike if you prefer)

Whether you switched via referral or direct application

How long your job search took

Notice period (and if it affected your chances)

Also, if possible:

What do you think helped you crack the switch?

Any mistakes or things you’d do differently?

Trying to understand what’s actually working in the current market instead of just hearing worst-case scenarios.

Thanks in advance 🙂

Hi everyone,

I recently completed my internship at IBM and received a PPO for a SDE Cloud role. I wanted to get some clarity on the compensation structure from current IBMers or anyone who joined recently.

CTC Breakdown:

• Annual Fixed: INR 11 LPA
• Premium Component: INR 1,00,000 (One-time)
• Settling Allowance: INR 25,000 (One-time)

A few questions:

1. What would be the realistic monthly in-hand salary (post-tax/PF) for this bracket?
2. When does the Premium Component (1L) usually get credited? Is it with the 1st month's salary or after a few months?
3. For the Settling Allowance, do I need to submit any bills (like relocation/brokerage), or is it a flat payout?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Hey folks, I’m stuck in a really confusing situation and could use some realistic advice from people who know how lateral hiring works.

My Background: I have 1.8 YOE. My current CTC is 8.63 LPA. Even though my title was "Data Engineer", my actual day-to-day work was basically just manual SQL runs. Recently, my company moved me to an SDET role where I'm doing manual Salesforce testing.

In my own time, I’ve built a solid portfolio with FastAPI, Kafka, AWS, and some GenAI (Gemini/RAG) stuff because my actual goal is to get into a proper Python Backend or Data Engg role. (Note: I’m not great at DSA, so I’m strictly targeting startups and mid-size product companies that do machine coding rounds).

The Problem (Current Job): The work hours at my current company are brutal. I am logged in from 9 AM to 9 PM every single day. I am completely burnt out. I have literally zero time or energy to upskill, build more projects, or even apply for jobs.

The TCS Offer: I recently interviewed with TCS and got a Digital offer (Systems Engineer - Grade C1) for 7.5 LPA.

Pros of taking it: Standard 9-hour workdays. I would finally get my life back and actually have time to prep and interview for the backend jobs I want. Cons of taking it: It’s a 1.1L pay cut. But my biggest fear is project allocation. Since my real-world enterprise experience is just manual testing, I am terrified TCS will look at my profile and dump me right back into a legacy support or manual testing project anyway.

The Alternative: My current company is introducing Playwright soon for the SDET role. I could theoretically stay, force myself to log off at 7 PM (quiet quit to protect my sanity), learn Playwright automation on company time, and use my backend portfolio to aggressively apply on Instahyre/Wellfound.

Is it worth taking a pay cut to join TCS just to get my WLB back, knowing I might get stuck in a support role? Or should I reject TCS, stay in my current exhausting job, learn Playwright, and hold out until I land a 10L+ backend role?

Has anyone here taken a pay cut for WLB to prepare for a better switch? Would really appreciate any guidance!

Hi, I’m 23F, Salesforce Developer with almost 2 yoe. I hold 4 certifications. Currently looking for a change. If anyone can help me with any referrals or suggestions, that would be appreciated. Thank you!!

Hi everyone,

I’m starting my BTech CSE journey this year, but I’m carrying a 3 year gap after my 12th (NEET PREP, Missed cutoff by 12 and 7 marks, and stayed back another year since all admissions were over). I’m in a Tier-3 college and I want to be extremely realistic about my career prospects so I can plan these next 4 years correctly.

I've done some digging, and what I found are grim. I ran a deep search regarding this exact matter and almost all WITCH have a 1-2 yr cap on career breaks overall.

Will skills alone help me mitigate this? Will this still be an issue in my future career trajectory?

Kindly give me some advice!

Thanks!

Hey everyone,

My interview with Google is approaching and the recruiter told me that the 1st round will be a AI/ML round.

She didn't give much ideas around what will be asked, and spoke about the common topics only.

I think there are a lot of topics which can be asked - Classical ML (Naive bayes, Random Forest, boosting etc), Specialization (I have in Audio), Coding (Recruiter told they can ask you to code something Non-DSA too).

I am sort of getting overwhelmed by all of this since I dont know which topics should I cover in depth and given the limited time, anxiety is only piling up!

If anyone here has experience with the Google for the AI/ML round can they please help?

Would truly appreciate any help/suggestions.

Thanks in advance!

Hi Fellas,

I’m a career coach with 25+ years in the software industry

Over the years, I’ve mentored hundreds of professionals trying to transition into IT from completely different backgrounds — support, operations, BPO, finance, mechanical, civil, teaching, sales, healthcare, and even career breaks.

A lot of people think:

• “I’m too late for IT”
• “I don’t have a CS degree”
• “AI will replace entry-level jobs”
• “Companies only hire experienced developers”

In this AMA, feel free to ask about:

Switching from non-IT to IT

A few facts:

• You do NOT need to become an expert coder to enter IT.
• Your previous experience can actually become your advantage.
• The fastest switchers usually focus on one niche instead of trying to learn everything.
• Projects + consistency matter more than collecting 20 certifications.

If you share:

• your background,
• years of experience,
• current salary range,
• what area interests you

…I’ll try to suggest a realistic roadmap instead of generic advice.

Cheers,

Vatsy ( The Career Coach)

vatsycoach@gmail.com

Hey everyone,

Need some genuine advice from people who have already gone through this decision.

Background:

• BTech CSE from IIIT Delhi
• Placed at Microsoft as SDE
• Interested in backend/distributed systems/system design kind of work

I’m confused about whether doing a Master’s degree abroad is actually worth it for someone in my position.

Some of the things I’m trying to understand:

• In what situations does an MS actually make sense for an SDE?
• If the goal is to settle outside India eventually, is MS the best route?
• Is it still worth doing an MS if I already have a good job in India?
• How much does a foreign MS really help in long-term career growth vs just gaining experience at a company like Microsoft?
• If someone does an MS abroad and later comes back to India, does it significantly increase compensation/opportunities here?
• Is the ROI worth it considering tuition fees + opportunity cost of leaving a job?
• How different are outcomes for US vs Europe vs Canada?
• Does an MS help more with switching into specialized fields (AI/ML, systems, research, etc.)?
• For people who worked first and then did MS later — was that a better decision?

Would really appreciate honest experiences, especially from people who:

• Were already placed in good companies before MS
• Returned to India after MS
• Settled abroad through MS
• Decided NOT to do MS and are happy with that decision

Trying to think long term instead of just following the crowd.

Thanks!

Started my AI/Digital Transformation Internship in L&D — now confused about the long-term career path as an MCA graduate.

I completed my MCA and around 9 months ago I joined a Digital Transformation internship in a reputed insurance/financial company. Initially, my role looked more like AI content creation for L&D/training purposes, so I was worried whether this was actually a technical career path or not.

My work mainly includes:

- Creating AI-based training and onboarding videos using tools like HeyGen, Synthesia, Canva AI, etc.

- Implementing AI solutions across teams like HR, Sales, Operations, and Learning & Development.

- Using AI tools to reduce manual work and improve productivity.

- Working with AI avatars, text-to-speech, prompt-based scripting, and AI-driven content workflows.

- Exploring automation and AI integrations (not hardcore workflow automation/coding yet, but more practical AI implementation inside business processes).

The interesting part is that my internship was initially for 6 months, but now it has been extended by another 3 months, and currently I’m in my 9th month.

Now I’m confused about my next step.

If I get a full-time role in the same company after internship — focused on AI video creation, AI implementation, AI solutions, digital transformation, and improving business workflows using AI tools — should I take it as an MCA background student?

Or should I switch and prepare more deeply for technical roles like:

- AI Engineer

- Python Developer

- AI Integration Engineer

- Automation Engineer

- GenAI Engineer

I’m trying to understand whether this current experience is actually valuable for long-term AI career growth in India or if I should pivot early into more coding-heavy AI roles.

Would really appreciate honest guidance from people already working in AI/tech.

I'm 19F, I'm currently doing a cse degree (1st year now) from a private college in India. And I wanna drop out from this cuz of few reasons:

1. I have to take a student loan, because if which I'll end up having a 20lakh loan at age of 22. Rn the loan is not yet sanctioned, not much of my money will be gone if I leave now.

2. Everyone knows a cse degree doesn't guarantee a job. My uni teaches a little bit of everything which at the end sums up nothing in my head and I don't know any single language or concept properly. However, when I learn it on my own it takes much lesser time and is more effective.

3. Even being in uni I'd have to apply for off campus ONLY. So this degree is basically just a title.

What I had planned was, leave cse,enroll in an open school degree in dusol, ba english honors, and continue web development on my own. I'll move to delhi which I think will keep me in reach of many tech companies

Looking for honest opinions, especially from people who've hired without a degree or taken a non-traditional path in Indian tech.

Aaratahsgdhe idk what to do atp. I don't wanna mess this up cuz what if I leave and end up with no degree no job?😭

Transitioning from an IC to a people manager is one of the biggest mindset shifts in a career.

Your success is no longer measured only by what you deliver, but by how effectively your team grows and performs.
The real skill is learning to lead through trust, communication, delegation, and coaching — not just technical expertise.

What has been your experience in this journey?

If you are facing challenges in this journey, do send me your problem statement via DM/email.

Will be happy to help.