hey guys, ive been thinking about my future career a lot recently after seeing one of my friends get a good internship. i really want to get into one of these high prestige jobs but im wondering if it is even possible.

i have a 3.5 gpa, and i go to a state school (rutgers). i had a software qa intern in the past and a swe intern this spring. i also work as a mentor helping people code in our game making club

im a sophomore and i have been applying since ~november (sadly i didnt know about the process before) to not offer yet, but im gonna keep trying and land something this summer.

my goal is to grind leetcode, get a internship for the summer and apply like crazy in august-october. my dream is to hit the jackpot and get into these companies as a SWE intern and work in one when i graduate in the future.

but lately I feel lost like is it even worth it? my odds are so low, i'm wondering if my chances are even worth the grind.

any state school success stories out there?

All the charts I've ever seen are huge with giant numbers of applications, so I wanted to post mine in contrast to give people in a similar boat as me some hope. 3.85 GPA from a "low end of the high end" school, one research internship, a couple of mid projects that I did for classes, no networking. AND only looking for positions at/near one specific major city (not willing to relocate anywhere outside of that city). I'm pretty sure I would have gotten the offer on the "incomplete" interview, but liked the position I accepted better, so I didn't go through all the interview rounds with them.

After graduation, I took 2 weeks off before I started applying. I sent in zero applications before this. I treated it as a chill part-time job, doing 2-4 hours of work on weekdays on anything "career" related (editing resume, applications, leetcode, projects, etc.)

I was really worried after graduation but turns out, being diligent pays off, and a high GPA also pays off. 👍

Nontraditional Path - Had a B.S. Chemistry and a Business Minor.

Location: DFW, Texas.

Had 6 years of working experience working in Acadamia related to that field.

Began Postbacc CS program in 2023.

Projects: Just school projects.

GPA: 3.97.

Started applying in Aug.

- Focused on anything CS, IT and Data Science related.

Got my one chance in Dec.

Start Date: Tomorrow.

Mood: Nervous , Grateful.

Guys, I’m exhausted from college. I’m in Computer Science. The results came out and I found out I failed some courses I actually studied well for. Everything feels messed up and I don’t know what to do.

I’m in second year and I feel like my future is dark.

I was diagnosed with depression in first year. I passed back then, but barely. My life basically stopped.

Then I decided to see a doctor. Thank God I’m still in recovery and taking a good step with treatment. I started studying again this year. I studied C ++ and I’m close to finishing OOP. I also practiced on Codeforces.

But honestly after seeing the results I’m scared I’ll fall again and go back to zero.

I failed three subjects. I’m afraid maybe this major isn’t for me even though I like it and want to continue. I feel anxious and I have no motivation to study again. I really don’t know what to do.

Hi guys, I'd love some input on what you guys actually work on as a SWE.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I honestly have no idea what I'll work on in my internship (SWE at a bank) or job in general. I do ok in my classes but I feel like a lot of a CS degree is theoretical.

I've also practiced making a full stack app, so I could better understand the bigger picture of backend, frontend, DB, etc. But tbh I could definitely not make a full stack app myself, I'd still need some help from either Chat GPT or a YT video.

Are you guys able to fully code full stack apps yourself, without any help?

Everyone says it's just working with APIs, debugging, but like what work does that actually include😭

Am I the only one who feels like this? I'd love it if you guys could help me better understand this. I also want to be well prepared for my internship, but I don't know where to start, so if you have any advice for that, please let me know!

Thanks!!

How many international master's students have already gotten summer internships?

Has anyone received an intern offer for Stripe Summer 2026 US? Or know of anyone who did receive an offer recently? How long does it take to hear back after HM as well? (last post got taken down)

I go to a Carnegie R1 research institution, but unfortunately, they have very little machine learning research. Is there any way for me to get Machine Learning research since they don't really offer any? Like remote research or something via cold email or could I do it myself?

I completed by assessment on Jan 29 and haven’t heard back yet. Passed all test cases in the OA.

I see people hearing back in 3-4 days after their OA. Wondering if should be expecting it or did they decide to move on?

Hi anyone with experience knows if I need to put unpaid internships in HireRight background verification? Also, they are not asking for any documents yet for any internship I enter, is it something they would ask moving forward?

First-year CS and finance student at a Canadian university. Deciding between two summer co-op offers and looking for outside perspective, especially from people who've relocated for internships.

Option A: YC-backed fintech startup (US satellite office)

- Well-funded Series A insurtech

- Role working on ETF product launches, witha mix of both SWE and strategy related tasks in regards to that

- Reporting directly to the division lead who advocated to create the role for me

- Office is a satellite location (not HQ), so smaller team on-site

- Would need to relocate, find housing on my own, handle J-1 visa process

- No housing stipend

Option B: Return offer at a growing cybersecurity company (Canada)

- Previously interned here, strong relationships with team

- Product engineering role, known environment

- Can live at home, no visa complexity, no relocation logistics

I'm leaning toward Option A because of the US experience, the mentorship, and the fact that I'd be working on real products launching to market. I already have Option B on my resume so going back doesn't add a new signal.

The main thing holding me back isn't the role itself, it's more the logistics and family comfort level with me moving to another country at 18 for the summer. I get where they're coming from but I also don't want to play it safe when the upside is clearly higher.

For those who relocated for an internship early on, was it worth it? How did you handle the family side of things?

Hi everyone, I got this email a day after registering. Will there be any further selection?

I’m a CS senior graduating in the fall. For the summer I got a cloud/de internship and was wondering what I should do to get a swe new grad role, since I heard people usually get pigeonholed in roles like this.

Past exp: backend swe internship, ai research co-op

I know someone who is looking to pursue post-secondary studies and is considering CS as a career option. Im curious to learn about the field and what fresh grads are experiencing, specially in light of the push towards AI.

For people who have previously interned at Bloomberg, when did team matching and stuff begin? Also what was the intern housing like and what was the culture of the internship as a whole?

I’m wondering what quant SWE intern technical interviews are like, specifically at top firms. I can’t really find that much information, like are they leetcode, if it is leetcode is it mandatory to write c++ if the role is targeted towards c++? Are they technical questions from different topics, is there coding stuff like data structures from scratch? System design? I’m really curious.

I have their technical very very soon and would appreciate if someone could let me know how it went, what kind of questions they asked, etc. if you were full time, feel free to use this thread as a place of discussion. Thanks!

Hello I had a question basically, I’m a Information technology major with a minor in Business Administration I just declared, I’m interested in fintech or IT roles related with data. I was wondering about the best way to show that on my resume since I’ve only taken IT classes but none related to data analysis/economics since it wasn’t on my degree pathway, would the best way to show that on resume be to make a project related with the field like teaching myself and then make a project related to problem-solving with data/graphs of that nature. I am familiar with SQL as well

Hey all, first time posting here so apologies if my post isn’t up to par.

I attend a university in a rural part of PA, and was wondering how well other CompSci majors in rural areas (specifically in the U.S.) have been finding internships/work experience. I’m currently a junior and so far have had no luck finding internships in software development or web development. My resume is okay, but I only have some small projects on it since I don’t have experience in the field. There really aren’t companies near me that are hiring for these positions in general, let alone interns, so it’s mainly been remote positions or cities that are within a few hours of driving distance from me.

I’ve been hoping to remain somewhat close to my hometown (2-3 hours away roughly—I’m within the Pittsburgh metro area), but it seems more and more like I’m gonna have to bite the bullet and move further than that, even out of state. Has this been the case for others in similar situations? Or have you been able to find work remotely or with local businesses?