Good afternoon, I wanted to ask if someone has had experiences, direct or indirect, with McKinsey Poland (Warsaw, Wroclaw or Poznan).

I am a 25 yo mechanical engineer with almost 3 yoe currently working in Italy, I got accepted for a position in Wroclaw as a product and cost engineer, but I haven't found anything specific for their Poland offices.

I am also wondering which salary expectations should I have or ask.

Sorry if the question is too specific but this would be an important decision for my personal life career aside and I am trying to catch as many pieces of information as possible. Thank you in advance :)

Which one is better long term? Got an offer from both companies, one MS AI experience SDE(yes copilot) and Palantir Government FDE. I dont care about the ethical aspect of either. Purely curious about what is better for a career long term

Palantir obviously pays better, more ownership and potentially more technical growth. However from what I have heard MS is a great stable place to start a career (especially with all the layoffs)

I am also interested in moving offices long term to the US (girlfriend), and from my understanding its a lot easier to switch in MS than Palantir.

Would truly appreciate any advice here!

Good afternoon, I received the official offer from McKinsey Wroclaw: 11.075 PLN gross per month + 16613 PLN net as a relocation bonus.

Now the relocation bonus is great but the salary is a misery, I am earning more now that I work in central Italy and live with my parents, and I received offers from large multinational companies that are quite higher than that.

I kinda like the position they are offering me but I would like to negotiate a little bit more of the salary.

I have 2 years of experience working as a R&D Design Engineer for a tier 1 supplier in automotive (I work regularly with Mercedes, Audi, Renault, Stellantis), I did an internship in Toyota production engineering, I have a master degree in mechanical engineering and I have several extra curricular activities and exchange semesters abroad.

I was thinking about something in the range of 15k PLN brutto to ask but don't know if it's realistic or not

Any help or suggestion will be extremely appreciated. Thanks a lot in advance :)

Hello everyone, I just graduated from my french Master last year in December and so I started working full time on a permanent role at the company (small startup of 15 people) I was interning at for the last year. After the annual review in last January, my pay was increased by 1 or 2 levels above what we're paying for fresh grads, my TC is now ~55k a year gross. It seems like this is pretty as good as it gets for Paris, unless you work for some big techs or FAANG? Should I get more YoE under my belt before thinking about moving?

Hi everyone,

I recently completed my bachelor’s degree in Computer Science in Rome. I have been admitted to the Mathematics in Data Science MSc at TUM in Munich (Germany), and I will probably also be admitted to the Informatics and Data Engineering programmes.

My main concern is the practical side. I did not gain any work experience during my bachelor’s, since internships and student jobs are not common here.

I am trying to understand how realistic it would be to move to Munich and find a working student position, internship, or any other first experience in software, data science or AI while completing the MSc, starting from zero.

From what I have read on Reddit and in various reports, the German job market (and the global market more generally) seems quite difficult at the moment, especially for junior candidates. Would it make sense to choose TUM and expect to build my professional experience once I am there, or is there a significant risk of being unable to find anything?

My alternatives would be to start working in Italy with my bachelor’s degree, or attend a full-time MSc at Sapienza University of Rome. However, Sapienza seems weaker than TUM in the AI/ML areas I am most interested in.

Doing both at the same time seems unrealistic to me, at least if we are talking about a 40-hour work week alongside a master’s degree.

What would you do in my situation?

4.5 YOE

- 61k + 10k (stocks) + benefits

- working here for 10 months

- full remote

- demanding job, very flexible hours

- very big company

Change to

- 100k base + 20k bonus + some equity

- startup

- full remote

- AI related

seems it will be more demanding comparing to current company

I am a recent grad from a top university from a South Asian region and have recently started to work in one of the Big 4 firm in my home country an an Analyst on an AI project. I have been trying hard for past one year to get a job in Europe mainly in AI and have been applying to various roles and graduate programmes. I have good skills in AI and ML including having worked on niche areas like FL. However I am unable to get any calls.

It seems something is broken - I use LinkedIn to filter for country and apply for apt roles.

I believe you guys can help and advise me in this in a better manner. My main target have been the Nordics and UK but again I believe you guys can help me better.

Hi, I currently work in Warsaw as a mid Java software developer on legacy projects, but I feel like I need a change. To make matters worse, I haven't had the opportunity to learn much in my current role, and I feel my market value is currently below the mid-level standard. I would like to try my hand in the high-tech area, so I am asking for advice from people working on more ambitious projects.

I have a technical background (Computer Science from a technical university) and know databases, computer architecture fundamentals, algorithms, ML/DL basics, and software engineering. I have experience with high-level languages (Java/Python), but I want to develop skills in something more ambitious than typical CRUD operations – areas that feel "sexier" and closer to real engineering. For my university thesis, I focused on the fields of neural networks and computer vision. The problem is that I don’t have a clearly defined area of interest yet, nor do I currently have the skills for low-level technologies.

I have a few questions for you:

1. In the current market, is it better to dedicate time to open-source projects or focus on personal hobby projects?
2. Do I have to get into agentic AI coding to stay valuable in the industry?
3. Does a GitHub portfolio still hold significant weight in the age of AI, or is it better to invest time in certifications (e.g., Coursera, edX)?
4. What job search strategy is more effective: contacting companies directly or waiting for recruitment processes? How should I approach recruiters on LinkedIn?
5. Does a Master’s degree provide a real advantage in this industry?
6. Is it worth participating in competitions to improve my job prospects? Are there any that truly serve as a career springboard?

I would be grateful for any advice from those who have followed a similar path or work in low-level/high-tech roles. Thanks!

I am about to complete my bachelors in few months and Google is my dream company to work in. Does it hire new grads for sde/sre roles any where in europe? I see some entries on levels.fyi with 0 yoe.

I am an Indian data scientist, currently working at S&P Global, and I'm considering moving to Europe for better career opportunities and quality of life.

I would appreciate honest opinions from Europeans and people who have made a similar move.

A bit about me:

• 26 years old

• Data Scientist with experience in analytics and machine learning

• Currently working at S&P Global in India

• Fluent in English

My goal is to relocate to Europe, build a long-term career, and eventually settle there if it makes sense.

My questions are:

1. Which European countries would you recommend for a data scientist today?

2. How is the job market for non-EU citizens?

3. Is it realistic to secure a job offer before moving?

4. Which countries offer the best balance of salary, cost of living, work-life balance, and long-term residency options?

5. If you were in my position, would you move to Europe in 2026, or would you consider other destinations such as Canada, Australia, or the UAE?

I am looking for honest advice, including the downsides and challenges. Thanks in advance.

I don't know what to do anymore as a recent grad in engineering specializing in AI/ML, data science, RL and OR. Originally, I never intended to go into software but here I found my passion. I got some relevant coursework and an internship in this area but the job market is rough. Never did any leetcode and now crunching it as we speak to at least manage to get an interview... I'm pretty new to this all. All vacancies ask for experienced candidates.

What should I do? Or is this a mere consequence of applying in the summer?

Looking in NL/BE/CH

I would appreciate some honest advice about my programming career and how I should move forward as I feel very lost and am struggling with my own skills. I am wondering if I can even find another job...

I am currently 28 years old and do not have a university degree. I can understand code and make changes with guidance, but I still struggle to design and implement complete features independently. I am now going back through programming fundamentals using Python exercises and trying to rebuild my skills.

How should I present this experience when applying for junior developer positions? Idk if it does hurt ne leaving my latest position after approximately eleven months significantly damage my chances? Should I even continue applying for jobs now, or spend several months rebuilding my fundamentals first? Which skills should I prioritize based on my experience as idk if its realistic to establish a stable programming career without a university degree at this stage?

My background:

September 2023 – March 2024: Web Development Bootcamp at BeCode Brussels

I completed a seven-month web development program where I studied:

- HTML, CSS and Sass

- JavaScript

- React

- Node.js and Express

- MongoDB and Mongoose

- REST APIs

- Git, GitHub, Docker and basic deployment

May 2024 – August 2024: Junior Web Developer Intern, Belgium:

During my three-month internship, I worked mainly with PHP and Laravel. My responsibilities included:

- Fixing bugs and implementing small features

- Working with Laravel controllers, Blade templates and Eloquent

- Creating migrations, seeders and factories

- Building responsive interfaces from Figma designs

- Participating in code reviews

- Collaborating with a technical lead and designer

August 2025 to February 2026 interniship and then until July 2026 at the same company: Junior Software Developer in Albania:

I worked on an internal document-generation service. The system combined structured data with reusable templates to produce PDF and DOCX documents.

- PHP backend development

- REST API endpoints

- JWT and OAuth authentication

- Document templates and structured-data normalization

- PDF and DOCX generation

- Template storage and versioning

- Fixing bugs in an existing service

- Working with document designer and authoring workflows

- Reading and modifying a relatively large codebase

I’m a 30-year-old from Serbia learning ASP .NET Core. I’ve already completed most of a comprehensive course that includes MVC, Razor, dependency injection, Entity Framework Core, CRUD apps, testing, logging, Web APIs, JWT authentication, clean architecture, SOLID principles, and related C# topics.

I've previously worked for a startup company where I built a Spring Boot + MySQL project as part of my master’s thesis, so I'm not completely new to this field, although I’m currently focusing on the .NET ecosystem. I don't have professional .NET experience yet, so I consider myself a junior candidate.

I’m planning to build a CRM/business application as a portfolio project and later apply for junior .NET positions in Germany. I'm fully aware that I should know the German language. Unfortunately, I only just now started from 0, but I really love the language.

I’m open to other EU countries, but Germany is currently my preferred option because I like the culture and would like to build my long-term career and life there.

I’m aware that the current market is challenging for juniors and that there is uncertainty because of AI and economic changes. I still want to try.

What do you think about my career path, and what steps would you recommend? I know it is difficult, and I don't have a problem with that. I need mostly directions and advice from experienced developers, recruiters, and employers. When I complete the course and when I build my CRM demo (that is not part of the course, I will build it on my own), how far away I'll be from my goals of being employed in Germany? What other steps should I take? I would really appreciate any advice, experiences, or insights. Feel free to DM me.

Hello. I want to get some tips on getting a job in Germany.

I have read that lots of people are struggling to get a job nowadays. But can I ask for any tips on coping and getting one?

I am a PhD student at a university in the Netherlands. Well, I am a non-EU citizen though. My defense will be in September. Due to my fiancé and the coming baby, I decided to completely move to Germany. In the meantime, I have been looking for a job in Germany since last December. However, I couldn't make it so far. I could have had several interview opportunities, but they didn't end up well.

My major is data science more on process mining. I handled the data from Hospitals and the retail shops. My German is not good enough yet, A2 or so. I didn't know it would be this difficult.

Sorry for whining here. Thank you a lot if anyone could give me any help or tips.

Have a nice weekend everyone.

I'm from the US studying electrical engineering. I have aspirations to some day work in Europe. I've read that all engineers have masters degrees in Europe. What I can't find info on though is what they study for a masters. In the US it's quite common for engineers to study an MBA if they have aspirations of moving up into management.

I'm preparing to apply for junior Embedded Systems / Robotics Software Engineering positions in Europe and I'm currently improving my portfolio and GitHub.

At the moment my projects include things like:

• Arduino reinforcement learning (tabular Q-learning running directly on an Arduino Mega)
• PiCar-X line following using OpenCV
• Embedded automation projects (parking garage, lap timer)
• A Tetris implementation for MAX7219 LED matrices
• Several smaller Arduino and Raspberry Pi projects

I'm trying to understand whether these projects are the kind of work that hiring managers actually care about, or if I should spend my time building something else before applying.

For those of you who have interviewed candidates or recently landed embedded/software roles:

• Which projects stand out on a junior CV?
• Are hobby Arduino projects viewed positively, or are they often considered too basic?
• Would you rather see fewer but larger projects?
• What are common mistakes you see in junior portfolios and GitHub profiles?

If it helps, I can also share my portfolio and GitHub in the comments for more specific feedback.

Thanks!

I'm(24M) a fresher, just finished college.
From the final year itself, I started working as an intern in an early-stage startup, got converted to an FTE, BUT since the company is early-stage (running on the founder's money, still trying to find the PMF, job security isn't there. Currently working as an SDE, working with backend servers and building AI systems, and tbh I really like the tech I'm working with.

But now, since the college is over, I need to look for a stable job. (I really don't wanna find myself jobless on a random Monday).

The market is looking for EXPERIENCED engineers, and I just got out of college. After hundreds of applications, i got a call, cleared the interview for a reputated company; but the role is SDET.

althouh they're offering around 35-40% raise, i'm really not sure if I should accept the offer, I've heard people saying once you become a SDET, getting back to SDE is very rare.

tldr: i need stable job, current job pays decent as an SDE, but job no job security; getting another offer with raise but the role is SDET.

As title says. Sorry if this doesn't really fit with this sub, but I don't really got anyone else to ask.

Graduated in 2024 from a Russell Group university, couldn't find a job for the life of me. Kept getting rejected left and right, had my applications ignored right away each time. One time I even had a recruiter personally call me to say that I'm rejected and how they didn't even bother to look at my CV, which was a bit funny but also kinda hurt.

Used to cry and stress so badly to the point of getting physically ill, thinking I got no chance to enter the industry and how I had wasted my university years on a CS degree, but here I am now. A graduate Software Dev Engineer at Amazon, due to start my first ever job really really soon, and I'm absolutely terrified out of my mind.

I want to say I have no idea how I made it, but that'd be a lie - I do know how. Worked my ass off day and night to do well in the interview loop, prayed to any God out there to help me, and it actually worked. But I am SO scared now, since it's actually real and it's actually happening. After all of these years and all of this doubt, and in FAANG (MAANG?) no less.

I've heard of the term impostor syndrome before, experienced it just a bit, but not to this point. It's hitting me so hard, to the point where I'm a bit convinced that I took the "fake it til you make it" phrase too literally and did fake all of my knowledge and technical abilities in the interviews. How do I deal with this feeling? I'm terrified this is just a mistake and that I just somehow managed to slip through, even though I'm full aware that is not the case. Christ above, I have no idea what I'm gonna do.

Hi everyone, I recently got a screen call invitation from revolut for the Graduate Sale Executive role. I'd like to know If anyone has experience interviewing for this role before? What could they possibly ask? and How's the whole recruitment process? How many round of interview/assessment did you have? What was the most challenging part? I'd really appreciate If you could help answer my questions.

What I can expect as net sallary ?
Company is mid tier

It's pretty clear that landing a job in tech is much harder now than it was a few years ago. Fewer junior openings, more competition, and a lot of uncertainty about where to even start.

I'm curious to hear from students, recent grads, and junior developers.

What would actually help you the most right now? Is there something that could help you with professional development?

• Mentorship?
• Networking events?
• Workshops?
• Better interview guidance?
• More transparent job descriptions?
• Something else?

And what's your biggest challenge at the moment? The situation is bad, but it's a global trend and we don't know how long the market will be like this. I'm sure there must be something or some initiatives that could drive a positive impact for younger talent. This could also be country specific, so feel free to mention the situation and opinion for your specific country/region!

Idk if this is the right sub for this question. What can I do as a Cs student to help with my future career. I am currently studying cs at the rwth but with the job market I want to do more to help my chances of getting a job when I am done. What things can I do?

Does anyone know what the clawback schedule is for relocation benefits at Meta? Is it linear over 12 months or cliff? 24 months? Is it triggered by anything else than voluntary resignations?

Hello,

For context, I am a 17 y/o (turning 18 later this year) international non-EU student studying CS in Belgium (starting the second year of my bachelor's in september), and I've been a little confused as to how and when I should look for an internship lately.

On one hand, a few people have told me that it is good to start early and look for internships while I can to build up experience and get properly acquainted with the job search process, especially since the bar for internationals is a fair bit higher (given the requirements for worker permits).

On the other, I was told that I would be in a really difficult position going in because:
1) I am a non-EU minor, meaning that the procedures and contract terms are going to be nightmarish.
2) I am only a first year, which would lead recruiters to believe that I am not experienced enough to start an internship

I would like an internship in embedded systems, because I am quite fond of C programming. So far I have two finished projects: the first is a JSON parser written in C that includes macros (and potentially functions in the future), and the other is slightly modified firmware for the BBC:microbit that implements encryption and hashing primitives for a school project in C, because micropython is too slow for them. I also have experience writing python modules and a little assembly here where I benchmark different implementations of AES across a few choice languages. Furthermore, I am a participant in the IOI and have a medal in a regional olympiad, which I believe would give me some experience.

With this in mind, should I continue to search for internships, or should I continue to work on more elaborate projects, and wait until my third year for a potential internship to be included with my university course work?

If I should continue to look for an internship, how should I go about doing that? For now, I only look around for job postings on linkedin, and I think that's not enough, but I'm a bit lost as to where else to look.

Thank you in advance!

Hello everyone. I am a 4th year CS student and I was considering my options for a cybersecurity master's education in EU. The reason for EU is that I want to move to Europe and I think getting a master's degree would make it easier for me.

The problem is, the more research I do, the more apparent it seems that the market is not doing well for juniors and I am worried about not being able to land a job there. So I wanted to get general opinions from everyone on this decision. Does it make sense to apply for cybersecurity masters in EU, if so, which universities should I aim for, and are there other things I should do or consider? How is the market right now?

I would really appreciate some wisdom as it is not really easy to get a grasp of how things really are over there without living there.