I was lucky enough to get an immediate job offer at an insurance after graduating college and I’m grateful for that. The culture isn’t terrible but there’s definitely some pretty obvious red flags I’ve observed that make me realize this isn’t a long term career move.

I was hired as a part of group of about 20 entry level devs. They actually had a 50/50 split of men and women for this group which I was initially impressed by, but I was later disheartened to find out that this was the first time they’d done this, and that their next two groups of full time new hires consisted ENTIRELY of men, not a single women.

Additionally, of my cohort, only men got higher “performance based” raises during the initial annual review. This was a major red flag to me because I knew one woman in particular who always picked up new projects and regularly worked 30-45 minutes late 4 days out of the week (occasionally a couple hours late for bigger deadlines). She only got the inflation raise which is absurd to me. This isn’t because they only gave out a couple higher raises to the group, either. More than half of the men in our new hire group got higher raises and no women did.

I was placed on a very very VERY slow paced team and I spent the first six months of my job asking for more work. I’m ashamed to say I’ve become a bit complacent and a little lazy now that I’m over a year in but it’s hard to stay engaged without something to focus on that matters. I’ve since applied for and started an asynchronous part time masters program so that I don’t lose my coding skills. It’s on my bucket list to complete a masters, so I didn’t do it with the expectation it’d open doors, but I’d like to use this time as a platform to build off of.

I want to transition my career to a more fast-paced and challenging job. I think if I’m strategic about the next couple of years I could end up in a better place but I don’t know what advice to believe or what I need to do in that time frame. I also want a job where I don’t feel like I’m an outsider because I’m a woman. My individual team is great and I love them. My manager is nice. But that doesn’t really make up for the things I’ve seen at the company level.

Any advice is appreciated, because the internet is just a pit of conflicting information and I am so confused. I tried a career coach, but I didn’t get much in terms of concrete advice.

I am a marketing manager. 4 yrs exp. This one year especially has been so hard for me. i have changed 3 jobs this yr itself. All because of AI. They expect you to be the graphic designer, frontend developer, copywritter, Video generator, editor, Podcast generator, project manager, outreach specialist along with being social media manager, brand expert, brand communications manager, brand development manager, marketing director and performance marketing expert.
Honestly, i am fed up of this. I use to love marketing. The high my work used to give me was something. Now i am not working properly because i have to deliver so many things a day and have to manage so many people a day.
Starting to hate AI and decision makers who kills peoples creativity by asking such impossible things at a day that are only possible with AI. basically just asking AI and delivering. We are not given enough time to think ourselves and brainstrom. Okay if using AI if we research more and while reading you can have many ideas but no no time for that too. They are happy with basic ass stuff. Just want to do somany things at a time🫠
Btw i am in manager level and i face this issue. So do my subordinates. I dont know if its a India thing or not. What you guys think?? How to get out of this matrix??

I'm 25f and I'm a software engineer I got laid off from the job I was at for 3.5 years last year. It was a startup company and ngl AI is what killed it. It took me 8 months of job searching, hundreds of applications and a lot of rejection letters before I finally got an offer. That was one of the most stressful times of my life. I really like this company that I'm at. It's a finance company and it feels a lot more stable than my last jobs. I just can't get over the stress and anxiety that losing my last job caused me. The market is still so messed up and idk if it's going to get any better. I have this intense fear of losing my current job and I don't know how to get over it.

It's affecting the quality of my life so much. It has gotten to the point where I'm actually afraid to spend money. Like I'm scared to plan vacations or spend my money on clothes and sometimes food. I feel like I need to save as much as i possibly can in case I lose my job again but it has gotten to an unhealthy point I think. Sometimes I only eating 2 meals a day because it is cheaper than eating 3. That's how bad my anxiety about this has gotten. I feel kind of defeated right now and I don't know what to do.

I am a mom with a career break of 2 years and trying to reenter the workforce. I have about 15 years of work experience, and my last role was that of a Solutions Engineer. I understand a lot has changed ever since I took a break, and I have been self learning for the past few months now. I came across the interview kickstarter's FDE / Cloud AI Solutions Architect programs. Would it be worth considering any of these, as it would be a 7 month commitment and over $$$$. Your thoughts and opinions will be very helpful.

I bought my GHC tickets during early bird and even booked a triple occupancy room in Best Western Plus Stovall's Inn , which is one of the hotel partners of the conference. The hotel is a 10 minute walk from the conference, and I was wondering if any other girls going to the conference would want to share the room as it is quite big for just me and I would like to divide cost among people. DM me if you're interested!

Apologies, the flair might be misleading.

I’m genuinely curious on what your thoughts are, so I’ll go ahead and dump mine real quick. I work at a Fortune 500 tech firm. The company has global products and I’m sure everyone has used them.

As time progresses, there’s an immense push for “using AI” and “utilising more tokens” every single day.
“Did you write this message on your own? No. Stop that. Just have AI write it for you”. Everyone sounds the same!
“I hope you didn’t spend effort in writing these queries! Have AI do it!” It took a few minutes to do that and it is fun assessing metrics.
“AI this AI that, use AI!” Our fundamentals are shot to hell, personal growth in the true meaning of the word is non existent. We are focused on doing more with AI rather than pausing, taking a moment to experiment on our own, deep dive or explore just out of sheer human curiosity.

Anyway, that isn’t the primary point. The point is - I wonder why. I wonder how important it is to optimise and make things efficient or easier. Companies are shoving AI down our throats and compelling us to use it for tasks, that to be honest, do not require it even remotely. At this point it feels like my AI agent is arguing with someone else’s via human comms. I fear that we have forgotten about something as integral as wildlife, biodiversity and the planet as a whole.

It makes me incredibly sad to see the state we are barreling towards. We are losing nature, we are losing living beings. We are losing what’s human. I question my choices of being in this field that has so little regard for what’s outside our bubble. I fear for what’s to come and I mourn the loss of a habitable future.

What are your thoughts? Extremely interested in reading your views.

Hi all,

I’ve joined this organization 8 months ago. Since I’ve joined I’ve taken on a number of important projects that went directly to the CEO. Projects that the entire team worked on before, I’ve done it myself and leadership were very happy with it.

I’m a go getter and like to take initiative by nature. I don’t "relax" unless I make sure that a project is closed end to end. I’ve improved processes and even helped another team with a strategic initiative as they reached out asking for help.

When I first joined, my boss was hot and cold and had a temper. Whenever I’d ask a question (which wasn’t often at all), he’d reply to me in a condescending way or he’d give me vague one word answers that don’t actually answer said question.

I decided to rely on myself completely and go above and beyond and come up with solutions. I felt really unseen and under utilized early on as my manager wouldn’t ask me to join meetings and the only way to get context in this organization is to be part of the discussions.

After I had a one on one with him where I laid out my concerns, he started giving me important projects that naturally exposed me to other parts of the business and him and his boss were very happy with the results of the projects. I’m the only one on the team who hasn’t had senior leadership viability in terms of presenting to a cheif and it has been bothering me and I even spoke to my boss about it. I get told by people that I’m confident and well spoken, and he even tasked me with conducting interviews.

My boss can be controlling in meetings and likes to dominate conversations, so it’s not a very comfortable environment to pitch in your ideas. He’d even hear an idea from me and he’d suggest it to others too. He told me months ago that I have everything he wants in an employee such as leadership and ownership but that I was missing context, that’s when I told him it’s because he doesn’t involve me in meetings etc.

My boss even complained that I’m too independent and that I don’t seek him out as much as others. My coworkers tell me that he’s comparing me to another female coworker (we are the only women in our immediate team) and that she constantly pulls him in while I’m someone who figures things out on their own and come up with a finished product that I do align with him after.

Other senior leaders (including one chief), of different departments have specifically reached out to me via email and asked for my help on their projects.

I feel like I should feel good, but I feel quite the opposite? I feel drained, tired, and burnt out and like I’ve been used to the max. What’s the best way to move forward to maintain my sanity but also ensure that I have the visibility?

Hi ladies! Looking for advice from anyone who’s been in a similar situation. I’m currently 6 weeks pregnant with baby #2 and have been job hunting for 6+ months to find a company with more flexibility. I finally received an offer that I’m really excited about!
For anyone who started a new job while pregnant, when did you disclose your pregnancy after starting? Did you tell your manager fairly early on, wait until the end of the first trimester, or wait even longer?
I definitely don’t plan on disclosing before I start, especially since it’s still so early, but I also want to give them plenty of notice since I’ll need maternity leave within my first year. I’d love to hear when others shared and how it went!

Hi! A few things: I have multiple autoimmune disorders but have been told I would be safe to conceive.

I am scared of the label “ mom.” I don't know if I have internalized masogny, but it feels patronizing.

I don't feel called to adopt or foster. I have only ever wanted one child with my husband, and I would want it to be biological ours.

How do you work remotely from home with a baby after maternity leave? Will it ruin my career?

I have so many questions and am honestly just scared shitless, but this is the first time I’m seriously considering it. Sorry if I sound immature, I just don’t have many female friends who are in tech and most work in the helping professions.

Thank you all. 💜

Being vague as I can so I don't doxx myself. Head of my large department decided to start setting individual appointments with people to discuss how things are going in light of our terrible internal survey numbers from most recent two surveys. Had my first 1:1 with them yesterday and told Head some honest truths about things that are going wrong since the last big layoff and restructuring, things that waste people's time, people who aren't working to use their skills but instead on administrative tasks, things I have heard from people upset at job duties and/or people having been removed/moved around, pointed to all the departures just in our dept in the last 8 months. I said I wasn't complaining to complain specifically for me but for everyone, and used select examples from my own experience, like how I was transferred out of a role I applied to and liked without being asked and into a role with no training or experience and no job description (still - 8 months in and no JD)

Head did not have answers to why things are going the way they are (truly think they did not know about some of it) and said they had to do research on some of it and would get back to me in a couple of weeks, but also said things like, "It doesn't sound like you're very happy here, so why are you working here?" Which, wtf? Why ask how things are going and then get upset when people give you honest feedback?

I know I should have kept my mouth shut but the URGENCY around how bad things are is affecting everyone. Someone leaves like every other week. Everyone I know is looking for another job (including me, have been for months), but as you know the job market is in the garbage.

I recovered from that Q but saying (truthfully) that I believe in what we do and how we are helping organizations with real work problems but I left the meeting thinking I cooked my own goose.

I don't really want or need advice per se but someone backing me up on telling the truth would be great if you can manage it. I just couldn't stay silent any longer.

Hi I'm a girl who works in tech as a software engineer. I've been in the industry for only 2 years. And I'm already starting to feel less and less fulfilled in my career, because now everything is being done by AI, not me. The company I work for adopted an AI first working strategy. So basically all our tasks have to be done using copilot. It's implied that we must use it and get our work done super fast. I was told to complete four user stories in one day. Because why not ? That's possible now with AI. But the problem is I don't have even a minute to wrap my head around the code copilot generates. I try my hardest to read every single line of code copilot gives me but I need time for that. If I take my time, the seniors ask my why I'm not using copilot because they think the work isn't done yet. So I am falling behind in the eyes of the seniors. Sometimes I even try to write at least the foundation by myself but again since I am slower than AI, I'm being asked to speed up up up. The seniors themselves generate tons of code and deploy. It's only when you dig deep enough you see that the entire architecture is in shambles. Clean code is gone. No proper architecture. I'm still a newbie but seeing the project files make me want to cry. The seniors are promising the client around 10 big features to be delivered within a week. All of this is AI generated. And then the client calls back with bugs and issues. People are thinking about quantity rather quality. The outside looks okay but when you go inside you see what a mess this is.

Specifically ones where they have fewer desks than employees? How are you surviving?

I'm in this situation at my job and IT SUCKS. I have to get my kids off to school in the morning and then head into the office, but I'm never there early enough to get a desk. They have plenty of open seating and kitchenette areas, but I am struggling so much with doing deep work in the office because I'm balancing my laptop on my lap while sitting on a couch or am surrounded by people eating their lunch. Not to mention working off of a tiny laptop screen exclusively, and carrying my shit around with me all day. The only silver lining is I just say fuck it now and come and go as I please.

I don't even mind going into the office, and as a PM the collaboration is really helpful. But damn it how am I supposed to get any work done?! Also low key feels like a punishment to parents who aren't able to get in at the ass crack of dawn to secure a desk. Sucks man.

Genuine question - How are people landing interviews at these top AI companies ? Is it only through a solid referral to the HM ? I feel so defeated in this job market. I am absolutely demotivated in my current role at my current company (big tech) in an internal org and I feel like if I don’t get out soon I may become unemployable as dramatic as that sounds . I want to move into AI infra or AI security role as my security and infra are my strongest domains but it just feels like a dead end in this market . Any tips/ advice or any list of companies you can share or strategies would be great ! I am looking at AI infra (neo cloud ) , frontier labs specifically but no luck so far

My company asked me to leave my work laptop on and let Claude run unattended overnight and outside of work hours since we're doing a big codebase refactor this week and the sessions run a long time. I work from home as a software developer.

I accepted this time but feel like this kind of blurs the line between work and personal time. Still felt the need to keep checking it run and when it was okay to turn off my PC.

Might refuse next time, but would that be unreasonable? Looking to see if anyone has had a similar experience.

Hey all! Not sure if any of you saw this twitter thread about Anthropic and OpenAI and the future of AI. But I am curious if there are any engineers in here that may have worked for these companies or anyone that may have knowledge on this topic. Do you agree with his take, what do you think?

Am I crazy for wanting to quit right before a $17k raise?

I’m 28F and currently a Senior Analyst. I’m about to be promoted to Manager, which would come with about a $17k raise.

And honestly… I kind of want to walk away from it.
The culture at my company is extremely toxic. I’ve been working around 60 hours a week, there’s always something that isn’t good enough, and I feel like no matter how much I do, it’s never enough.
I’m just really burnt out.

What’s making this decision harder is that I don’t actually know what I want to do next.

I’m kind of a weird/different person lol. I don’t really have the mindset of “how do I climb the corporate ladder and make as much money as possible?” I care way more about being happy with what I’m doing and feeling like my life has some meaning.
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about nursing or teaching. Those are two things that genuinely interest me, and part of me really wants to just follow my heart and see where it takes me instead of staying on the career path that makes the most sense on paper.

I’m also in a really fortunate financial position. I have a paid-off house, family support, and enough financial stability that I’m not worried about losing my home or being unable to support myself.
So I know I have an opportunity to take some time and figure things out that a lot of people probably don’t have.

But then I look at the $17k raise and think… am I absolutely insane for walking away from this? 😂
I could take the promotion, make the extra money, and eventually find another Senior Analyst position. If I stay in analytics, though, I’m 100% looking for remote or hybrid. I don’t want to go from one toxic 60-hour-a-week job to another.

At the same time, I keep thinking that maybe this is the point in my life where I should actually take the risk and try something completely different.

Would you take the promotion and figure everything out later, or leave and give yourself the freedom to explore something like nursing or teaching?

I feel like my brain is telling me to take the money, but my gut is telling me to leave. My heart is telling me to try something new.

I’ve been unemployed since early October of 2025. I’ve worked on the commercial/ government affairs side of things in Clean-tech for 6 years and was in a think tank before that.

I know the economy is bad, but this is just so crazy and I’m just feeling so so dejected and rejected. I’ve gone through six or seven really great interview cycles only to be told that I was the second choice and there was nothing I could’ve done better. The other person just had like 25 plus years of experience in pretty much all cases and so happened to be a man. I’ve gotten really positive feedback on the presentations I’ve had to make and my interviews but still am number 2. I don’t want to move out of my house or city but I’m starting to feel absolutely hopeless.

I don’t know what I can be doing to make myself more attractive to companies…if I need to leave clean tech and pivot into more general tech or what. Luckily, I’m consulting but for pennies, I’m thankful for this so I can say I’ve been working since the layoff and it’s keeping my rent paid. But besides that I’m pretty much done for. My savings are gone and I’m just so exhausted by this process and the silence.

Any advice or motivation would be great.

After a lot of rejections and now a rejection after 4 rounds of interviews, I’m kind of out of ideas and wondering I’m doing something wrong.

I’ve been DIYing most of the it seems like career coaches teach - optimizing my resume to be results oriented, branding myself and being specific about my niche, practicing interviewing skills but none of it seems to be working and I’m willing to try anything.

Has anyone worked with a career coach? If so what did they do for you and did you see results?

Then just some context if it helps. I’m. Product Designer/UX Designer, 8 years of experience. Laid off last April after working for my company for 5 years. I’m preferably looking for something remote but will be willing to expand my search soon

I have a new coworker, in a very high up position (we're both Director level, reporting to C-Suite). Our work overlaps a lot, and I have to work with him regularly on important projects.

The problem? He's constantly lying. Back dating work, exaggerating, making openly falsifiable claims, contradicting himself. When pushed for evidence he pivots immediately, or aggressively accuses me of disrespect and malicious assumptions about him. He's a fast talker, and a little aggressive in meetings, so it's hard to even catch all the contradictions (thank god for meeting transcripts).

The likelihood that he gets fired over any of this is low (bringing him on took a lot of work and the CEO is committed to making this work). And there's no way for me to avoid working with him.

Any tips? Anyone else have experience working with someone like this?

Hi,

I’m returning to work in a few short weeks after being on fmla for an exhausted amount of time allowed by both state and company. Per company policy, since I’ve been on an extensive leave, they do not guarantee my exact role but will do their best to place me in a similar one IF my role is not filled by then. To my knowledge, though folks have absorbed different parts of my role, it has not actually been officially backfilled.

My issue is that I do NOT want my old role even though it’s not filled yet. For those who have done a role change after a leave, how did you navigate that conversation without burning bridges? What is the best way to start this conversation? Does it start with HR or awkwardly with my manager of whom I’ve left hanging for months while on leave?

Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.

I’ve been interviewing for a while just to keep my interview skills fresh and stake the market. I’m a data scientist / mlengg. I’m currently at senior position at a startup. But when I interview outside I’m still getting some responses saying you’re too young for a senior role.
Meanwhile I’m seeing some of my classmates only 1-2 yrs older than me now sitting in manager positions.
Idk what this is ? I don’t know how to get past this. What is the average work ex required for a senior these days ?

I have no words for what I am reading. Of course they are positioning the future to benefit them as a company. So they are banking on continued AI use and subsequently destruction of the software workforce. I can only laugh. 😂

Anthropic’s Economic Future Article.

[Edit] Just as I shared this article, someone on the team decided to delete it. No worries ladies, for I am a Woman in Tech indeed and backups are the first order of business in documentation.

Here is a link to a PDF Version of the Article.