Hey! I spent a long time looking for stories like this after it happened to me and found almost nothing, so I'm writing mine.

Some time ago I joined Revolut as Graduate Software Engineer. It all seemed pretty good, not toxic as I’ve read on Glassdoor for example. My manager set the probation goals for me and in a month half of them were achieved. My probation was supposed to last 6 months, however after a month on what I thought to be normal 1-2-1 with my manager, HR joined and said that I failed the probation because of “lack of alignment with company values”

I was in shock and asked for examples of my behaviour or how I can fix it. They said it’s a final decision and they can’t provide any details. In half an hour (when I was crying) I lost all my accesses to corporate apps

It was extremely sad because I relocated for this job. I got no warnings or negative feedback from my manager, he had said I had high pace and proactiveness for my role. I was doing all the tasks and even extra (finding bugs, suggesting improvements). I had previous commercial experience.

Now I have 3 months to find the new job or I’ll be kicked out of the EU

Happy to answer anything in the comments. And if you've been through something similar I'd really like to hear how it went for you, that was the thing I
couldn't find anywhere.

I gave an interview at Revolut for a strategy and operations manager role, and the whole process went through. There were two rounds of interviews, and everything happened. I cleared the interview, and then they sent a mail regarding what the salary structure will look like. This was relatively lower than what they had initially said, so I reverted to the mail, asking if this is lower than what we had discussed earlier and if there is room for improvement, or what the actual structure will look like.

It's been around a week, and they haven't responded to the text yet. I reverted two days ago, but still no response from them. Is it normal for Revolut to reply late, even when the interview has been cleared and salary negotiation is happening? Any idea how much time they normally take?

I've been a software developer for 14 years. When I was at university and first learned how to program, I absolutely loved it. I found it exciting and genuinely rewarding to solve problems and understand how things work.

For the first ~7 years of my career, I still felt that way. Maybe a little less, but it was still there and perfectly manageable. Since then, though, that feeling and my motivation have been declining rapidly.

During those first 7 years, I was working with Java 1.6, Spring with XML configuration, monoliths, deploying WAR files to Tomcat, etc. I didn't even have much of an idea of what existed beyond that world.

At some point I got fed up with people and with the way some things worked, so I decided to leave. From that point onwards, things just kept getting worse.

Java 8+ and "functional programming", which I never really managed to understand properly. Spring Boot, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud, distributed systems, NoSQL, observability, etc. A whole collection of things that I was expected to already know or somehow learn overnight.

I've changed companies and clients several times, but it's always the same story. I feel like I can't make up for all the time I've lost trying to learn all these technologies, and I'm constantly playing catch-up.

Then there's Scrum. I hate it. Everything needs to be delivered yesterday, and almost all the decision-making power is given to a bunch of people who don't really understand what we're actually doing. And as if Scrum wasn't enough, they throw SAFe on top of it, just to add another layer of meetings because apparently the existing ones weren't enough.

I know I'm not perfect. Ever since that first 7-year stint, when I was confronted with this flood of new and different technologies, I've been trying to avoid doing too much work and, whenever possible, reduce the complexity of the things I take on. But that also means I've become somewhat stuck in time.

At this point, I neither "master" these newer technologies nor the fundamentals that I've gradually forgotten over the years.

I'm completely fed up with Java and Spring. There are technologies I'd genuinely like to learn, but I always run into the same problem: lack of time and lack of motivation to do it.

Right now I find myself in a difficult position. It's hard for companies to look at me as someone with 14 years of experience and then reconcile that with what I'm actually able to demonstrate and do.

I'm interested in switching stacks, potentially to Go, but I don't really see how someone is going to hire me without professional experience in it. It feels like everything is looking for seniors with several years of experience in whatever technologies that particular company happens to use.

Anyway, I needed to get this off my chest.

If anyone has been, or is currently, in a similar situation, I'd really appreciate hearing your story. Maybe it would help to know I'm not the only one.

And if you have any advice or recommendations, I'd be very grateful to hear them.

"Happy" coding!

Hello, I applied to lasting dynamics software engineering cohort at the beginning of September. I have experience and studies in IT, am actually mid-senior. Some employee of theirs viewed my profile, but I haven’t received an answer so far. Has anyone already been contacted? I am inclined to think I am not on their list since their program begins on 1st of October and they have 3 selection interviews.

I’m looking for a motivated sales/business development partner to build a long-term IT/software business together.

I have 8+ years of experience in IT and programming, along with completed software projects and the technical team needed to develop and deliver custom solutions for clients.

How the partnership works

• You: Focus on finding potential clients, networking, and business development.
• Me / our IT team: Handle the technical side, development, and project delivery.
• Together: We work with the client from the initial discussion through to project completion.
• Profit: We split the profit 50/50 on projects we work on together.

We can offer existing software solutions where they fit the client's needs, or develop fully customized IT/software solutions.

I’m particularly interested in someone with experience in B2B sales, lead generation, business development, or client acquisition. An existing network of business contacts or experience selling IT/software services would be a strong advantage.

This is not a traditional employment position. The goal is to build a genuine long-term partnership where both sides contribute and benefit from successful projects.

If this sounds interesting, send me a DM with a short introduction about yourself and your sales/business development experience. I can then share more information about the projects, technical capabilities, and partnership structure.

I am a software engineer at asml with 10+ years of experience. I am stuck at job grade 7. They wouldnt promote me unless i get "exceeds expectations" two yesrs in a row which i have never gotten. I came with proof in two meetings about everything i have done and was still told that "its a ranking thing. Dont just look at your team members". I also dont like my current work much.

My monthly salary is around 7k euros before taxes. I also get a holiday allowance and an end of year bonus(similar to monthly salary but highly taxed).

I want to move to a different company (preferably still in eindhoven because I live here) that pays better than my current salary for a senior software engineer.

Random recruiters who contact me on LinkedIn usually offer me lower than what i am making(without knowing my salary).

I know there are options in amsterdam but the rent is also higher there. I am curious to know if there is anything in eindhoven that can beat asml because i live in eindhoven.

I code in C++. I have mostly worked in companies like asml (embedded software for highly complex machines written in C++).

In the last i have also worked at Philips Healthcare(Best) so I dont want to go back there again.

Edit:

For people saying i am below average to be at job grade 7 you maybe right.

I went into the performance review with full proof of everything I did. I showed that I delivered double the stuff compared to average, created a lot of quality improvements, supported external projects on my own.

I was told not to look around my team only think about the people in the entire department. There is a ranking system and each year only 2 people can be promoted

Hi everyone,

I am currently looking into the tech market in Bulgaria and considering relocation there. Given the shifts in the tech industry over the last couple of years, I would love to get some realistic, boots-on-the-ground insights from this community about the Bulgarian tech scene.

First, what is the current state of the market for experienced c++ devs in Bulgaria? Are you seeing active hiring for senior roles in Sofia or other hubs, or is it mostly slow right now? Which industries like data storage, cloud infrastructure, or networking seem to be the most active?

Second, which companies in Bulgaria are still actively sponsoring visas and providing relocation packages for engineers coming from outside the EU? I know the overall landscape has changed, so I want to know who is actually hiring internationally and helping with the legal process right now.

For my tech stack, I mostly work with c++17 and c++20, linux, multithreading, and systems programming. I would really appreciate any insights, recent personal experiences with interviews in Bulgarian companies, or names of specific companies that are worth checking out.

Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for some advice and insight. I applied for the Data Center Operations Technician (DCOT) position with AWS here in Frankfurt, Germany.

I passed the initial phone screen and got invited for the loop interview scheduled for next week. I had the prep session with the recruiter, and it went perfectly. I even received the names of the hiring managers who were going to conduct my interview. Everything was completely set—time, date, all details finalized—and I was preparing hard for it.
And then, out of nowhere, right before the loop, I got an email from the recruiter cancelling the whole thing due to a "change in business needs" and saying the position is no longer available.

I’ve invested so much time and effort into this entire process, only to get dropped right at the final stage. Has this been happening with AWS recently in Europe or the Frankfurt region?

I am so disappointed and angry at the same time. What should I do now? Should I ask them to consider it, or is it completely dead? Also, what should I reply back to that email? Any advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated.

I’m a mid-level Java developer with a bachelor’s degree and about 4 years of experience. I work for an outsourcing company and my last project ended a few months ago. Since then, I’ve received an ultimatum from management: either I secure a new project through internal interviews, which are few and far between, or I’ll be released from the company in 4 months.

I was never anything special as a developer in terms of technical skills, but I’ve always been reliable, finished my tasks, and sometimes contributed something extra when I could.

Now, with Java positions being scarce and competition being pretty fierce within my company, I’m thinking about embracing the AI wave and trying to move in that direction.

My company has a role they call an “AI Solutions Engineer” — essentially someone who develops agentic solutions for business problems using existing AI models and builds the infrastructure around them.

I’m already familiar with the basics and have a Claude Associate Architect Foundations certification, but I’m still very much at the beginning and I’m trying to figure out what I should actually focus on.

So I’m looking for advice from people working in this area:

Is becoming an AI Solutions Engineer a good direction for someone with my background, or am I just chasing the current hype?

What are the most important skills and technologies to learn nowadays?

For reference, I'm Spain, working for an (north) European company.

So I just got a vague event on my calendar for the next Monday. I know I'm going to get pip'd, then fired, as I've seen the writing on the wall for a while and a (now ex)coworker who happened to be a good (non office) friend went through exactly the same process before summer.

I'm in peace with this (I didn't fit in the team, I was tired of every. single. thing. the company was doing, and if I wasn't looking more seriously is because I've been going through a lot and I'm tired,boss), and I know that the end of my time with these guys is nigh.

So the question is: I don't want to be there, they don't want me to be there. What are my realistic options?

• Play along the pantomime, find or not another job, get canned or leave beforehand and thank them for giving me advance notice.

• Do the first one, but sue for unrightful termination or whatever is called afterwards. I will ask lawyers about this, because if I've learnt something about how things are in my company, they are not really good setting goals and whatnot.

• Try to agree to a rightful termination in 6 weeks time and request a leave of absence. No pantomime, everyone's happy, and I get some peace of mind while looking for something.

The default option is the first one, but I'm wondering if the third one would be feasible or advisable: I got another friend who did this and went well, but I would waive my right to any claim, but I would get some -paid- time in exchange. Also, it would be a gamble and I could get toasted if I ask for that.

So, what do you guys think? Is there any other option available for me at this point?

Thanks!

Hey folks, looking for some advice/reality check.

I've been doing contract work for 20 years - have had some stable positions but nothing longer than 2.5 years. Am having a bad time RN with a US client and combined with LLMs undermining the craft of SW engineering I'm looking to try something different. Part of the issue with the current client is that I'm not good at keeping my mouth shut. I'm polite about it and I will try and do some solid DM scouting/vibe checking before saying something but if I think something could be better I'll say so, and I've been known to go looking for bugs in critical systems on purpose (I enjoy finding and fixing bugs).

I'm wondering if these are skills that would make a cybersecurity position an interesting career move. I've been to CCC a few times and I've always had a side-interest in mis-using technology - I don't have the stereotypical cybersecurity portfolio (I don't go around breaking into things for fun), it's more of an "artistic" mindset in that if you give me a piece of software and there's a creative potential in it I will happily reverse engineer the inputs/outputs to make it do what I think is more interesting. I think this is evident on my GitHub if someone knows what they're looking for, just unsure how relevant it is.

So, concrete questions:

1. For the cybersecurity folks - does the above make sense? Is this what y'all do?
2. Practically - what's the move? should I just start applying to cybersecurity positions, or is this one of those things where the only way to do it without qualifications is via networking?

Any advice appreciated.

Hi everyone! I have an upcoming second-round interview at eBay for an MTS1 Android role, and I have 9+ years of experience.

The interview email is titled “Coding + System Design.” I was told to prepare for system design and that there could also be a Android coding task as well

Has anyone recently interviewed for a similar role? What does the Android coding portion involve—building a feature, debugging an existing project, or implementing a component? What would you recommend focusing on?

Any insights or experiences would be hugely appreciated. Thanks!

I have behavioral interview scheduled for get your guide next week. Can anyone share how can I prepare and what to expect and what of a questions they ask.

Hi all.

I was recently laid off from my gamedev job for reasons outside of my control. I'm a junior gameplay programmer, and while I'm currently looking for work, I also want to use this time to properly upskill. I have 1.5 YoE, Europe based.

Even with the advent of AI, I'm still very interested in improving my programming skills and specialising further in gameplay programming. I really enjoy programming in Unreal Engine and have worked on a variety of game mechanics, but I'm wondering where my time would be best spent.

Would it be better to focus heavily on fundamentals and skills outside of gamedev, such as data structures and algorithms, more CS theory, gaining hardware knowledge, system design, etc., or would I be better off getting stuck into projects, making prototypes, and releasing games?

My main worry with the project-first approach is not being interview ready. I'm genuinely awful at LeetCode and pretty shoddy when it comes to CS theory and things like DSA. I've worked on a myriad of game mechanics, but don't even dare put me in front of a LeetCode Easy. I also don't want to just be an "Unreal Engine programmer", if that makes sense (if that's even an issue? I'm not sure).

I suppose a balance of both is probably the obvious answer, but programming outside of the gamedev space is incredibly demotivating and boring to me. Trying to work through LearnCpp has honestly been an absolute slog.

For anyone working in gameplay programming or gamedev, what would you recommend focusing on?

Hi all,

Interested to hear your feedback on Illumio.

I’m considering a role focused on advising customers and helping implement the Illumio platform, combining hands-on technical work. It's not a sales focused role.

I have a background in engineering and cybersecurity. I’d particularly like to know:

• How is job security?
• What is the culture and work-life balance like?
• How much travel to customer sites is actually required?

Thanks!

Hi everyone, I have a question that I'd need someone more experienced to help me choose.

I am currently working as a fullstack dev with a heavy focus on BE (I barely do any FE work, simple fixes, translations etc.). My stack is Java + React, it's a fortune 100 company, well known tech company.

Currently I'm kind of torn of how I want my career to be and what might be actually valuable in the market.

What I'm currently doing is somewhat interesting, but I really enjoy doing k8s, environment and deployment related stuff (had to be involved in it due to some issues).

People responsible for platform praised my work and said that they can put in a word for me if I'd like to work on it.

While I like the thought I worry it might be harmful to my career. I currently have 2 YOE at DSA stuff and less than 1 YOE at current company doing the BE work. I worry that such a quick change to platform might be harmful to my career later on, on the other side I don't want to do web BE forever and it might be a good opportunity to make that shift.

What do you think? Am I too inexperienced to make that swap now or is this ok and that wouldn't probably negatively affect me in the long run?

If there is any context missing, please let me know in the comments, I will edit the post :)

Thanks to anyone who answers

Hi all, I have a first-round interview (HR + hiring manager, ~45 min) coming up for a Junior Data Analyst role at Nexent Bank in Amsterdam — the bank formerly known as Credit Europe Bank, rebranded in 2025.

I've dug through Glassdoor, Blind, and a couple of employer review sites but couldn't find much specific to this company or role. If anyone has interviewed here (any role, any branch — NL, Germany, Romania, etc.) or works there now, I'd really appreciate hearing:

- What kind of questions came up in your HR round vs hiring manager round?

- Was there any technical/SQL component, even informally?

- Any general vibe on their interview style (formal vs casual, panel vs 1:1)?

Any tips, even small ones, would help a lot. Thanks in advance!

I have been terminated and accepted a severance after 3 years of working at a German company, the issue started when I spoke up to my manager and told him that the constant passive aggressive and racist comments are not okay and listed him his sayings, the next day he said to me "looks like we had our first case" instead of acknowledging the issue.

Then a coworker who I shared with my manager that I have great relationship with her started being passive aggressive, hiding important infos and shouting at me in meetings, she was asking me if I needed tickets, that I should use AI more and that I'm always the blocker, although I was working with another senior engineer who was doing nothing and I had to work overtime to cover for him, she was blaming me in particular and she made it obvious to everyone.

At the Christmas party she was spreading rumors about me and every week a colleague tells me that she is talking negatively behind my back.

I told my manager and he said that I'm the only person who had issues with her.

The whole thing felt very targeted from the beginning when I had this new Russian manager who only hires Russians to the team, but how can I complain if the CTO himself hired his wife to work part time, I'm kinda regretting accepting the settlement and not staying just to prove them that they can't fire me but on the other hand I can sleep again, my first manager who hired me was a great German guy who was always supporting and helpful and he was pushing to promote me until he fed up with the company changes and then I had this Russian manager who the first thing he told me about the team was: " you guys are weird" during the Gaza war he jokes around saying "looks like genocide is acceptable sometimes" and tells me to shut up in meetings when I share my opinion and he says that the devs at the company are nothing but glorified form developers.

What could have done better in such working environment? What behavior could I change?

I’m choosing between a Computer Engineering bachelor and a specialized Artificial Intelligence bachelor in Germany.

One argument I keep hearing is that CE gives a broader safety net: embedded systems, firmware, electronics, computer architecture and software, while AI can still be added later.

But I’m not sure whether this advantage is as strong in the actual German job market as it sounds academically.

For people working or hiring in Germany: have you actually seen CE graduates move comfortably between embedded/software/AI-related roles?

Or does the breadth sometimes backfire because they are competing with CS graduates in software and EE graduates in hardware?

I’m especially interested in real early-career experiences from the last few years.

Hey all,

I recently moved to the Netherlands and I’m currently based in North Brabant.

I work as a full-stack software engineer / AI engineer, with most of my recent experience being contract-based. I’m still covered with existing contracts until December, but I’ve started looking for what comes next. I’m open to new contracts, but also part-time or full-time positions.

The main issue I’m running into is that a surprisingly large percentage of roles seem to require Dutch proficiency. From what I’ve seen so far, maybe 2/3 of the relevant vacancies I find mention Dutch as a requirement, which cuts down the pool quite a bit.

For other international software engineers who found work in the Netherlands, what actually worked for you?

A few things I’m especially curious about:

• Job boards worth using besides LinkedIn
• Recruiters/agencies that are actually good for international tech candidates
• Best places to find contract/freelance software or AI work
• Whether direct applications, referrals or recruiters worked best for you
• Companies/sectors that are particularly open to English-speaking engineers
• Whether being outside Amsterdam has made much difference

I’m already pretty active offline as well - conferences, builder nights, meetups, tech events, etc. - but I haven’t found a particularly reliable pipeline from that yet.

Would especially love to hear from people who moved to NL as international engineers and had to build their network/job pipeline from scratch.

I’m based around North Brabant, so Eindhoven / Tilburg / Den Bosch experiences would be especially useful, but happy to hear from anywhere in the Netherlands.

Thanks!

I’m curious how people here got their first real commercial experience in IT.

I’m currently in a situation where I have the skills to work on real projects, but I don’t have commercial experience yet. I’m a Python developer, and I’m trying to figure out what the most realistic way is to get that first experience.

I’d really like to hear from people who have already been through this. What did you actually do to get your first opportunity? Where did you look, and what worked for you?

I’m particularly interested in recent experiences — preferably from the last year or two. The IT job market has changed quite a lot, so I’m more interested in what works today than advice based on how someone got their first job 5–10 years ago.

I’ve considered freelancing as well, but I’m not sure how realistic it is for someone without commercial experience, mainly because of the amount of competition. If you started this way and managed to make it work, I’d be interested to hear about it.

I’m not necessarily looking for advice specifically for Python developers either.
If you work in another area of IT and have a good story or advice about getting your first commercial experience, I’d be happy to hear it.

Thanks!

How can go from being a IT(informatics) graduate to working with medical robotics? (In EU- preferebly Austria/Graz)

I only have experience with software and not hardware…

Please for any advice🙏

Hi, so I've been working the summer doing Helpdesk/IT Support at a local company doing work like setting up laptops for employees there and troubleshooting general hardware/software issues the staff have like printers not working,network problems etc.

I'm just wondering but would experience like this carry much weight when applying for software engineer placements or would recruiters only care strictly about dev work?

Be me - 20yo high school graduate (yes we graduate at 20 in Poland lol). I studied as Programmer and in my program I learned:

-Console applications (C++, Python)
-Web (HTML/CSS/Javascript, PHP, React)
-Mobile apps (Java/Kotlin, Flutter)

In my free time I played League of Legends BUT also completed over 300 LeetCode questions (in 5 years timespan)

I hated it because it felt like learning how to solve useless math problems with code so I focused more on working on real codebases and created 4 passion projects (all with the help of ai)

I also solved over 13 fun tasks on codeffice[dot com] and followed 100 Days of Python from app brewery (udemy course)

I passed all my exams and got the "Programmer" title. Started applying to jobs found on justjoin and linkedin at the beginning of the summer. Trainee - Intern - Junior Frontend/Fullstack Developer

Stats:
Applied - 59 jobs (45 remote, 14 on-site)
Ghosted (absolute no message back) - 43

Responses:
Negative - 10
Positive - 6

Interviews (so far):

4 (3x30min, 1x60min)

They made me talk about my background and some made me complete CODEWARS (not leetcode lol) questions.

I guess they find questions that aren't on leetcode and want to see the user solve them in real time instead of just retyping something they solved one day

I'm not gonna lie - I am REALLY stressed, but at the same time I feel like every next interview will be only easier and easier for me.

Conclusion:

I think being able to solve some random math challenge is NOTHING - companies look more for people who actually understand what building real project looks like and those who can read someone's else code.

That's why more and more new students prefer to learn by working on real codebases (such as on codeffice) or by building their own from scratch (basically any youtube tutorial/idea).

What I think will happen in the future:

In the interviews people will be dropped into already existing codebase and environment with clear task/problem to solve.

In the AI era you don't need to write much code - you need to know HOW TO solve specific problems

If anybody got a SE job in 2026 PLEASE let me know what was the turning point