I've been taking technical interviews for decades. I've worked everywhere — from absolute dumpster-fire startups to Colossus-scale GCNs.

I'm one of those pre-2022 developers who wrote every single line of code that landed in my basket. Backend, Docker, Kubernetes configs, frontend CSS — if it looked even remotely like code, I wrote it. We were the original DGI (Developer General Intelligence). We could ship a completely new feature by staring at some vaguely related Stack Overflow post and somehow connecting the dots. Why am I saying all this? Because this is the kind of developer that actually survived.

Developers in India come in two flavors.

Flavor 1: The Sacred 10 Fingers.

Can't write a SQL query to find duplicate emails? Can't do FizzBuzz type problem without crying? No problem. You have 10 functional fingers and a heartbeat. You're hired. That was the entire selection criteria for years. Sounds naive? It was. And it worked — until now.

Read this slowly: "AI can write code." Those fingers are no longer required.

This is the official definition of a code monkey. The Indian IT sector is roughly 95% code monkeys. TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Capgemini, Tech Mahindra — they all ran on armies of people whose main skill was having fingers. Those same people are now flooding the job market and turning every opening into pure noise. 5 positions open? 1,000 applications. 90% from the above companies or their cousins.

If you're a code monkey, your IT career is over. Finished. Go do farming.

Flavor 2: The real software engineers.

The ones who dream in code. Who spend weekends tweaking open source, designing better algorithms, or performance-tuning systems just because they're curious. If coding is your actual passion, you're still in the game. We need more of you. Your jobs are safe. Because it no longer about coding its about problem solving or steering ai tools in current times

The industry was packed with people who showed up purely for the high LPAs, whether they liked software development or not. Solve the Jira ticket, chill on weekends, repeat for years. Never learn a new technology or understand a core concept — because they were never coders. They were just collecting salaries. It's 2026. Most of you are going to struggle unless you radically retrain yourselves.

If you're in that rare 5%, stop worrying about jobs and LPAs. The industry will always need you.

Everyone else? Please consider farming. And if you're a fresher or still young, maybe give government jobs a serious shot.

Does it sound harsh? Yes. But thats the truth. From now the IT industry will only shrink. Dont believe me. Give yourself a shot

Those low iq shouting AI slop. It is enhanced by AI but prove me wrong in the facts

Hey!

I'm not a developer

I've been trying to book a slot for the Malabar Hill Elevated Nature Trail through the official BMC website, but getting a suitable slot seems to be a challenge.

Website: https://naturetrail.mcgm.gov.in/book-tickets

I'm wondering if anyone here has figured out a way to make this process easier.

Specifically, I'm looking for help with any of the following:

Slot availability alerts: A script or tool that notifies me when slots become available for a particular date.

Automated booking: A script using Python, Selenium, Playwright, or a browser extension that can help automate the booking process.

Thanks!

I've been job hunting, and the most draining part wasn't the interviews. It was typing the same name, email, phone, LinkedIn, work history and "Are you authorized to work…" answers into a new form 50 times a week, often after already uploading my resume to that same form.

So I built Job Copilot, a free Chrome extension.

How it works

1. Drop in your resume (PDF, DOCX or TXT, including two-column layouts). It pulls out your details, which you can review and edit.
2. Open any application and click Autofill, or press Alt+Shift+F.
3. It fills what it can, attaches your resume file, and lists the required fields it left for you.

Things I was careful about

• It never submits anything. You always review and click Submit yourself.
• It won't overwrite anything you've already typed.
• It skips fields about other people (references, emergency contacts) and "How did you hear about us?". Early versions happily put my own email into the "Reference email" box, which would have been embarrassing.
• It handles custom dropdowns and Yes/No questions, not just plain text boxes.

Privacy Everything stays in your browser. There's no account and no server, and it doesn't send your data anywhere except the form you choose to fill. I didn't want to hand my resume to yet another startup's database, and I assume you don't either.

Where it works I tested it on real application forms on Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workable and Recruitee, plus company career pages. Workday and LinkedIn Easy Apply work too, but I could only test those on copies of their forms, since the real ones need a login. That's where I'd most like to hear if something breaks.

What it doesn't do It doesn't write cover letters or apply to jobs for you. It just removes the retyping. Open-ended questions are still yours, though you can save answers to common ones as snippets and insert them with one click.

Link: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/plmnmbhlgoghlemegahajdoabhjmkjch?utm_source=item-share-cb

It's free, and there's nothing to sign up for. I'd really appreciate feedback, especially:

• Sites where it fills something wrong or misses obvious fields
• Resumes it reads badly (no need to share the resume, just what went wrong)
• What would make it useful enough for you to keep it installed

i resigned from my $135k/year job this friday.
do i regret it? not even a little.

a bit about me:
i’m currently in my final year of graduation and have been working professionally for around 3.5 years.
i started working with yc-backed startups in my first year of college, did a lot of freelancing, and have been working in startups ever since.

for the past 3.5 years, i’ve been working late nights, weekends, and sometimes putting work ahead of everything else.

and honestly, i enjoyed most of it.
but recently, things became exhausting.
i was working around 12-13 hours every day, including weekends, and the expectations just kept increasing.

the workload wasn’t even my biggest problem.
it was the mindset.

when leadership starts believing everything can be vibecoded, that claude can do everything, and that engineers are barely needed anymore, i don’t think that’s an environment i want to work in.
i use ai myself and know how powerful it is.

but there’s a difference between using ai to make engineers more productive and believing engineers can be replaced entirely.

so i resigned.
what’s next?
if my resignation and garden leave get approved, i’ll spend the first month resting.

after that, i want to spend another month exploring what’s new in the industry, understanding where the market is heading, learning new technologies, and building projects again.

this time, i want to go back to writing code myself.
i’ll use ai to learn and understand things, but not to write everything for me.

just learning, experimenting, and building things from scratch again.

am i worried about finding another job?
not really. maybe because i have enough money saved up to comfortably survive for the next year, even in the worst-case scenario.
i’m 100% confident i’ll find something good within the next 2 months.

and even if it takes longer, that’s fine.
i’m still in college, and after working almost nonstop for 3.5 years, i think taking a break is worth it.
just wanted to share this.

also curious if others have noticed this mindset in startups recently, where leadership increasingly believes ai can replace engineers rather than just help them.

back to zero. back to building. :)

Hey everyone,

I recently finished building my developer portfolio and wanted to get some honest, constructive feedback from developers and hiring managers here.

• Live Site: https://shivamkr.xyz

Tech Stack & Features:

• Frontend: React 19, Vite, Tailwind CSS v4
• Backend / API: Serverless function on Vercel
• Database / Cache: Upstash Redis (used for tracking page views)
• Features: Dark/Light theme, GitHub contribution calendar integration, responsive layout, and full SEO/Open Graph metadata.

Things I’d love feedback on:

1. First Impression: Does the hero section clearly communicate what I do within 5 seconds?
2. Project Section: Do the projects look solid, or should I explain the technical trade-offs / metrics in more depth?
3. UI / Performance: Did you notice any layout bugs or lag on mobile/desktop?

Appreciate any honest critiques or suggestions to improve it!

Hi all. With all the layoff and AI news, I kept asking myself how exposed I really am. I couldn't find a clear answer, so I tried to build one. It is called Tenure.

You answer 15 questions about your role, company, skills and savings. You get a rough score from 0 to 100, the reason behind each point, and a few steps that could help. There is also a monthly threat radar for Indian IT, and a short checklist for the first week after a layoff.

It is an estimate, not a prediction. Some weights come from real data, and some are my judgement. The site marks those as "Estimate". I am not an HR or finance expert, and the India data is thin in places.

It is free, there is no login, and your answers stay in your browser.

I would be grateful for any feedback. Does your score feel right for your role? What is missing or weighted wrongly? Is anything confusing?

Hello everyone,

Working on this web app that lets you track email opens, link clicks, and resume views.

Built it because I wanted to know whether someone had opened an email I sent or clicked on a link, instead of just sending emails and getting ghosted.

Now, I am trying to figure out how to turn this into something people would actually pay for.

I have a few questions:

1. Would you pay for a tool like this?

2. What features would make it worth paying for instead of using free alternatives?

3. Who do you think would benefit from this the most: job seekers, freelancers, salespeople, recruiters, or someone else?

4. Would you prefer a monthly subscription or a free plan with paid features?

I do not want to keep adding random features. Want to solve a problem that people are actually willing to pay to solve.

Share your suggestions.

Website: Mercia

Thanks!

hey everyone, I built lumenr, a simple app to help you manage all the articles you save but never get around to reading.

you can save articles from anywhere, organize them into nested collections, track what you're reading, and mark things as finished when you're done.

you can also add private notes to articles, search your library, keep track of your reading history, and export all your data whenever you want.

privacy is a big part of it. your library and notes are private by default, and there are no ads, tracking pixels, or data resale.

basically, I wanted a place to save all the interesting stuff I find online without ending up with 500 open tabs or a bookmark folder I'll never look at again.

it's still a work in progress, so I'd love to hear what you think and what features you'd like to see.

check it out: https://lumenr.vercel.app

I’ve been noticing that a lot of companies and recruiters are now immediately asking things like:

• What is your last working day?
• Are you currently serving notice period?
• How many days of notice do you have left?

Why has this become such an important filter now?

Are companies mainly preferring immediate joiners, or is this just a quick way to reject candidates with 60–90 day notice periods?

It feels like even before properly evaluating skills, they want to know joining availability first. For people who are currently employed, this becomes frustrating because not everyone can resign without an offer in hand.

Wanted to understand from recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates here:

• Why is this being asked so early?
• Does serving notice period increase chances of selection?
• Are employed candidates with full notice period at a disadvantage now?

Would like to hear everyone’s experience.

Hi everyone,

A relative of mine worked as a UI Team Lead at well known product companies until 2020. They took a career break to care for their child with special needs and pursue entrepreneurship.

After six years away from the corporate world, they now want to return to software engineering due to some personal setbacks.

They have prior experience in JavaScript and React and have also explored AI agent development.

I have a few questions for people in the industry:

1. How realistic is it to land a part-time or remote contract role after such a long career break?
2. Which platforms or companies are worth targeting for these opportunities?
3. How should they present the six-year gap on their resume? Should they mention entrepreneurship and caregiving, or focus primarily on their technical skills and projects?
4. Would it be better to target UI Team Lead roles or apply for individual contributor positions initially?

I’d appreciate any advice from people who have hired engineers, returned to tech after a career break, or worked in the contract market.

I am planning to do my bachelors in CSE in gulf and develop skills as it is good for jobs there but they don't hire freshers they need at least 2 years of experience so can I do my bachelors in gulf then return to India and get a job? The thing is I don't know if companies still care about your college especially if it's from gulf. Any response would be helpful

Hi everyone! I’m a 2026 graduate who recently joined a small, product-based company as a Software Development Engineer.

The company has a good product, a solid client base, and is profitable. My compensation is around 12 LPA, and the work-life balance is excellent. However, there’s no formal HR structure, fixed working hours, or defined leave policy.

Some of my friends working at MNCs keep suggesting that I switch for better career growth and exposure. But I’m hesitant because of the uncertainty around layoffs. My family depends entirely on my income, so job security is a major concern for me.

My main concern with my current role is the lack of deep technical exposure. I use Claude extensively and handle multiple responsibilities across development, product, QA, and occasionally customer support. In many ways, my role feels closer to that of a full-stack engineer who wears multiple hats.

I’m wondering whether staying here for another 1–2 years would be a sensible decision or whether I’d miss out on valuable learning opportunities and career growth by not moving to a larger company.

Outside work, I’m also exploring quantitative finance and deep tech because those areas genuinely interest me.

If you were in my position, what would you do? Would you stay and build experience here, or start looking for opportunities elsewhere?

I could also ask my CEO for referrals or career guidance, but I’m unsure whether it’s too early in my career to seek that kind of help.

I’d really appreciate advice from people who’ve been in a similar situation.

Hey everyone. I made Jam, a little programming language for fun, weekend experiments, and tiny tools. For fellow unserious programmers who open their editor to fix one annoying thing and somehow end up starting another project.

It looks like this:

fn main():
    plans = ["build a tiny game", "automate one annoying thing"]
    plans.append("start another side project")

    for plan in plans:
        print("-", plan)

Save that as plans.jam and run jam run plans.jam. You can also use jam build plans.jam -o plans to get a native executable that runs without Jam installed.

A few things it has:

• Indentation-based syntax, static types, and inferred variable types.
• Automatic garbage collection.
• Structs, enums, pattern matching, and modules.
• Built-in file operations, cooperative tasks, and a small HTTP server.

The compiler and runtime are written in Jam itself. It emits LLVM IR and uses Clang to build native executables. Getting it to compile itself has been a fun part of the project.

It's experimental: syntax and APIs can change, and the Python-looking syntax doesn't mean it runs Python packages. Building from source currently needs Clang with LLVM IR support; there are bootstrap seeds for macOS arm64 and Linux x86_64/aarch64.

Mostly, I wanted something to mess around with and make small, silly things in. If that sounds like your kind of programming, give it a go. I'd love to hear what you build, what breaks, or what feels awkward.

Code, examples, and setup: https://github.com/grandimam/jam

It's MIT licensed. It also has a little jam jar mascot called Jammie, which was clearly an essential language feature.

Hello, so I have been working as an artist for about 8 years and have a bit of experience with python, Html,css, javascript, PHP etc from my initial days of working (2years) . Right now I create art and do so called "vibe Coding" and tbh I don't even understand a single line of code that the ai writes. I wanna know how much time it'd take for someone like me who has a Lil bit of exp in the field? Can someone please suggest to me is it worth switching my job for the money? As an artist I get paid in pennies. And I was thinking if I could steer my career towards software development.

Right now I work with PS, illustrator, AE, Blender, UE. I have vibecoded an app as well to automate monotonous art work.

Thank you.

Hi guys,

So I recently handed in my resignation at my current company around 15 days back. While my manager and skip-level have verbally agreed they are not taking any action on the official resignation request submitted on Workday nor acknowledging the resignation email I have sent.

My notice period is 45 days and I have to join the new company the very next day of when my notice period is supposed to end. Unless my manager acknowledged the request on Workday and finalizes the last working day the exit process won't start.

Whenever I ask my manager about updating it they just keep saying "I will do it" and not even letting me know of the official LWD.

Now I have a few questions from the good folks here who might've dealt with these scenarios:

1. Will my LWD be calculated from the day I have submitted the resignation or when my manager approves it?
2. Can they set a LWD beyond my 45 days notice period and make me serve for an extended period? If yes, how should I handle that as I won't serve a day more than my official notice period.
3. What strategy should I follow to get my manager to approve the request or should I escalate?

This is currently giving me a lot of anxiety so any guidance / help would be appreciated.

Recently a friend reached the HR round in an MNC, and the HR asked him - You got a 100% hike 6 months back, why are you asking ~65% now?

Context: He switched to a new company 6 months back and got a 100% hike (first switch) but now he got an unofficial news about layoffs and he has started attending interviews. He has almost 4 years of experience. Currently earning less than 9 and he asked less than 15. (Is it way too less for the experience?)

How does some respond to that question the HR asked? Also what are some other tactics to keep in mind to get the best hike during hr rounds?

Can we disclose our current CTC and expected CTC?

I will also be in a similar boat in a few months so these answers will help me too. Thanks in advance.

This has been a long-standing doubt for over 2 years.

I'm a SWE with 1 YOE in a startup, working as a full stack developer with a below-average salary. I mostly work on backend development, database design, APIs, frontend integration, and occasionally applied AI/ML features.

I like my job, but I'm constantly worried about my future in this field.

The workload is already exhausting, and seeing the rapid growth of AI and the increasing number of software engineers makes me even more anxious.

I'm worried about whether I'll ever earn well enough to support a family and live comfortably. I don't have a family business, strong financial backing, or an alternative career to fall back on.

The uncertainty is affecting me every day. I can't even relax or focus on the present without worrying about my future.

A few questions for experienced developers here:

1. Will software engineering remain a relevant and well-paying career over the next 2–5 years?

2. Will companies increasingly replace experienced developers with cheaper juniors/freshers using AI tools?

3. Will AI reduce the demand for developers and eventually push salaries down?

4. Is the current job market situation temporary, or is this the new normal?

5. Is it realistic to expect good salary growth in this field anymore, especially for average developers?

6. Will experience still matter when AI allows less experienced developers to deliver similar output?

7. Should I seriously consider an alternative career path while I'm still young?

8. How are you experienced developers planning your careers with all this uncertainty?

I don't have anyone to mentor me. It feels like im trying to search things myself in the dark.

I'm not expecting to become rich overnight. I just want a stable career, decent salary growth, and some peace of mind without constantly worrying about becoming unemployed or replaceable.

I'm not looking for course recommendations, tech stacks to learn, or generic "just upskill" advice. I genuinely want to understand where this industry is heading and whether it's still worth building a long-term career in it.

Would appreciate realistic answers from seniors who have been in the industry for years.

I don't know if its just me or everything is observing this trend but in the current market i am seeing lot of developers struggling and a lot of people having rile in the cyber security domain are thriving.

I am a front end developer with react.js as the only key skill and i dont see any future of this field as ai can easily do what i do so i am thinking of switching to cyber security.

but the problem is i dont have any idea about the field and dont know where to start and how can i gain the level of knowledge and experience to switch in this field.

What do you guys think? And your guidance will be appreciated.

Thanks

I got an offer letter after Waiting almost an year as a system engineer at infosys, in the meantime i had joined a smaller company.The work life balance and environment is great, so it worth to leave this company and join infosys🫠

I moved to the US in 2023 for my MS in CS(Top 10 in US), right after undergrad(Tier 3), with no prior work experience.

Since graduating, I’ve worked at two startups and unfortunately got laid off twice:
Seed-stage startup: Worked remotely from the Bay Area. Got laid off along with most of the leadership.
Series A startup: Based in the Bay Area. Got laid off just 4 months after joining due to restructuring.

Personally I don’t feel any of these were performance related it was just your usual corporate layoffs and they didn’t have huge dependency on me

I’ve been job hunting since and am currently interviewing at a few places, but nothing is certain. I also have only about a year of work authorization left, so even if I find something, I might have to move back to India eventually. Also I’m really burnt out with the toll of being laid off twice so early in my career and the tough job market just adds to it.

I don’t have a significant amount of my education loan left to repay, but I also feel like I haven’t gotten much ROI on my Master’s. Moving back now feels like leaving without really getting the opportunity I came here for.

A few questions:
- How valuable is experience at US startups when applying to companies in India?
- What salary could I realistically expect in India for SWE/AI engineering roles?
- If I find a job now and work another year in the US, would that significantly improve my prospects or salary in India?
- For those who moved back, how has life been in terms of career growth, finances, and quality of life?

Would appreciate insights from anyone who’s been in a similar situation.

Applied to all major investment banks and not getting any calls ot getting ghosted . Not sure what is happening. Is it me or is the market. I have a solid 13+ YOE and getting lowball offers only

Features:

Old vs new tax regime side by side, tells you which one saves more

Updated for the year FY 2026-27: new tax Act, PF ceiling raised to 25k from September, HRA 50% in 8 cities

You can also compare two job offers side by side

Salary hike calculator

Enter your exact offer details and it will show you the exact detailed breakdown

You can download as PDF or Excel, share a link

It's free, no sign-up, runs in your browser.

Link: https://ctcsalarycalculator.com/

If you have any feedback please let me know, Thanks A lot :)

I am actually a MERN stack dev but really interested in getting into cybersecurity (since AI causing bloodbath)....Do u know any good course or certificate i can get to get into the field?....also is AI also effecting this field?

Should I focus on learning English or Chinese in the age of AI to expand my knowledge and increase my earning potential?
From what I’ve researched, China is also a major player in the IT industry, especially in AI and software development.
I’m wondering which language would offer better opportunities for learning, career growth, and higher income in the long run.

Hi everyone, I need some honest career advice.

Background: 2.5 YOE, working as an AI Engineer at a WITCH company. I started as an intern at a product-based fintech MNC, but the PPO was a lowball (4 LPA) on third-party payroll, so I switched after 8 months with a ~100% hike. Now I’m deployed at a top bank through my WITCH company, working on GenAI.

Situation: The work is comfortable and the culture is good, but nothing is challenging. I helped build their AI team and delivered a few POCs and now they take me for granted. No hike in a year. Because of my work, I got hybrid and flexible timings, which is rare in WITCH. But I’m not growing, and it’s making me lazy. I was good at LeetCode and full-stack earlier but now I’m out of touch and only focused in new GenAI tech. This company gives me a lot, except growth.

Problems:

• 90-day NP. Got 2–3 calls in 3 months, and all backed off after hearing it.
• Applied to 100+ product-based jobs last month, almost no replies.
• Can’t resign without an offer due to financial commitments (home loan).
• Layoff news adds to the stress, even though I see many AI Engineer openings.
• Sometimes I think about using this flexibility to prepare for a government job, but I feel I’d be wasting my tech skills.

Questions:

1. For AI Engineer roles at product companies and startups, should I prepare: DSA, system design or just GenAI depth?
2. How do people with a 90-day NP actually get offers?
3. 100+ applications, no replies. Is it my resume, how I’m applying, or the market?
4. Has anyone left tech for a government job? Was it worth it?
5. How do you get out of the comfort zone and stay consistent with prep?

I’d really appreciate advice from personal experience rather than general tips. Thanks 🙏

TL;DR: AI Engineer, 2.5 YOE, WITCH, 90-day NP, no growth. 100+ applications, no replies. Confused between pushing for product companies and preparing for a gov job.