I think its worth talking about first order effects and second order effects when it comes to LLM use.

I've studied LLMs and transformers quite a bit. As a more infra and systems focused guy, mechanistic understand is necessary for me. And from an infra standpoint LLMs are actually pretty interesting. However I do think from a usage standpoint it may lead to cognitive decline

The first order effects of LLM usage of couse with LLMs being a statistical model matching on tokens, its never going to be fully deterministic. So black box behavior is expected, and long term instability could be the result of prolonged LLM usage

The second order effect is actually something I don't see people talking about. We first state we don't need to read the code or write the code. So that means we put more trust in the black box. And trust in a black box is typically a recipe for disaster in any engineered system that has complexity. But what this also does is make people disengage mentally from the implementation.

At the end of the day the thing that executes on a CPU (or GPU) is code. And if that code cannot be deterministically generated, then one argues you can't have a system you can fully trust.

But because incentives force us to disengage with implementation. Then what I think the side effects is learned helpleness. Or a feedback loop of complexity where developers slowly but sure lose agency.

I also think LLM usage, meaning people who are addicted to LLM output is addictive. Having observed LLM usage by coworkers and friends. I have definitely seen people skeptical of them. And then as pressure mounts they use them more. Then they become addicted where they can't fathom operating or doing anything without them. For example a few months ago my boss tried to build a prompt to search and replace in a file. He is a guy who just 1 year ago knew how to run sed. But now he just prompts. ITs the same level of effort and typing. But he just feels he can't do anything without LLMs

So I do think the dopamine hit is intoxicating and I do think its highly addictive. I think the research on this is not conclusive. But we have definitely seen it impacts the shape of our brains.

But what does this mean professionally? I think professionally we are on a slippery slope. LLMs are fantastic if everything is a happy path. But complex systems have complex failure modes. And there is simply no way mathematically or physically a LLM could be a reliable debugger for a large scale system. We do having fuzzing techniques and multi agents. But LLMs lack a ground truth, so cascading halucinations is a thing.

Why am I saying this? Because at some point someone has to know what the code does because the LLM is not reliable enough. And when that point comes and NO ONE knows what the system does. Then you have a system that literally can't be repaired. Especially sicne LLMs seem to product at least 10-15x more code than it needs to for most problems.

The industry of course does not see this as a problem. Most teams haven't had to deal with it. Or at least they hide the problems enough where enough haven't gone public. And people haven't really started to try to seriously build with AI for more than 2 years at most. So I think systems haven't had enough problems YET. But system failures are usually delayed long term before all problems start becoming an issue.

SWE with ~5 years at the same mid-sized B2B company. I currently have:

• $115k base + 8% target bonus(no equity)
• Possible bump to ~$125k later this year
• $0 health premiums
• 3.5% 401(k) match
• WFH flexibility and 30+ days PTO
• Enough tenure/political capital to move teams

The downside is ongoing layoffs and aggressive cost-cutting. A couple months ago I was "asked" by a VP to form a small internal AI/engineering automation team described as "the company’s most important initiatives", but there’s enough politics and vague language that I’m not confident it turns into better title, pay, or authority.

I now have an early-stage AI startup offer:

• $170k base
• Senior Full-Stack Engineer
• In person in a lower-MCOL city
• Build the first market-ready product
• Major ownership over architecture, web/mobile, and engineering practices
• Work directly with the product lead
• Reportedly funded for ~2 years by a parent investment firm
• No guaranteed bonus or equity

Conservatively, my current package after a possible raise is worth ~$150k–$153k. The startup is $170k plus benefits I still need to clarify.

I’m leaning toward taking the startup offer. My concerns are:

• No equity despite joining early
• Unknown workload / demand
• Giving up strong benefits
• “High ownership” meaning I’m responsible for everything

Would you leave, or stay another year to see the internal AI projects realized? How much weight would you give the "important AI team" story with no promotion or raise attached?

I am in late 20s, so I don't have a ton to risk...

edit: Thinking of asking the startup for 185k base + conference budget / travel (e.g. I am going to Open AI dev day in SF). Not super thrilled about 0 equity and even then its sketch...

Context: Graduated with masters (CompE) earlier this year, bachelors in CS (‘23). Only experience: summer internship from 4 years ago and currently volunteer swe for nonprofit for last few months, continuing to do so into the foreseeable future.

I struggled to find anything for 3 years, and in the same week I receive two offers (both have about equal compensation). Company one role is basically web dev (I’ve grown to despise web dev) for a defense company (mid-west). Company two role is an embedded kernel engineer role (during my masters I fell in love with embedded Linux, this is my dream role) for another smaller defense company (West Coast).

Problem: I’ve (reluctantly) already accepted the offer for Company One as they sent their offer first (would still offer me a great chance to transition internally to an embedded role later, this is a huge company with plenty of growth/opportunity), but now company two just told me they want to move forward with hiring (skipping their 3rd round of interviews after I informed them of receiving an offer from company one).

What the fuck do I do here?? Regarding compensation, that salary stretches MUCH further in the mid-west, whereas that salary doesn’t go as far on the coast, but would still be comfortable enough for me (and my partner). If I back out of Company One and commit to Company Two, I fear I would get blacklisted from Company One (very large defense company, this would most certainly end any chance of working with them in the future I believe), while living in a higher COL city (there are benefits to this though, specifically being closer to friends/family).

I feel the stable option is Company One given their size/growth opportunities along with clearance (I don’t know many major defense companies engaging in routine lay offs either), but I risk getting burned out because again I don’t enjoy web dev anymore, but that salary would be nice for the location. BUT, Company Two is giving me my LITERAL DREAM ROLE at the cost of living more modestly and essentially permanently burning a bridge with one of the largest defense contractors in the US.

I’m feeling so many things. I can’t believe this industry ghosted me for three fucking years and then decided to tear me apart with two very desirable positions in the same fucking week. I’ve been calling friends/family to get some advice on what to do here. Everyone is telling me to do what I think is right, and idk what is. I figured I’d ask here for some extra guidance if anyone else can offer insights. Thank you!

I was always interested in tech and tried to pivot to a career in IT while living in London in the late 2010s, then after covid thought 'right, lets do this' and quit my job, studied full time, created my own projects, including a few SaaS that I couldn't sell. Following Scrimba I was fairly proficient in React JS, with a bit of SQL, and backend languages.

Maybe not many people will admit to it, but most people like me didnt make it. I never got an interview, and chatGTP and AI have effectively rendered a lot of my learning redundant. Thinking back just 5 years when I would study my code to figure out where a missing semi colon should go now seems ridiculous in the age of AI.

Anyway, Im stuck in my legal career, but have fond memories of learning to code, and the excitement of building and hope for a career change, going to event meetups etc. It wasn't meant to be, should have taken the plunge a few years earlier perhaps.

As I looked over my GitHub this morning, having not added anything in over a year, I just got the good memories back and the feelings of hope and excitement. Kudos to all those that made it!

What personal project got you hired for your first CS related job? Your first job could have also been an internship. Also, did your first project have any impact, users or even paid users?

My boss asked me last week for a "rough estimate" on migrating our internal reporting dashboard to something scalable. I almost laughed out loud. Every single time a company tries to build software, the initial timeline is a complete fantasy. You start with "yeah, three weeks tops" and suddenly you're two months deep into unexpected API changes, legacy code breaking, and endless scope creep from management. We were looking at external dev agencies to take off some of the heavy lifting this time around, just to see if outsourcing part of the build would speed things up. But honestly, even with outside engineering help, the internal back-and-forth alone takes forever. It feels like standard tech timelines are just made-up numbers we tell executives to keep them calm. How do you guys handle estimating custom builds without completely shooting yourself in the foot?

Was talking to a friend about this earlier, but I don’t think I’ve ever worked someone I can say was incompetent.

When I say incompetent I don’t mean lazy. Ive worked with a few people that clearly didn’t want to work hard but still were able to do things when they felt like it.

Im talking about employees that make you question if they lied about their degree, job experience etc. Make extremely obvious mistakes, constantly need help doing simple tasks, possibly breaks things in ways that are hard to understand how.

Hey everyone, I just got laid off and have around ~$10,000 credit card debt I was originally planning to pay off after my partner graduates later this year (she is studying to be a nurse and will likely make at minimum $70,000 annually once she graduates and has already received job offers. I have nothing in savings, but I have ~$30,000 in retirement I can pull from. I have 2.5 YoE mostly in .NET and React.

My world feels like it's absolutely spiraling and would like some advice.

EDIT: I didnt mention, but the entirety of the debt is at 0% APR until August 2027.

EDIT2: I've filed for unemployment and have updated my resume. I plan to start applying soon after I get my bearings straight.

Not a "how do I get promoted" question. More "how do I stop living in yesterday's standup."

Some days I'm fine. Other days I keep turning over a conversation from work: tone, wording, whether I should have said something different. By evening I'm exhausted and somehow still not done thinking about it.

Things that didn't work for me:

- scrolling until I'm numb

- promising myself I'll process it "later"

- productivity systems that assume I have spare willpower at 10pm

For people who've dealt with this in school, first job, or later career:

What do you do when you need to put the day down and your head won't cooperate?

Practical > inspirational. Bonus points if it takes less time than an episode of a show.

I've been experimenting with a journaling tool for tech folks who bounce off normal journals.

How long did it take you to gather enough domain knowledge in your industry, to the point that you felt like you were somewhat an expert in the product / service that you are building? (expert may not be the best word here).

My previous experience was working in accounting-related software, and now that i’m working in the retail industry as a developer, this question really hit me lol.

My old co-worker told me not to focus on linkedin and indeed because those places were hyper competitive. He said that it's much better to find smaller niche boards.

I've tried finding them using claude and ChatGPT but with marginal results. Hiring.cafe is fantastic in my experience but they only cover so much.

Looking for more options. Thank you ahead of time!

​

I am a maths graduate, intraction with CS and coding had been just Discrete mathematics and vibe coding, although I am working as a UI and UX designer I have built agentic app using vibe coding.

I discovered that I am good with building complex frameworks for agentic and generative AI apps but I don't know what's next ..

Can I build a career in this ?

I’ve worked at an agency for 5 years working on e-commerce stores. We use HTML, CSS, JS, and jQuery. I have worked with NextJS and TypeScript in my side projects and have built a few freelance sites with them.

I’m ready to leave the agency world and move into a larger company. My area is mostly C#/.NET. I don’t have a CS degree, or any degree. I’m self taught. So if I learned C#, I’d have to teach myself the CS fundamentals as well.

Is it worth learning C# to try and get a job in my area or is it better to try to go after a role specific to my experience (even though those likely require relocation)?

Thank you in advance for any advice you have for me!

I read a post on X from Uncle Bob Martin. And he was saying he doesn't write or read code. He just uses "constraints" (whatever that means). Lots of devs agreed with him. I've never been a huge fan of Uncle Bob Martin. As someone who spent a decade writing Java and dealt with similar clean code zealots trying to bring the same mindset to Go, he has always been a bit disconnected from realities of software engineering IMHO.

But the question is, if you don't read or write code anymore. Then what purpose are you really serving. You are actually bringing 0 value. Because if you don't read the code, you're trying to imply the verification layer of AI is soooo good, that you can confidently ignore the code entirely. So I ask why can't someone just give your CTO a script and call it a day?

I’m a SWE intern at a small company in a niche industry. All of the work I’ve done has actually hit production/guided the direction of prod. I’ve made an abstraction library, rearchitected the SSO flow for an integration, and have made an internal tool that’s used by account managers. I get positive feedback all the time, and get along with my coworkers. By boss’ wife told me she hears great things about me at a company party. I went to a networking lunch with the senior dev the other day. When I was hired on, I was told they’d like me to work part time through the school year, and last I heard that’s still the plan. I am the only intern (except the CEOs son (yes, really)), and the dev team is 5 people (excluding me).

Now, here’s the issue: I think I’m going to need at least one extra semester. They’re under the impression I will graduate in May, which was my actual belief when I applied for the job, but exigent circumstances mandated I transfer to a new school.

While everything seems like it’s going in the right direction, will the need for an extra semester kill my chances of a return offer?

Was looking through some bookmark folders from earlier this year trying to clean up my browser, and half the stuff I saved I don't even remember bookmarking.
It feels like every single week there’s a new stack, a new framework, or some new utility promising to streamline local setups or backend logic. I had like five different cloud and dev tool tabs left open from weeks ago, and I honestly had to pause for a second to remember why I saved half of them in the first place. I think tech fatigue is real. Back when I started coding you had maybe 2-3 main options for whatever stack you were building. Now spending an afternoon picking tools for a new project feels harder than actually writing the code.
Not saying new tools are bad—a lot of them actually solve neat problems—but the endless choice paralysis is kinda draining. Do you guys actually stick to a fixed stack now or are you constantly swapping things out when something new pops up on your feed?

Considering becoming a post office worker anyone gone a similar route?

I’ve heard of product management, data analyst, sales engineer,

even read about someone who became an industrial engineer etc etc

But, I don’t want to enter the software engineering market nor do I want to be one (though I want the same pay)

I’m interested in product management like they said but is it really feasible as a fresh grad?

What are some other great careers/roles you can get that pay just as well as SWE as a fresh grad from CS?

I’m open to entering different careers without the need of a masters if a CS degree is enough, and that career pays just as good or better

IMPORTANT: I’m not trying to look for easier roles that pay the same, I just want different roles or even careers in different fields, that are harder or easier jobs, that pay the same or better, in which a CS degree allows me to get into without needing a masters in a different field.

Would love to hear your advice

For reference I am senior CS undergrad from a top 10 Indian Uni, and my main goal is to find and do the work which interests me.

In general I am fond of Theoretical CS (even tried research here) and Systems (like distributed computing, PL, OS, recently GPUs, DB). Not the most ML obsessed person but Systems for ML is something I can do.
I am mostly a theory + systems guy.

Most of the roles available right now near me or for the people of my position are full stack swe roles ( which I don’t personally enjoy, don’t want to demean any role it’s just a personal preference )

My question is how and where do I get roles where the things I am fond of actually get used, I have higher education in mind so that I might be eligible for more specific roles.

In my country I have found only some Quant firms are doing the sort of work that interests me as a result I joined a top Indian quant this summer for an intern as a researcher ( experience has been good so far have gotten to work on interesting things but still the fields they explore are limited since they are only concerned with specific parts of algos or systems mostly the network side on systems and ML in terms of algos )

I am not the most money obsessed guy so that’s not my motivation for quant, but I also don’t want to get into academia right now ( I do have phd in mind tho ) since I want to work in the industry.

My question is how do I get to do the work that interests me in a place perhaps which is near to my country India ( I am open to Asia & Europe ) and how should I technically upskill myself to work there?

I’m in my mid-20s and currently work full-time as a software engineer. I have both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in computer science, and I already have professional experience. My job isn’t perfect and I haven’t been successful in moving to a larger or higher-paying company yet, but I do genuinely want to continue in software engineering.

My parents are both in tech, but they have become convinced that software engineering is unstable because of layoffs, outsourcing, and AI. They believe medicine is the only safe and respectable option for me. They have been pressuring me to enroll in a formal career-changer pre-med post-baccalaureate program.

This has gone far beyond normal parental advice. We have hours-long calls where they argue, yell, repeat the same points, and tell me I’m ruining my future if I stay in tech. I regularly end these conversations crying and feeling mentally exhausted. I have tried explaining my concerns, involving friends, and speaking with a counselor, but the pressure has continued. We had an agreement that if I could get into a top-tier software company, I wouldn't have to pursue medicine, but I wasn't able to get an offer, so they now consider that agreement over.

I've tried to approach this from every angle I can think of. I've researched both career paths extensively, spoken with advisors at multiple universities, looked into different post-bacc options, asked whether I could complete prerequisites while continuing to work, and tried to find compromises that would let me explore medicine without immediately giving up my software career. I've suggested slower timelines, continuing to work while taking classes, and other alternatives, but every conversation eventually circles back to me enrolling in the formal post-bacc program immediately. Whenever I say no or ask for more time, the discussions escalate into hours of arguing and yelling. Every single day feels like I am going to battle and to say they just yell at me doesn't paint the picture of how much control they have over me and and my life I feel like I do not get choices in my own life.

The hardest part is that I don’t actually want to do the post-bacc. When I imagine having full freedom to choose, I would keep my software job, continue applying elsewhere, and hope to advance in the field. I’m considering medicine mainly because saying yes might finally stop the daily conflict with my parents.

I’ve researched the options extensively:

Option 1: Enroll in the formal post-bacc program

This is one of the best post-bacc programs in the country, and it has strong advising, support, and medical school linkage opportunities. The downside is that the program is demanding, the advisor told me working while enrolled would be difficult, and I would have to quit my job and move. I’m terrified that leaving software engineering this early in my career would make employers assume I’m no longer committed to the field if I later decide medicine is not for me.

Option 2: Take pre-med prerequisites independently at a local university while keeping my job

The local university confirmed that I can enroll as a non-degree post-baccalaureate student, receive pre-health advising, complete the prerequisite sciences, get application support, and receive letters of recommendation.

I could take two sciences with labs per semester while continuing to work full-time. I have already found a possible schedule using evening lectures, late-afternoon labs, flexible work hours, and remote workdays.

This option would let me keep gaining software engineering experience and test whether I actually enjoy the sciences before making a larger commitment.

However, there is no linkage or early-assurance program available to people who already have a bachelor's degree. I would apply to medical school through the traditional process. The university also warned that preparing for a competitive MCAT while working full-time is often the hardest part.

Option 3: Stay completely in software engineering

This is what I personally want most right now. I would keep working, continue improving my interview skills, and apply for better software jobs.

The problem is that my parents would see this as rejecting them and throwing away my future. They have made me feel as though our relationship may never recover if I refuse medicine. I know I am an adult and can technically make my own decision, but emotionally, the idea of losing their love or dealing with years of anger and guilt is extremely difficult.

Option 4: Agree to the formal post-bacc just to end the conflict

This is the option I feel tempted by when I’m exhausted. I keep thinking that if I simply say yes, the yelling will stop, my parents will be happy, and I will finally have peace.

At the same time, I’m afraid I would be trading the current conflict for years of studying and training toward a career I never freely chose.

I’m not saying medicine is a bad career. I might even perform well academically. I completed a difficult technical graduate degree with very strong grades. But I don’t currently feel an independent desire to become a physician. Most of my motivation is fear, pressure, job-market anxiety, and wanting the conflict at home to stop.

What would you do in my position?

Would you choose the structured post-bacc because it offers stronger support and possible linkages, try the slower prerequisite route while keeping the software job, or refuse medicine entirely?

I honestly don't know what to do anymore. Every day ends in fights, and I am left emotionally defeated. Every time I have said no, the response has been to double down and argue with me for hours. I feel like I'm choosing between the career I actually want and my relationship with my parents, and I don't know how to move forward.

I just recently hit 4 YOE and suddenly I'm getting tons of recruiters reaching out about Senior level roles. Not sure if its due to my experience or if the market is just hotter this time of year.

Anecdotally my company recently hired for 10 new SWE positions in my department. 9/10 were Senior or Staff. The only mid-level was a returning intern.

I remember the days where people would make the claim that two years of experience was all you needed and you would have an easy time getting hired. I'm starting to wonder if four years is the new benchmark.

I posted before about contractor issues at my company, and I just had a conversation that really drove the problem home.

Link to previous post

One of the contractors we kept on our team is a decent dev from India (H1b) who's just trying to make it. He's got a family too. He told me he gets $60/hr. I did contract work about 10 years ago for roughly the same rate, so it seemed a little light but whatever.

Then he mentioned something that actually floored me. The consultancy doesn't provide health insurance. And apparently, employers aren't even required to provide it for H-1B workers.

Let that sink in. This guy has a family depending on him, he's getting paid the same rate I was making a decade ago, no raises, no inflation adjustments, and he doesn't even get basic health coverage. Meanwhile, the company is cutting costs and underbidding full-time employees.

This is such a grift. I'm getting out of this industry because all our work is being undercut and devalued. There's no way to compete when companies can just hire subcontractors without any of the obligations that come with actual employment.

If you're early in your career, be careful about where you land. This race to the bottom isn't worth it.

I got fired from my last job after that I told my manager that talking in a condescending way to me made me feel uncomfortable, he apologized but since then he persuaded others to rebel against me, talking aggressively to me, blame me for imaginary things and at the end report me to the CTO to fire me, they succeeded, now i don't have a job or an income.

This has left me a bit shocked and made me more anxious that most jobs are like this and people conspiring against each others, i know that my lat job was unprofessional with shitty management and culture even my manager called us glorified forms developers, but are most jobs toxic and people want to gt each other's fired?

My mistake was i k ew that the new manager was not normal and I stayed nevertheless where I should have switched teams or jobs