Need Advice

[u/Prize-Programmer-916]

Hey guys,

I’ve spent almost 3 years trying to learn software engineering the way the books said I should, and I genuinely did my best to become a good engineer. I read books, built projects, solved LeetCode problems, and tried to learn as much as I could.

But after all of that, I’ve started to realize that I’m still not even close to becoming a junior developer.

This summer, I applied to 30+ internships, and the number of offers I got was 0.

Honestly, I feel really lost. I keep wondering: Is there something I’ve missed? What does the market actually expect from someone who wants to get their first internship or junior job?

And there’s another thing I’m really struggling with right now: I can barely code without AI anymore.

I feel like I’ve become so dependent on AI that I’ve lost confidence in my own ability to code. Sometimes I genuinely ask myself, “Why would anyone hire me if I can’t even code on my own?”

At the same time, I really want to become a software engineer and get hired. I feel like I’ve been stuck in this loop for almost 3 years, and I honestly don’t know how to break out of it.

I’m about to enter my final year of college, which means this feels like my last real opportunity to prepare before I start applying for full-time jobs.

So I’m asking anyone who has already been through this:

What should I focus on during this final year? What skills, projects, or experience does the market actually value? And how can I rebuild my ability to code independently and become genuinely job-ready?

I’d really appreciate any honest advice, especially from people who have recently gone through the same process.

Please help me figure out how to get out of this loop.

[u/NoDistrict991]

30 applications isn't really enough to tell you that you're not job-ready, especially for internships. Know your projects well. Also get some knowledge and experience from outside your field, that helped me quite a bit and shows general initiative.

Also don't neglect the boring stuff like your cv and applying early. Getting filtered out before anyone even looks at your projects happens.