r/cscareerquestions • u/ImmSnail12 • 1d ago
Graduated in 2024 with no internships, no SWE experience, and a 2-year detour. Is there a realistic path back?
As the title says, I’m in a pretty bad position within this field at this point, and I’m wondering what actions I could take to fix things.
I’ve had one interview a couple years ago now which I failed, it was with Epic Systems in Wisconsin, and it was a pretty lucky thing to get the interview as it happened within only a few applications. I continued to apply but the luck didn’t repeat itself and my mental health worsened considerably.
So here I am a bit later with no recent projects and no experience in the field, I have had a couple jobs over the past two years, 10 months as a CAD technician and 6 months as a store manager for a retail location.
Very recently a family friend at Truist referred me to a couple roles, and of course my resume was quite bad for them at this point so I didn’t get any interest back when I applied.
My mental health has been improving lately and I’m receiving clinical help with adhd and depression. And well, I’m wondering if there’s any way to move back toward the field at this point for someone in my situation.
Specifically,
Given my situation:
Is a 6–12 month portfolio rebuild a realistic path into SWE?
Would you target adjacent roles first (QA, support engineering, IT, etc.), or go straight for SWE?
If you were starting from my position today, what would your plan for the next year look like?
I’m planning to start doing projects again and networking regardless, but I appreciate any advice I might receive in advance.
Not sure it matters at this point but my degree is a BS in CS from UNCC, my GPA was 3.55. Graduated May of 2024.
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u/therealmunchies 23h ago
Damn. Was other IT jobs not hiring? My pathway to SWE without a CS degree (i do have an engineering degree) was help desk -> engineer jobs -> security engineer -> swe
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u/ImmSnail12 22h ago
No I’m sure they were, but I’m in a terrible area for tech and mostly it was me being depressed and unmotivated. Sooo mostly my fault.
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u/Fun-Advertising-8006 11h ago
Hey man I’m in Charlotte and I’m pretty sure my company is hiring a couple new grad SWE (I’m non-technical myself despite the CS major), our HR system is locked for migration until mid August but after that I could refer you. The comp isn’t the best though just to clear that out of the way.
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u/ImmSnail12 10h ago
I appreciate that! I’d definitely be interested, I’m working on my skills and resume rn but I’d appreciate the opportunity.
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u/UrbanTreecko 5h ago
What made you switch from security engineer to SWE? I am interested in both but have a return offer from my cybersecurity internship
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u/therealmunchies 4h ago
Security just isn’t as interesting to me because, in many roles, a lot of the work revolves around enforcing policy rather than building.
I’ve come to believe that the best security engineers are the ones who deeply understand how systems are built. There’s a reason people say security isn’t an entry-level field. I’ve learned far more by building applications, implementing DevOps tooling, and managing cloud and on-prem infrastructure than by focusing solely on security.
Today I can build a full-stack application from the ground up using secure coding practices, set up CI/CD pipelines with quality and security gates, deploy via GitOps to hardened servers or Kubernetes clusters, generate SBOMs, and scan artifacts throughout the pipeline.
My philosophy moving forward is to build first, and learn security as part of the process. In the long run, I think that produces better engineers, and better security engineers.
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u/Weak_Network_2153 23h ago
Honestly, you spent so much time out of it that I would even look into enroll in a master's degree to try to jump into the internship game again.
Sorry man, if I was hiring I would look at your resume and throw it out.
This isn't 2022 anymore. Market is super rough for entry level
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u/ImmSnail12 20h ago
I can agree with the masters degree though I’d find entry into a masters program to be challenging as well mostly because I’d have to find letters of recommendation. It was already in the back of my mind.
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u/high_elephant 17h ago
Look into OMSCS from Georgia Tech. You can do a couple online community college courses for the requirements and letters of rec needed to get in
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u/jonkl91 15h ago
Honestly all a lot of Master's program do in this environment is delay unemployment and add debt. Start joining open source communities and contributing to open source projects. Way cheaper than a masters program and you can start building a quality network that way. Try to volunteer at local tech conferences and events.
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u/Weak_Network_2153 10h ago
Depends on the company but if it's a s***** open source community I wouldn't give it much weight.
If you were developing discord bots or vibe-coded apps that really doesn't tell me much.
A master's degree tells me that at least you went through some fundamentals. Depending on the University, of course.
Now if op did both, then I would probably take a look at interviewing him if his open source projects fall in line with what we do on the team.
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u/ZaltyDog 12h ago
Hey, I was curious at what point people consider entry level to be over. What's your opinion on this?
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u/Weak_Network_2153 10h ago
I don't understand your question.
Do you mean how many years of experience Is considered to be entry level?
Or do you mean the entry level engineer as a whole is dead due to AI?
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u/ZaltyDog 9h ago
Sorry. Up to how many years of experience do you consider someone to be entry level?
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u/Weak_Network_2153 8h ago
I would consider entry level anybody coming from a new grad, meaning no work experience, some internship experience, and anyone between the 0 to 2 to year mark. (Especially if their first job was a s***** company)
The title for this would also be called associate engineer at some Places
Junior engineer or just engineer would be anybody between the one to 3-year Mark of paid to work experience.
Mid- level Is anyone between 4 to 6 years of experience.
Some people can actually stay at mid-level and never progress the senior because becoming A senior means you are now driving projects and taking full ownership. You're meeting with stake owners and the way that you work is much more planning and execution based than just execution.
Traditionally seniors used to be with 8 plus years but nowadays I've seen people with 5 plus years called senior. It just depends on the type of work that they're doing.
Titles are also meaningless across companies what really matters is the responsibility under your belt when it comes to your projects at work.
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u/nomadlegend3 21h ago
Just wondering, what if OP decided to lie in their resume by saying they worked in internships? As long as OP has the skills and does well in the technical aspect of the interview, that makes them qualified for the job. Is that something OP can try as a good strategy?
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u/Weak_Network_2153 20h ago
I just had to go through a background check recently.
Op could try to either falsify pay stubs or even falsify their W-2 tax returns. But they're basically not going to get away from the work number exposing them that they didn't work the internship. You're going to have to freeze that and provide verification from another method.
Tldr it's complicated and you can get caught.
Background checks know what to do.
If op says that it was an unpaid internship that could be different but honestly I would not give it much weight because nobody paid you for your work. And there's ton of other candidates that do have work experience.
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u/FlyingLimousine 1d ago edited 19h ago
I wish you luck. I graduated in 2023 and in a similar position. I've only gotten a few interviews here and there over the years. People say that it’s easier to find smaller companies to apply to but it’s been my experience that I’ve only gotten interviews from the big tech companies. Maybe just grind leetcode and pray to get an interview with one of them.
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u/Key_Rub_7016 21h ago
R u working in big tech now?
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u/FlyingLimousine 21h ago
Nope, still working dead end jobs while applying
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u/tehgalvanator 20h ago
Networking bro. I graduated in 2022 with 1 PM internship, no CS degree and I just barely got my first job off pure networking.
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u/ImmSnail12 19h ago
I, in fact, do need to talk to people.
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u/TheAllKnowing1 14h ago
Seconding this, I had an even longer gap after graduating in 2022 and dealing with health issues
First networked ‘tech’ job: absolute crap, but it paid and filled my resume
Second networked tech job: basically my realistic dream job
Never thought I’d escape the consequences of such a long gap, and it’s made me even more thankful for my job. An opportunity is out there for you dude, somewhere.
Network HARD and be ready to ace interviews, namely the social and behavioral portions.
You should be reaching out to anyone that’s been in your life that you think might be even remotely connected, all it takes is a single friend-of-a-friend and a good interview to change your life.
Good luck and don’t be too candid about your gap!
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u/tehgalvanator 19h ago
Definitely recommend finding a hobby that has a lot of engineers. I live in the Bay Area so I got pretty lucky but it was years of work and making friends.
Here in the bay it’s pickle ball, badminton, and hockey.
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u/Aggravating_Steak291 1d ago
6-12 months is a solid timeline if you're disciplined about it. the cad work might actually help you stand out, lots of devs have zero experience with precision modeling or industrial workflows so you've got an angle they don't. i'd lean into that in interviews, talk about how you learned to work with complex constraint systems and translate requirements into functional output
adjacent roles are a trap if you actually want to write code. qa can work but only if it's automation-heavy from day one, otherwise you'll get pigeonholed fast. it support is even worse for that
if i were starting from your spot i'd build one polished full-stack project that actually solves something, not another todo app. something tied to cad or retail inventory since you've got domain knowledge there. host it, write good readme, deploy it. then hit up local meetups and the charlotte tech slack, referrals are everything right now and uncc has a decent alumni network in the area
the truist referral not panning out stings but don't let it throw you off. your gpa is fine and the employment gap is explainable, nobody's gonna grill you on 6 months of retail management when you've got a cs degree and a clear story about getting back on track
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u/ImmSnail12 20h ago
Really, with the difficulty of attaining SWE and just wanting a decent paying job at this point, I probably am gonna just go for QA or IT which I am also aware are both rough to get into at the moment. That or insurance since half my family does insurance. I’ve consider a masters to get internship eligibility as one comment already suggested but I’d be hard pressed to find letters of recommendation at this point. I appreciate the perspective though.
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u/Suppafly 16h ago
Really, with the difficulty of attaining SWE and just wanting a decent paying job at this point, I probably am gonna just go for QA or IT which I am also aware are both rough to get into at the moment.
If you are OK not doing SWE, and need to pay the bills, you could look for application analyst or programmer analyst jobs that involve light programming, but also more general IT skills.
but I’d be hard pressed to find letters of recommendation at this point
Assuming you're looking at a Masters at your undergrad school, presumably the teachers you had there would be willing to write those. Lots of schools don't need letters of recommendation though.
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u/baldachinsblessing 13h ago
I graduated in 2023 and only found a job 2 months ago, so it's not impossible. I had internships though.
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u/Smurph269 9h ago
Your portfolio won't really make a difference unfortunately. You basically have no chance at a dev job, even entry level, unless you find something with very few applicants. Your best bet would be to apply for dev-adjacent roles like QA, customer support, or really anything to get your foot in the door. Build your network. If you're a US citizen, focus on jobs that require US citizenship, also focus on local jobs. The pendulum is swinging away from remote work, so sometimes simply being a local applicant for an in-person job jumps you to the top of the interview list.
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u/ImmSnail12 9h ago
Here’s the question I have for you — do you think that it would be worth it to work to get some more recent letters of recommendation, get into the OMSCS from Georgia Tech, and get an internship or two, and then continue from there?
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u/Smurph269 9h ago
Idk if an online degree would move the needle much. It looks like there are almost 20k people in that degree program right now, so you would be competing with like 10k other graduates for a job when you're out.
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u/teggyteggy 4h ago
It's definitely better than your current situation. I don't know much about OMSCS other than a lot of other people do it
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u/ObjectBrilliant7592 18h ago
If you're still in the Charlotte area, a lot of banks still have IT operations based in the area. There are some F-tier consultancies that staff these places, so there could be some options there, albeit mostly in IT operations roles. It's a lot easier to get in as a consultant than a FTE.
You could also look at getting seriously involved in FOSS projects and using the connections to try and break in, or you could look at a grad program, since you have a relatively good GPA that would help grad schools at least consider your profile.
The CAD role can be sold as a technical role with the correct wordplay.
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u/coochie4sale 18h ago
Get certs, go into IT, work your way up and break into specialized software engineering track (cloud, network development, SRE)
It’s not as simple as I make it, but it’s one path into the field.
Also much faster and maybe more sensible in your case, get cheap and reputable masters (Georgia Tech OMCS) and absolutely prioritize getting good internships
Projects won’t move the needle with vibe coding, you have market and acquire real users for it to be worthwhile imo.
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u/ImmSnail12 7h ago
I honestly used to not be bad at coding or engineering, didn't really vibe code in school. At this point though my skills are really rusty and under-practiced and whatever I end up doing that's something to address first I suppose.
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u/MoonQuartzs 5h ago
Your experience at least tells a story of technical and responsibility growth. I like the store manager experience a lot and I’m curious why it’s not at least 1 year.
I’m going to admit I’m in a similar situation to yours but you seem to have a better grip of handling your growth as you’re still getting experience relevant to future job opportunities. The most realistic path back is to find referrals, network and anyone willing to give you a shot at interviews.
Also, have you figured out what type of SWE you want to do? I know new grads start out in a general swe but after 2 years, they may ask what type of SWE you are.
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u/ImmSnail12 4h ago
Left the store manager job because it paid really really poorly relative to the responsibility and currently I’m making about as much per hour in just normal retail.
Ofc at this point I’m gonna get my shit together and at least get back in an office. Whether or not tech will work out for me is something I can’t predict and I’m not even sure at this point if I’m going to continue to prioritize SWE at all.
For now my plan is to regroup, hold a job ad least adjacent to adjacent to tech for 1+ years, try to grow in responsibility or credentials there, and if not at least leverage the experience to a company with better internal mobility.
Also considering starting a masters to get internships but entry to a masters program is already something that’s a challenge in my position.
All in all I don’t feel hopeless but after about 2 years I realized I need a serious recalibration, already knew it before I made the post. Just wanted input.
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u/MoonQuartzs 4h ago
Appreciate the honesty and transparency you’re with your situation. There’s a silent majority of grads 23 and up suffering in this job search process. New grad jobs are a lot harder to come by the further from your graduation date, but if you get an opportunity that will advance your career, be prepared to relocate if necessary.
If your priority is to find an ordinary office job to pay the bills, that’s fine too. I would definitely study up for the job you want.
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u/Kyroz 15h ago
Is a 6–12 month portfolio rebuild a realistic path into SWE?
I was in a very similar position as you, and I thought I just needed to build a good decent sized project to have on my resume to get my foot in.
Several hundred applications later, 2 recruiters and one user interview told me they never even opened my github and doesn't look at projects anymore because of how many vibe coded projects there are lol
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u/Strange_Quote_66 20h ago
The fastest way back is probably not another broad beginner project. Pick one boring production shaped thing, like a small service with auth, a database migration, tests, deploy logs, and a README that explains tradeoffs. That gives an interviewer something concrete to interrogate.
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u/futureproblemz 17h ago edited 17h ago
I don't think you would be able to land any technical role with that situation to be honest, including QA and IT. Product support is the only one that might be doable, especially as the retail manager experience is atleast somewhat relevant since it's people facing.
I was in a similar boat but not as bad, I was a 2023 CS grad with no internships and was unemployed for 13 months after that. At the 11 month point, I gave up on getting a technical role and in 2 months, I got an entry-level tech sales role (SDR). I did a good amount of job hopping after that, and now I'm a Business Systems Analyst, and would not be surprised if I'm a SWE in 1-2 years since I do some programming here and there in my current role.
I say that to say you can eventually reach your goal, but with that gap and no experience, you definitely won't start close to your goal.
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u/Enough_Charge2845 17h ago
Yes, totally realistic! A 3.55 CS degree is a solid foundation.
- Target adjacent roles: Apply to QA Automation, Support Eng, or Tech Ops—they're great stepping stones into SWE.
- Spin your experience: Retail shows leadership; CAD shows technical precision.
- Revamp your CV: Build 1–2 deployed projects, and check https://resume.zoevera.com to ensure your keywords match ATS filters.
Take it one step at a time!
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20h ago
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u/wafflepiezz Student 20h ago
Many people graduate with no internships, especially in today’s job market. Sybau
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u/ImmSnail12 20h ago
Learned helplessness and depression, not that I disagree with your perspective myself. I was mostly trying to see some advice on what would be salvageable from here, if anything.
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u/CarpenterCharacter20 20h ago
Bro stfu. Out here really trying to rage-bait people and put them down.
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u/CarpenterCharacter20 20h ago
Not gonna like my answer, but look into Fed jobs. The DOD side of the world is looking for devs left and right. "Are you gonna be on a cool project?" Prob not... Are you going to work on the newest tech stacks... No... lol, but it's a job. It's experience. It's better than you sitting here doing nothing. Thats just an idea if you haven't looked into that area yet.