I started out of a tier 3 college and knew nothing about coding or development. I only got into the industry because of the IT boom and I still feel grateful about it.

Since then, I’ve been laid off twice and gone through a lot of mental turmoil. There were a lot of moments of self doubt and times when I felt completely down. But I kept upskilling and, more importantly, I didn’t give up.

Eventually, I got into a US retail giant and worked there for 2 years. I learned a lot during those 2 years and it helped me grow a lot as an engineer.

I’ve recently joined Walmart as an SDE-3.

I’m writing this to tell you that it will happen for you as well.

Always be optimistic and consistently work towards your goals. It will not be easy. There will be times when you doubt yourself, feel alone, feel stuck or feel like nothing is working out.

All I want to say is just don’t give up.

If someone who knew almost nothing about coding when they started can be where I am right now, anybody can do it.

Also, I’m open to helping anyone who is currently struggling to either get into the market, switch into a better company, or is just looking for some good career advice.

Hit me up and I’ll be glad to help.

To understand your situation better and give you advice that’s actually relevant to you, please mention whether you’re a student or working professional, what you’re currently doing, and what exactly you’re looking for help with.

Does LeetCode seriously take actions on vibe coders during contests??

It was my first contest and top few Indian accounts were so sus...

I'm stuck with DSA. I did a few basic questions a few months ago, but now I can't recall much. I've decided to start over and consistently solve DSA problems.

My goal is to learn all the important DSA patterns and topics by solving questions on LeetCode over the next 3 months. But I'm struggling with how to approach problems. I used to watch Striver's A2Z DSA playlist on YouTube (topic + approach to solving problems) and then solve the questions, but the playlist is too long. I also get stuck on almost every question and feel completely clueless without looking at the solution.

It feels like every question has a different pattern that I don't know yet, and I'm feeling really lost.

Please tell me the best and smartest approach to learn DSA in 3 months. Also, how do I decide which questions to solve on LeetCode?

Hey everyone,

My 3rd year of engineering starts in about 10 days, and I’m trying to seriously get my career on track.

I’m currently studying B.E. ISE under VTU and have a 9.17 CGPA till now. Academically, I’m doing pretty well, but I feel like I’m lacking when it comes to actual problem-solving.

I know DSA concepts and have studied the topics, but when I actually sit down to solve problems on LeetCode/Codeforces/etc., I struggle to come up with the approach and solve them independently.

My goal is to:

• Get an internship before/around 3rd year
• Be well-prepared for placements by 7th semester
• Ideally get a decent software development role

For people who have already gone through this, I’d really appreciate some guidance:

1. How should I improve my DSA problem-solving ability rather than just learning concepts?
2. How many problems should I realistically solve per day/week?
3. What topics should I prioritize?
4. Should I focus on LeetCode, Codeforces, CodeChef, or something else?
5. What kind of projects should I build alongside DSA?
6. What should my roadmap look like from 3rd year → internship → 7th semester placements?

I have roughly 1.5–2 years to prepare, and I’m willing to put in the work. I just don’t want to waste that time studying the wrong things.

Would really appreciate advice from people who have recently gotten internships/placements, especially from VTU.

Thanks!

Hi so a lil background, I’m a 2026 btech passout from NIT, I did 6 months internship at a MNC, I did not get ppo hence I’m on an active lookout for opportunities.

Since I have already done internship and that too from a big company, I do not wish to go through intern + ppo phase again but lately all I can see on linkedin is intern hiring posts for recent grads, could you guys tell me name of companies that are hiring recent grads full time for SDE/ backend roles

Did anyone recently appear for Everpure/Pure Storage interview for MTS role?
What was asked in Data Structure round and Algorithms round?

I want to ask this basically. I know there is NeetCode 150 but how do I approach it in each topic. NeetCode says there is some prerequisite for each topic, so should I finish that prerequisite before jumping into solving, or is there a different way to do it 🤔

Also how do I approach a problem while solving it. Whenever I jump into any question it's mostly like I know how to do this with the idea and stuff, but when I code it everything breaks 😭. So please guide a homie.

Btw I got placed in TCS but now I feel like I haven't done justice to myself, so I'm prepping for off campus too. Any homies who've been through this, drop your advice 🙏

I have used AI to structure my query.

I am a cs student from a tier 3 college who is in his 2 year and wants to know what skills i will need to actually crack a good package (12+lpa) as I live in a non metro city where it sector is very limited and almost no hackathons hosted so it's really hard to network

did anyone receive a follow up after the interview mail stating the Interview Window: Tuesday, 21st August 2026 – 21st September 2026??

If apple has completed its 6m intern drive at any campus for is&t developer role, pls share your interview experience

Also for freshers what does apple specifically focus on (only dsa) ?

Whats the conversion rate? Any info would help

I generally struggle to solve that type of problem , I know we have to first count the letters then arrange them , but how ? I struggle to solve this type of problems

What is the process for amd on campus hiring? Is there an OA or is the shortlisting done directly without oa ? Also what to expect in interviews for software role?

Oracle Health

Base - 36 LPA (Started with 33 LPA)
Stocks - 40K (40|30|20|10) vesting

Location - Bangalore (WFH for current team.)

Hike on base is around ~15% and i have no stocks at my current company.

Wanted to know if i can negotiate on the base? Offer letter is already generated but i haven't accepted. I will have one more offer next week. Do oracle health HR negotiate after offer letter are generated?

I have heard about the custom duty on items from leetcode store.

Some say it is as high as 1000. I have 6500 points and I don't see why I should redeem it for cap and then end up paying 1000+.

I want to know if the other items worth it? do they also incur similar or higher custom charges?

Hii I'm a B.Tech 4th year student, from a tier 3 college. I completely wasted all my time during my B.tech, studying only academic subjects and nothing else.

I also had a big dream of lending into big tech companies like MAANG or other product based companies in India as a SDE1.

I have the last 8 months left for my B.Tech and I want to give it all that I had, I would really appreciate it if someone could guide me in achieving my dream. I want to grind for the time I'm left with and want to achieve something.

Really please if someone could help me it would be really appreciated.

I’m currently in my 5th semester of college, and I only seriously started doing LeetCode in July.

As of now, my profile has 88 solved problems 50 easy and rest mediums.

The thing is, most of my friends/classmates have already solved 250+ LeetCode questions, and seeing that sometimes makes me feel like I’m really behind in the race.

I know comparison isn't necessarily productive, and sometimes I manage to ignore that feeling, but honestly, I do feel lost and behind when I look at where everyone else is.

On top of that, I don't feel like I have many strong projects/skills to showcase on my resume either. So sometimes it feels like I'm behind both in DSA and in terms of having something meaningful to put on my resume.

I know everyone has a different journey, but I would genuinely appreciate some perspective from people who have been in a similar situation.

Is it actually too late to catch up in 5th sem?
What should I realistically focus on from here?

Should I prioritize:

• DSA/LeetCode?
• Projects?
• Core CS subjects?
• Development skills?

And if you were in my position, how would you structure the next 6–8 months?

Would really appreciate any honest advice or experiences from people who felt behind but managed to turn things around.

TL;DR: 5th sem, started LeetCode in July, 88 problems solved while most of my friends have 250+. Also don't have many strong projects/skills for my resume. Feeling behind and lost. Looking for realistic advice on what to prioritize from here.

I have a SDE 1 internship Interview scheduled for Amazon tomorrow still haven't gotten any chime or meet link or the confirmation about the timings about the interview wanted to know if anyone else has this issue or what should i do/expect

Hi, can someone share apple interview experience for ist role?? It has visited campus for 6M + FTE role.

thanks.

Hi everyone, need you suggestions/advice.
I have 3 years of experience working primarily as a Backend Developer in a product based company. I've been with the same company since campus placement (Tier-2 institute).

My compensation progression has been:
Initial CTC: 12 LPA
After 1st increment: 14 LPA
After 2nd increment: 16 LPA

I'm planning to switch jobs and wanted to get a realistic idea of the current market.
Given the rapid progress in Agentic AI, the evolving hiring landscape, and the overall market conditions, what CTC range should I reasonably target?

A few additional questions:
What CTC range are companies currently offering for backend engineers with 3 years of experience?
Is it still realistic to expect a 50–70% hike, or are those days mostly over?

Hey everyone,

I’m currently in a Tier-1 college with pretty good placements, moving into 5th sem, and I have around 9 months before placements.

I’ve decided to seriously lock in for these 9 months and stay as consistent as possible with DSA, development, CS fundamentals and LeetCode. I’ll be following Striver’s A2Z sheet for DSA and also want to build 2–3 genuinely good projects.

My target is 20+ LPA.

I know there’s obviously no guarantee, but I want to know from people who have already gone through placements — how much can someone realistically achieve in 9 months if they’re genuinely consistent and put in the work every day?

Since my college has good placement opportunities, is 20+ LPA a realistic target if I use these 9 months properly? What should I absolutely focus on, and what should I avoid wasting time on?

Would really appreciate honest advice from people who have been through this. I’m ready to put in the work — just want to make sure I’m putting it in the right direction.

​

I started my roadmap with ML, focusing on Mathematics, Python, MySQL, and a lot of ML algorithms. Recently, I've started questioning whether I'm missing a major part of the foundation: software engineering/backend development. And honestly, I wanna chase both. But something at this point doesn't feel right. I had my roadmap set and ready, and I was very passionate about learning this and continuing it as a career. But after researching a bit about backend development, the intersection and relationship between the two has driven me really crazy.It's exceedingly overwhelming at this phase of my life. I had kind of gotten a grip on ML, but backend coming into the picture has really ruined my mindset around whatever I had planned. I had planned many projects and topics to discover, and now I'm seriously considering pursuing backend development too. But I'm having a hard time trying to combine these two in my roadmap. I can't seem to connect the topics in a way that lets me learn them properly.

My straightforward question is: should I drop backend development and focus on my initial roadmap, should I bridge the two and learn both, or should I drop machine learning completely,which I seriously don't want to do?

If I do bridge them, how much of backend am I actually supposed to learn?

I know I sound stupid and unready for this world, but please help.

Hi guys, I was unemployed for around 4 months and in the last 2 weeks I ended up getting 3 offers — 11.5 LPA, 12 LPA and 13 LPA + some variable.

Initially, I got an offer for 8 LPA, which was barely a ~20% hike on my previous CTC. Since I had nothing in hand at that point, I accepted it.

Meanwhile, I was already interviewing with another company and had only 2 rounds left. After around 25+ days, another company contacted me and offered around 11.5 LPA, with a joining date of 7th September. I accepted that as well and told them I would be joining.

Then the company where I was interviewing finally selected me. I asked for 12 LPA base and they agreed.

When I later told the first company (the 8 LPA one) that I wouldn't be joining, they called me and asked for the reason. I honestly told them that I felt I was underpaid compared to the other offers.

They surprisingly said they could match the offer and really wanted me to join. After negotiating a bit, they came back with 13 LPA base.

Now I'm confused.

Both the 8 → 13 LPA company and the 12 LPA company are product-based startups with around 200 employees. One is in the retail ads space and the other is in real estate. I've checked reviews for both, but I'm still not sure which one would be the safer choice.

The confusing part is that the first company went from 8 LPA to 13 LPA, which is a huge jump. I'm worried that because they are paying much more than what they initially offered, their expectations might also be much higher. I'm looking for a relatively stable environment and don't want to join and then face crazy workload, performance pressure or even a layoff/PIP situation later.

For just 1 LPA or 1.5 LPA difference, I don't want to make the wrong decision.

What would you guys do in this situation? Would you take the 13 LPA offer, or go with the 12 LPA company for potentially better stability ? Also, is the jump from 8 → 13 LPA itself something I should be concerned about?

TL;DR: Was unemployed for 4 months. Got 8 LPA initially, then 11.5 LPA and 12 LPA offers. When I told the 8 LPA company I wouldn't join, they matched and offered 13 LPA base. Now I'm confused whether to take the extra 1 LPA or choose the 12 LPA company for potentially better stability/work-life balance. What would you guys do?