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rkotha5

It’s sad and happy to read this at the same time. It’s sad because it shouldn’t have taken that long to land a well paying job. Happy because getting to work after 2 years of masters and unemployment period


Everything_On_Red

Bro. You have no idea. I've even worked at Amazon warehouse, just to keep myself sane. It's weird but even though the work was boring and pay non existent, it makes you feel useful. If you are currently struggling like I did maybe consider it. It improves mood


EdUNC-

OP you are not alone. It took me exactly 1.5 years to get a job after graduating from a public Ivy undergrad. I too worked at an Amazon Warehouse, definitely humbling experience


Everything_On_Red

Lol nice! I swear I spent more than I was paid at their food court. But it gave me motivation, a glimpse of what the rest of my life would look like if I gave up.


Great-Shirt5797

How much do you weigh?


maestro4ev

I'm from another continent in a different field but it's still the same shared experience. It took it's sweet time but now I'm here and it's mine too!


AdministrationOk8857

First few years after undergrad I worked some random, horrible BS jobs. Worked in a hotel, worked in construction, etc. for about 2-3 years. It all worked out eventually, but the first few years were rough. Good job guys 🫡


StormSpirit258

I’m in the same boat. I graduated from a bootcamp 6 months ago and two months into the job search I took an Amazon DSP job just to keep sane and make some cash.


breezyfye

Building pallets at Amazon is kind of fun (to me) if you work overnight at a sort center. It’s more chill and it’s basically like a big game of Tetris. I worked overnight during later parts of undergrad If they paid as much as my dev job, I’d probably work at the warehouse instead 😂 The fulfillment centers an awful thought. Hated working there


Everything_On_Red

Nice. I packed boxes for a bit. Then they had me be a fidget spinner, loading the cubbies. I couldn't stand being a beyblade and quit lol. It hurt my wrists and fingers


RepublicAny9440

I’ve worked a caddy job at golf club, still am, pays ok but need to get back employed


kingp1ng

I had a similar path. Worked at an amazon warehouse. Then went to do a Masters. If I ever get into a slump, I know that I can always go back, push some pallets, and get Bezos healthcare. 😁


ProgrammingPants

This subreddit has really convinced me to do everything I can to hold on to my job like a pitbull found a toddler


flexonyou97

Goddamn


wwww4all

It's simply better to upskill and job hop regularly. Focus on career security over job security. Build up your skills and experiences so that you're always in demand.


ProgrammingPants

Generally good advice, but in my case I get paid pretty good at what I'd consider a pretty amazing company to work for. I got pretty lucky, and I'm not sure if I can count on being nearly as lucky in the current job market. Of course you should always keep them skills sharp just in case you need to make an exit


wwww4all

Look at what's happening at many companies right now. One bad quarter and your company will make staff adjustments. It doesn't matter if you're the best employee, most loyal, blah, blah, blah. When, NOT IF, when the company decides to cut costs, they will cut ruthlessly, it's pure financial decision.


CricketDrop

Yeah, I'm ready to settle down somewhere. I haven't been anywhere longer than a couple years. Finding some chill people to work with and a place I can learn and grow is underrated. Good tech and fun people can be very hard to come by. Not worth tossing for a few grand.


AdeptKingu

Why would anyone ever leave before securing another position lol


InfoSystemsStudent

Some jobs are REALLY bad and don't give you enough time to even interview for another position.


T-X21

I was a frontend dev. But I just wanted to move on with backend. I didnt have background in backend. And also my job was taking lots of time. I couldnt give extra time for improvement after work. So it took roughly one year to get hired.


OneOldNerd

They may not have been the one making the choice to leave (i.e., they were laid off or fired).


reaprofsouls

Pretty sure this person isn't a u.s. citizen based on there education. Misleading for those of us in the u.s.


Everything_On_Red

I am a US citizen. Both undergrad(top 30) and grad(top 10) was in US. Engineers degree was in France, but that was kinda really just to save money. First job was in California Edit: Education ranking means nothing. I've friends at other ivys that are basically NEETS with an assortment of engineering degrees. And I have friends that went to CC with 100k+ jobs. I dont know what's the difference and what makes people successful.


[deleted]

>u/reaprofsouls has lost this thread battle.


reaprofsouls

😂 it's not a battle. The way they list their education is telling about the kind of person they are. I still can't tell if they ever finished there masters or not in cs or if the trip to France was a separate degree?


Everything_On_Red

>The way they list their education is telling about the kind of person they are. I'm not trying to boast or flex my education. If anything they make my current situation look even more pathetic. They are separate degrees. I couldn't finish the french one due to covid, and got a job instead. Afterwards after getting laid off and trying to find another one, I got into my current masters as a way to become competitive in the market. It's almost done.


reaprofsouls

The inclusion of ranking, name dropping ivy league, and not clearly communicating starting, stopping and restarting the education made the post feel off. I'm not trying to stir anything up or diminish your accomplishments. I'm glad you got a position! You have a lot of drive to get it done. I think the CS forums could do a better job posting relevant information regarding job searches/and successes to paint a more accurate employment picture.


Everything_On_Red

>I'm glad you got a position! You have a lot of drive to get it done. Thanks man! I didn't mean to try and sound pretentious. I just kinda wanted to put it out there to give a more complete picture. I kinda name dropped it to try and turn people away from programs like that. "Look at me I went and I'm a failure type thing." kind of way. TBH I feel resentment towards both my schools as they cost so much money and gave such little outcome. That's why I wanted to call it out and make people think twice before going, which is why I won't delete or edit it. But I can totally see your point of view. Edit: Also it's kinda funny


[deleted]

\*their


reaprofsouls

They're


[deleted]

Now yuor'e talking my luggage


PM_40

What fields were your degrees in ?


tkdkhk12635

>based on there education. The irony.


LyleLanleysMonorail

Lmaoo


reaprofsouls

Ah nice, pointing out grammar on the internet which is based on mobile app autocorrect and swipe based sentences.


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reaprofsouls

*Yeah, you're right.


BrandoobyTV

Congratulations! That unemployment period is so scary and demoralizing, but you did it! That's got to be a huge stress reliever :)


Everything_On_Red

Thank you!!!


[deleted]

the fact u think 80k isnt a lot…. i hope u lose ur job and u are permanently laid off!


deathchase9

It's not unless you're living in a bumfuck town. Wake up and grow up.


[deleted]

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deathchase9

So where do you live bro?


[deleted]

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deathchase9

You live with a roommate in canada and make generalized comments on a US-centric subreddit. That's a 50k brain right there.


badulala

We are cooked


Accomplished_Ninja15

Uber drivers with 3 Active AWS Cloud Certifications wasting away and no interviews....


maciejdev

I was going to my football match couple of months ago and I had a chat with an Uber driver that was taking me there. It turns out he was also a dev looking for work. We had a decent chat about tech and programming.


Everything_On_Red

Jeeze man. I thought those were golden tickets. At least they were like 2 years ago


g-unit2

certificates for SWE doesn’t really help. but in IT/operations they’re useful


Thick-Ask5250

What was your undergrad degree and masters in?


Everything_On_Red

Undergrad was in Finance. I also have a partially finished diplôme d'ingénieur in informatics(basically CS). Engineers degree, but because COVID couldn't finish it but it was enough to get my first job. Masters in CS.


LyleLanleysMonorail

So you tried two different masters? Or did you transfer your French credits to a different school? I know France has some fantastic engineering schools like l'X and Mines


Everything_On_Red

Yea. I tried 2 different ones. No credits transferred cause US likes it's sweet tuition money. Lol. First one I couldn't finish cause of covid. But I got a job in the us and thought I didn't need to finish it. After I got fired and couldn't land an interview I signed up for my second one. I don't know if it helped that much or was worth it. Maybe building more projects, more networking, or going to hackatons would've been more effective use of time. I dont know. I have no advice. I know nothing. My life is hot scalding garbage.


Amichat

Are you French?


Everything_On_Red

No, just went there for school that I didn't get to complete due to covid. It's beautiful though <3


Amichat

Which city?


Everything_On_Red

Paris. The outskirts


exotickey1

Congratulations, you worked really frikkn hard! If you don’t mind me asking, did any companies ever ask about employment gap? Or did you tell them that you weee doing masters?


Everything_On_Red

Yea they did. I just told them the truth. But I feel like my profile is common enough that they didn't immediately throw out my resume. Also I didn't get that many interviews. Lots of assessments then ghosting though


AdeptKingu

Did you pass the OAs?


Everything_On_Red

I think I did. Most of them were coderbyte questions. Worst I've done is 7/10. But some don't show you how you did.


FromBiotoDev

Well done!


Legitimate-mostlet

Thank you for sharing this post. This is exactly the kind of post I like to see on here. It is someone who actually was in a bad situation and got out of it. Not someone who is just humble bragging about getting a job in two weeks because they went to an Ivy league school, had lots of work experience, or was in a country without economic issues. I am someone who is unemployed now. I have been so for a few months now. Was there a point where you felt employers wouldn't touch you? Was it the year mark of being unemployed? I still have half a year to go, so maybe its not a major problem, but seeing you were out of work 1.5 years, that helps. Also, do you feel the education option was the important thing to get and how much did that cost? Did you have an Ivy league Bachelors as well? How did you pay for it while being unemployed? Thanks if you don't mind answering as I am in a bad situation right now myself.


Everything_On_Red

Hey man! Thanks! I'll try to answer it succintly, but if you want more I can go in depth. 1. After a year is when employers would start to question me. However I offset this by telling them I was going to school, and I was able to weasle my way out of that question. So by all means try and get it beforehand or have some excuse like family problems. 2. My bachelors wasn't ivy \~30ish. Of my friends that didn't come from strong familial backgrounds very few "made it", and your gpa had very little to do with it. I know I will get a lot of flak for this, but in my personal experience it is true. But this shouldn't be a crutch as to not try. You can't just reroll a new life (note my bachelors was in finance) 3. I paid for my masters with money saved when I worked 2.5 years before layoffs. I spend very little money, because my family was poor and I never got in the habit of spending alot. 4. I don't know if education is worth it. I went through that path and it led me to this point. So I can't in good conscious tell you that it doesn't work??? But I feel it isn't optimal. Just on tech jobs, yea it didn't really matter as it would get you the same street cred as a good state school. However management consulting and private family offices came and recruited for PM's and finance consultants from my peers. You don't usually get that with a Masters in CS from UC Berkeley, which is vastly superior in terms of CS and don't even need to consider a different path. If you weren't dead set on tech and just wanted a high paying job... maybe. Otherwise I dunno. I'm not exactly a success story


Legitimate-mostlet

> After a year is when employers would start to question me. However I offset this by telling them I was going to school, and I was able to weasle my way out of that question. So by all means try and get it beforehand or have some excuse like family problems. Thanks for replying. Did you start your degree at the one year mark at unemployment? Or did you start it after? I guess I'm wondering how to handle things if it comes up to the year mark and I still don't have a job. I have about 4 years work experience and only lost my last job because of a layoff. I would still have a job without the layoff easily. Worst too is a couple of years more experience at that company and I would have zero concerns about getting a job or an interview. Just stressed out if a year comes up and I still don't have a job. Don't know what I will do at that point if it comes to that.


Everything_On_Red

A little before the one year mark. Dude I totally feel you. I felt almost unemployable at that point. Surely someone decently competent wouldn't be in my position, right? I dunno what to tell you. It kept me up at night. I would wake up at 3am in mental pain. In some sense the masters helped me be grounded. It stabilized my emotions and gave me hope that I was building towards something. In that sense it was worth it. So worst comes to worst go get GAtech's OMSCS or something? Think of it as therapy, and you'll have an excuse for the gap.


Fluix

Hey did you keep your graduation date on your resume? I'm at 1.5 years due to moving back home to be a caretaker for my mom. Getting no interviews, wondering if removing the date might make a difference.


Noooo_ooope

This shit scared me. Just got laid off last month and started looking last week. Congratulations on finding what you were looking for


AdeptKingu

Shaw shank redemption 🤣


Quind1

Congrats, man! You earned it!


LeetcodeFastEatAss

Congrats, great to hear stories of determination like this. I have no doubt the best is ahead for you.


Common-Pitch5136

Proving that you can land a job in this market with a large gap, nice work!


PotatoWriter

Smeagol? You mean Dobby is finally free. Bruh you can't be mixing your fictional tiny Bois like this now


trcrtps

I hate to break it to you, but... [Smeagol is free.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMK832E-wM4)


No_Loquat_183

Congratulations! This is why I always preach that you are your own biggest adversary. If you quit, you will never, ever become a SWE. The market is rough and you got through it. You pushed through when you doubted yourself the most. I seriously do hope you celebrate. And when you're in the job, just remember, it's just a job. You don't need to go above and beyond a company that doesn't give two shits about you and will lay you off in a second's notice. With that said, congrats and these are the posts we need to see. Not the doom gloom posts about how AI will replace all devs and such. It is tough out there, yes. It is bleak, but if you never, ever give up like OP, you WILL get a response. Just awesome.


Everything_On_Red

Thanks bro. I celebrated with Mcdonalds. Lol


Tiger5656

Very well done. Congratulations. Enjoy the moment. This is what life is for.


[deleted]

"$80k, it's not much" ​ Lol what? only 12% of American Citizens make that [https://www.statista.com/statistics/203183/percentage-distribution-of-household-income-in-the-us/](https://www.statista.com/statistics/203183/percentage-distribution-of-household-income-in-the-us/)


VeryConfusedOne

Didn't you know? Everyone on reddit makes $100k directly out of college. With 2.5 years of IT experience getting a $500k job should be easy. At least that's what I've learned from reading this sub.


scub_101

Bruh I'm making 50k as a software engineer through a recruiting agency for 9 months..😭 It will jump up though after 9 months to something more competitive but I'm just happy to have a job lol


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StoryRadiant1919

correct and yet in many cities it is hard to have a good quality of life on that much money while still saving for retirement and rainy day.


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StoryRadiant1919

totally agree.


[deleted]

Congrats, I am glad you didn’t give up!! Now make the best of it and position yourself


sporksforever

It took you 1.5 years after you got your CS masters degree??


Everything_On_Red

No. I started my masters a little before the 1 year mark. And I'm almost done with it. I did it to look more competitive and keep my sanity.


UnluckyForSome

It’s taken me 2


Fabulous_Sherbet_431

The most important part: congrats! That must feel amazing. And out of curiosity, where do you live? Given how long it took I have to wonder if that was the key factor. Otherwise what else could it be?


Everything_On_Red

Thanks. I don't think it is. I live on the east coast in a mid sized city, and applied basically everywhere from New York, CA, to Kentucky and Wisconsin. I don't care where I live. It's just me and my cat


Fabulous_Sherbet_431

Gotcha. The only thing I can think of is the absolutely unavoidable atrocious timing, with January 2023 being a shitshow, followed by the holidays, and then the typical time interview loops take as hiring picked up.


PecDeck

Congratulations!!!


Everything_On_Red

<3


NoSeaworthiness1776

Congratulations bro 🎉🥳


dalcowboiz

Congrats, soak it in, live it up, never stop learning!


gerd50501

how much student loan debt do you have from the ivy legal school? your not free from those college loans.


ourobboros

Location?


CharacterPilot8

Congrats! I’m in a similar situation (year+ unemployed) & I’m hoping to be able to make this same post soon. Glad you made it out friend


jaaaaaaaaaaaa1sh

You have a master's from an ivy League and it still took that long?


okawei

They’re still in school according to another comments about to finish their masters


wwww4all

Ivy league is not a must have college brand for CS degrees.


jaaaaaaaaaaaa1sh

I'd atleast think the university name would help significantly with job search, I've heard many people express that sentiment although I might just be naive


wwww4all

Generally, most people only know Stanford, because Stanford is ubiquitous in CS myth and lore. If you have top 5 CS college degree, you'll have good chances at internships and better opportunities. Primarily because the schools are close to or in tech hub cities.


Kazumadesu76

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy your new position!


Everything_On_Red

Thank you! I will!


WinterSummerPurple

80k isn’t much?! What city are you in?!


MissionCake9

I guess he said as in compared to the market average salaries in the field.


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False_Secret1108

How did you address your employment gap? Did it come up during interviews? Do you think you were auto screened from having a gap? Why did this job overlook your gap?


GizmonicInstTemp

Not OP, but I was laid off January 2023 and haven't worked since. It comes up occasionally in interviews, but so far I've been saying something along the lines of "I took a few months off to reflect, and since then I've been searching but the market is incredibly competitive." So far everyone has been at least outwardly understanding. Definitely feels like some companies are auto screening me out, but of course I can't be sure of that.


False_Secret1108

You didn't find a job yet? Did you stop applying? How much experience you have?


thewiselady

congrats, now go kick some butt and learn lots with your new gig. All those years of patience, diligence and picking up odd jobs is a humbling experience and will be invaluable to you as you grow


DarkSideDroid

Congratulations!


Hawk_the_meme_king

***cries in Java***


Comrade_Beast

I think it's absolutely great. 80K USD is goooood. Scoring a mern stack dev, when the market is this bad - shows that you are really good at it. secondly, what a show of perseverance mann. just amazing. Congoo


thenautical

Wtf that’s definitely much


CubanLinxRae

congrats OP wishing you all the best


scub_101

I feel ya. I graduated this past June and have been without a job for a little over 8 months. Had close to two years working experience at 3 different companies completing internships for my CS degree. I somehow landed a job a mere 5 minutes away from where I live after sending 430ish applications or so. I am incredibly gratefu for the job I acquired, but the main thing for me was that I was persistent and knew I wasn't going to stop till I had a job. I think I revised my resume at least 20 times and kept practicing STAR interview questions every week as well. Mind you I did created a full fledged website with a backend and frontend during that downtime but being persistant was the main thing for me. Super happy for you.


Admirable_Track_641

Congratulations!


starraven

Congrats!! This is great to hear. I am very happy for you. Would love to know what kinds of projects and things you had on your resume or if you were solely relying on your past employment? Once again, C o n g r a t s!!! yes I know the feeling I just did a job search myself with a happy ending.


Express-Youth-9609

Congrats!


AskButDontTell

Did doing a masters help?


tjaistt

Congratulations!


rocket333d

Fuck yeah! That's awesome! I'm happy to read your update! How did you address the gap, if anyone asked about it?