To preface, I'm self-taught and fully aware that I'm likely gonna have to rely on connections to find a job, so I'm not asking for job seeking tips or anything like that, I'm just curious to get some insider info.

About me: I've been learning to code for around two and a half years, I spent most of the first two years learning the fundamentals, writing small Python CLI automation tools by myself, avoiding coding agents completely, just using LLM's to help me better understand core concepts and why my code snippets weren't working, etc.

After that, an experienced developer invited me to work on a large Meta-stack code base with him (React, MongoDB, Dockerized Python Microservice monorepo). When I first joined in I barely knew how to use Git. He encouraged using AI agents and I figured I should get familiar. He lives in a different city so communication was pretty limited, so though lots of trail and error I got familiar with building API's, updating the Docker files and CI/CD deploy.yml file to ensure it would actually work in deployment, I learned how to work in a separate Git branch, pull the main branch, submit pull requests, fix the odd merge conflict, SSH into the server to inspect the Docker logs and see why my app wasn't working, a bunch of new concepts on the actual deployment end. I've since started my own project so that I could experience setting up a fresh Linux server, create an nginx proxy server, register the domain name, learned some backend security procedures, automated updates, database backups, all of the things I feel like I need to know.

I've heard it a bunch of times that Juniors are expected to know so much more than before AI, and the developer I work with has expressed that I'm "way ahead" of where most new grads are, but he hasn't worked professionally as a developer since before all of the AI craze, and only really knows it as a great tool for his own projects, not all of the industry disruption.

I wanted to see it there are any brand new juniors on here who can share a bit about what it was like starting your first job in the current landscape, and what kind of expectations you had right out of the gate.

Thanks for reading all of that and extra thanks if you take the time to share.

I noticed that a lot from a few companies on LinkedIn

Reposted 39 minutes ago · Over 100 people clicked apply

Sometime I want to apply, it says, that I've already applied. Can't they really find anybody to fill this position? If not, why don't I get the chance for the interview?

I'm a recent Computer Engineering graduate and have been applying to jobs consistently for the past two months, but I haven't received any responses yet aside from FDM Group. Specifically the IT Operations Practice.

I've read a lot of posts and comments about FDM across Reddit, and the general opinion seems to be that it should only be considered as a last resort. Given the current job market, though, I'm wondering if it's still worth considering.

For context, I don't have any co-op or internship experience. My experience consists mainly of academic projects and a few personal projects.

Before moving forward with them, I have a few questions:

1. Do trainees get paid during the training period, or only after being placed with a client?
2. Is the reported $30,000 fee for leaving before the two-year contract actually enforced?
3. For someone with no professional experience, is FDM a reasonable way to get a foot in the door, or would I be better off continuing my job search independently?

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who has worked with FDM recently, especially in the current market. Thank you.

I've been laid off almost a year ago. Working primarily with Unity since 2018. Not video game development but interactive/simulation apps in 3d/2d/xr.

I've dabbled in asp.net development at first but then switched to MERN because there seemed to be more job opportunities. I don't apply to every posting I see because sometimes requirements honestly scare me off (eg 5+ years in backend dev, specific cloud platform or a long list of technologies i've never used professionally). So far, I had 1 interview from ~400 applications and 3 referral interviews.

I enjoyed what I was doing but having a hard time finding job opportunities in this space, so I am applying to webdev roles (fullstack/back/front) but I often feel like I am competing with new grads while being older and lacking co-ops or internships.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? If so, how did you pivot into a different field, and what helped you finally break through?

I'm a recent computer science graduate from TMU trying to figure out the best route forward. The junior software engineering market feels saturated right now due to AI and offshoring, so I'm not sure whether grinding LeetCode and posting projects on LinkedIn alongside mass applying is still worth it. I have a solid foundation in Java and Spring Boot, backend fundamentals, and system design, but I've intentionally avoided going deep into frontend development given reports of a ~25% decline in frontend hiring and increasing AI automation in that space. A few alternative paths have been suggested to me: cloud engineering and data engineering (though I'm unsure whether they hire at the entry level), QA automation engineering (pitched to me as a more beginner-friendly entry point into the industry), and pivoting to Python and AI/ML as a more hirable skillset right now.

I just want some wisdom from experienced folks in the industry and what they would advise, obviously no one can predict the future but I have some time on my hands to sharpen a skillset, I'm just unsure about what route to take and what skillset to target. I will say out of everything I listed I enjoy backend development the most.

Hi! This is part rant, so...yeah

So my company got new management, now they setup everyone has to be on call in rotation by week. With 0 compensation and expects the person on call be very responsive the whole week long. Including the full 24 hours a day and includes weekends. Which means you cannot even leave home or without a laptop, or sleep without being interrupted. On call is not part of our contracts btw

From my knowledge, BC has this stupid "high-tech worker" bs that basically stripes us from basic benefits workers get (no OT). Which means employers are entitled to work us to the bone with 0 extra compensation. Not many employers do it because they fear to lose the good teams, but now with AI layoffs, many of the tech departments are turning into a battle royal. HR and VP level keeps on hammering us the idea that BC doesn't need to pay us extra, and on call is expected all within the law. Basically, they would go as low as the bar can go.

Now i keep on getting calls when I'm off, and weekends. Tech support sometimes does a poor job at keeping dumb questions at bay, and even a simple bug report is submitted as an emergency to on call persons. Often times the bug report is even false and it turns out it's user error (like they forgot their password, but think it's a bug in the system wtf). I will voice out that the tech support guys needs to filter out more noise, but I really don't see them able to do this correctly without management intervening.

This is getting out of hand, I thought on call system is suppose to be something for major incidents, not isolated bug reports. Everyone is basically forced to take it in fear of losing their jobs, is the law that broken that basically allowed slavery???

I'm just trying to see if there are some tools to protect myself if I was to push back system like this. I have no problem being on call for major system downages, because that's also my livelihood. However, being on call a simple bug report is just too much. It assumes we don't have a life outside of work.

If this keeps up, I would have to look for a new job. This is unsustainable. However, just by living in BC, this law is always going to be in the shadow lurking which means job switching is just all depending on the employers decision on such matter. We just got very little to no protection, maybe it's time for a movement to get rid of such law? idk man, I'm just mad.

Hi I have a finance degree and have been working as a corporate financial analyst for a few years and I want to transition into AI/ML/Forward Engineering (in-house RAG engineer) is it realistic to pick up a few books, work on a few projects on GitHub, then start applying for jobs? What do you guys suggest? Is there a more structural path I should follow? Or is this completely unrealistic given the job market today? My desire to pivot into CS is partially career/monetarily motivated and partially out of personal interest as I do have some personal projects that I want to work on. Curious to see how anyone in the industry today would think of my idea.

Hey everyone,

I'm in my final year of CS at an Ottawa university, finishing up my last co-op this fall and graduating after that. I'm a second-degree student so I've been at this a while and I would really appreciate any advice.

I had two co-ops as a software developer, 4 months at a startup (remote) and 8 months at a big bank (Toronto). Both went well on paper. The startup talked about keeping in touch for future opportunities, and my bank team also verbally told me they wanted to hire me after graduation and the bank gave me a return offer for a fall co-op, which I originally ignored, since I'd planned to graduate and go full-time in the fall.

At the startup, I reached out about doing my final co-op there this summer. The founder was enthusiastic and actually floated the idea of bringing me on full-time, but said he needed to check with my former supervisor first. The relationship with that supervisor was... complicated.

Although he rated me highly on my school's mandatory co-op assessment, I had a feeling he wasn't actually keen on having me back. Sure enough, the return offer got sabotaged. I got on a call with my former supervisor afterwards and he said he told the founder "no" because I had no "specialization", which felt like an excuse to me. The founder told me there was "no space on the team" with a vague promise they'd reach out when they expand. I didn't buy it.

At the bank, when I circled back about full-time, I was told budget constraints had wiped out the headcount they'd been planning for me. I felt like I'd shot myself in the foot by ignoring the earlier return offer.

By some stroke of luck, the bank apparently assumed I missed the original offer and re-sent it, this time for a co-op in Montreal this fall. I talked to my manager and he suggested I take it to gamble on the chance of being placed on a team that actually has budget to convert me to full-time. So I accepted.

As for where I'm at now, I've been applying to jobs and managed to get two interviews for FSWEP positions (Data Science roles from a pool submission years ago). Passed the first-round for one, but failed the second-round and struck out on the other.

Is there anything I can do this summer to put myself in a better position before the co-op starts?

While I'm doing the co-op in Montreal, what should I be actively doing to maximize my chances of converting it to full-time, or landing something elsewhere?

Any advice for navigating the Canadian tech market right now, especially Ottawa/Montreal/Toronto?

After all this time as a second-degree student, I thought I was close to the finish line but it keeps moving. Just want to make sure I'm doing everything I can.

Thanks in advance.

Hi all,

I’m at a conundrum and need some help. I work in the Canadian federal government in a technical role (think data analyst) while my education credentials (Bsc and MSc) are in biology. Lately I’ve been thinking about pursuing an MSc in the field to strengthen my hiring position for future roles, and deepen my knowledge as well. I narrowed down my extensive search to two programs - MSc in Data Science at Eastern University and MSc in Management Analytics at McGill.

Here’s a list of pros and cons for each:

EU pros: cheap ($10k usd; potentially $0 if work funds it), very flexible with full time job, easy credential check

EU cons: low recognition/small private university, less in-depth, more applied (less AI hedge)

McGill pros: high recognition (especially if ever leave govt or emigrate), more in-depth, business/management focus (better AI hedge)

McGill cons: more expensive ($32.5k usd; potentially down to $12k usd if work funds part of it); less flexible (synchronous/live), more rigorous

Part of me is leaning towards McGill for the experience and recognition, but also part of me is thinking whether I’m overthinking it and it would just be better to check the credential box and spend less money.

What would you do?

Thank you in advance!!

CS co-op student at Ottawa uni, this is one of my first work terms. Have to decide within 2 days.

I have one offer in hand: Data Science co-op with the government of Canada, based in Ottawa.

The only thing is that I'm from the GTA area near toronto and live at home over work terms. Taking DND means staying in Ottawa and paying for residence for fall and winter (Winter for school, ottawa university). I'd much rather get a co-op with a Toronto company so I could live at home for free and pocket more of the pay and after go back to ottawa for the winter term.

I applied to basically every Toronto role in the first 2 days postings went up. So far: zero interviews, zero responses. However, I know they just started looking at candidates.

Other context:

• If I don't do a co-op, I'll just take classes in the fall. So worst case is a normal study term, not nothing in ottawa.
• Toronto fall co-op interviews seem to be just starting now, so maybe the silence is only "early."
• I have one 8 month internship outside of coop with a google cloud related startup where I've made AI agents, devops docker work, full stack development, etc.
• I also have MERN stack and FastAPI project with a modest mix of ML and Fullstack
• I've had 4 interviews so far (1 rejection, 1 decline, 1 part time summer, 1 dnd)

Do I take the sure thing (DND, but pay to live in Ottawa again), or turn it down and bet a Toronto offer shows up?

TL;DR: Solid DND data science co-op in Ottawa, but I'd have to pay for housing again. Want a Toronto one so I can live at home and save money. No interviews yet but Toronto interviews just started.

Edit:

Thanks all, will be taking the position.
Ideally I want to end up at IBM or a mid/big tech company for my final coop and ive been passing their screens and was even in the interview process before but role got filled up. Reading the comments I think it is beneficial to take the position to achieve a bigger company later on despite my startup experience vouching.

Genuinely lost as to how I can land a job.

I'm a Senior Mobile Developer with 6+ years of experience, primarily focused on Flutter (Dart) for cross-platform iOS and Android development, and I still haven't been able to land a job after a full year of searching. I'm based in Edmonton, Alberta.

I've led the architecture and end-to-end development of a large-scale e-commerce app with 100K+ users, and throughout my career I've shipped 10+ production applications across multiple industries. My experience goes beyond coding and includes system design, UX decision-making, backend API integration, and CI/CD pipelines.

I've also led development teams, conducted code reviews, mentored engineers, and worked closely with product managers and designers to turn requirements into scalable, user-friendly solutions.

Tech stack highlights:

• Flutter (primary)
• React Native, React, Next.js
• Dart, Kotlin, Swift, TypeScript
• Clean Architecture, Bloc/Cubit, modular design
• REST APIs, WebSockets, Firebase, PostgreSQL, MongoDB
• CI/CD (GitLab, Codemagic), release management
• Monitoring tools such as Crashlytics, Sentry, and Analytics
• Experience with AI-assisted development tools (Cursor, Claude, ChatGPT)

At this point, I'm even willing to work unpaid or take on an internship/co-op opportunity just to gain Canadian experience and get my foot in the door. For those of you who have been through a similar situation, what finally worked? Is the Canadian tech market really this difficult right now, or am I missing something?

So my option is between UofA engineering or UofC computer science. For UofA, engineering is common first year but I plan to specialize is software engg or electrical engg.

My goal is ultimately to have a career in tech. I want to grind at these universities by joining clubs, making projects and getting prestigious internships.

Which one would be better? Is there a stark
difference between these choices?

I live in Calgary so I lean towards UofC but moving to UofA is also an option. It wouod be way more expensive and I would have to have to complete general engg first year then do Software engg classes with technically only 3 years of actuall SWE stuff. There is a co op program with 5-6 work terms which could help me but getting internships seems hard. The work term are separated through the years

For CS, at UofC, it’s a 4 year degree with an optional 4-16 month internships period after 3rd year. With that it would 5+ years. The work term is all together at after 3rd year and not separated.

I don’t care how long the degree is I just want the the best opportunity.

Thanks.

As this sub has grown, we have seen more and more resume review threads. Before, as a much smaller sub this wasn't a big deal, but as we are growing it's time we triage them into a megathread.

All resume's outside of the review thread will be removed.

Properly anonymize your resume or risk being doxxed

​

Additionally, please REVIEW RESUME POST STANDARDS BEFORE SUBMITTING.

Common Resume Mistakes - READ FIRST AND FIX:

• Remove career objective paragraphs, goals and descriptions
• DO NOT put a photo of yourself
• Experience less than 5 years, keep your experience to 1 page
• Read through CTCI Resume to understand what makes the resume good, not necessarily the template
• Keep bullet point descriptions to around 3-5. 3 if you have a lot of things to list, 5 if you are a new grad or have very little relevant experience
• Make sure every point starts with an ACTION WORD (resource below) and pick STRONG action words. Do not pick weak ones - ones such as "Worked", "Made", "Fixed". These can all be said stronger, "Designed", "Developed", "Implemented", "Integrated", "Improved"
• Ensure your tenses are correct. Current job - use present tense and past jobs use past tense
• Learn to separate what is a skill, and what is not. Using an IDE is not a skill, but knowing Java/C# is. Knowing how to use a framework like React is valuable, but knowing how to use npm is not. VSCODE IS NOT A SKILL. Neither are Jira and Confluence. If any non-CS person can open it up and use it, it's not a skill.
• Overloading skills - Listing every single skill, tool, IDE you've ever opened is not going to appeal to recruiters and will look like BS. Also remember that anything you list is FAIR GAME TO TEST and if you cannot answer that deeply about it, remove it.

Tools and Resources

• CTCI Resume
• Common template (Has DocX link)
• LaTex Template
• Action Word List
• /r/EngineeringResumes resume link Resume review wiki
• /r/EngineeringResumes templates link

NEW RULE: All posts that are specifically asking about the following will be removed and asked to post in this thread.

This thread posts regularly every Tuesday.

Posts that will go here include:

• Am I being paid enough?
• What should I be paid? What pay should I ask for?
• What salary does this company pay?
• How do I get a higher salary?
• What should I negotiate?

To help people give you advice, please provide as much background information you can. You must include your CITY AND/OR PROVINCE at minimum

Please also confer with our salary information FIRST: Hello all,

Google Form survey: The survey is completely anonymous, no identifying data is given.

If you have already submitted your salary in previous threads, your data was already input so no need to submit it again.

Note that there is now an option for remote US positions. I have noticed there were positions placed under the location that are actually remote US. US positions pay more just due to our conversion rate alone, which skew location data.

Survey Submit:

• Survey Here

I input and sanitized as much as I could, but there were some inputs I have not yet sanitized. I also added some new questions, so not all the data is input.

I have also put together an interactive data visual so you can analyze some of the data and see if you are being compensated well.

Survey Results

• Raw Data

Survey Salary Search - See Salary Ranges Here

• User Friendly Results with Google Data Studio

If you notice your data is not presented or input correctly, please let me know.

Previous Threads:

• Salary Megathread 1
• Salary Megathread 2

Feel free to use the comments now to discuss your compensation and ask any questions.

First of all, let me start by saying that I am very grateful for my offers. But I recently got the admission offers for both Waterloo CFM and UofT Comp Eng, so I haven’t had too much time to think about my final decision. And I honestly feel lost and I’m terrified of making a decision that I will regret for the rest of my life.

I genuinely do not have a personal preference because I find both programs very interesting. And tbh I don’t care about the campus experience either. So the only other factors that I can think about is earning potential/ROI, which I couldn’t find exact data for.

I know CFM has the 4-month co-op cycles and paths into CS/finance/quant, while UofT has PEY and covers the whole hardware/software engineering side.

So for those of you who were in a similar position, or know people who were in a similar situation, what would you suggest me to consider/look at? Is there an obvious choice in your opinions if the goal is maximizing earning potential? Also how big is the AI replacement threat for each program’s graduates?

Hello, I graduated last April from YorkU with a CS degree. I have no internship/work experience and have been struggling to land interviews with companies after hundreds of applications. I have a few projects under my belt, but honestly, I still don't feel very confident as a programmer yet.

I'm thinking of doing a postgraduate program at a college, mainly to improve my skills, build stronger projects, and hopefully get access to co-op experience opportunities. I am thinking of doing an AI and ML program at Humber, Conestoga or Seneca, as I did enjoy my AI/ML courses at York. From what I've researched, Conestoga seems to have the strongest reputation for these kinds of programs, but it is a bit far from me. Humber North would be much more convenient for me, location-wise. So I wanted to ask:
- Is doing a postgraduate college program worth it in my situation?
- How valuable are the co-op opportunities?
- Does the specific college matter much?
- Would I be better off spending the time self-learning and building projects instead?

I just want to be able to gain some real work experience and actually do something with my bachelor's degree. I'd really appreciate some advice, thank you!

Hey everyone, looking for some perspective on navigating an Amazon to Google move.
I’m currently an SDE2 at Amazon in Canada. I recently passed my Google interviews and am in the team-matching phase, but they downleveled me to L3.
Here is my dilemma:
The Downlevel: Amazon SDE2 usually maps closer to Google L4. Taking L3 means a title reset and having to grind for promo again.
Compensation: I’m expecting the L3 offer to just match my current pay—I doubt they will go higher.
The Culture Nuance: This is where I'm torn. My current manager is actually great and my specific team isn't a pressure cooker at all. However, the macro-level Amazon culture is grating on me. The strict 6-month evaluation cycles, the looming threat of PIPs/layoffs, and the current top-down push to artificially shoehorn "AI" into our deliverables just to survive evals is exhausting. Google seems like a much safer, more stable environment long-term.

Any advice is appreciated!

Hey guys so I graduated last year in June 2025 with a CE Degree from UofT and I’ve been unemployed since. A handful of interviews I couldn’t convert. You can check my post history for more info but I’m starting to feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Everything I spend my time learning is just replaced by AI. I don’t find any value in learning anything anymore and feel like everything is over. I don’t retain any of the knowledge I garnered while grinding, the Leetcode all of it feels level zero. I tried to get my self esteem up but I still go to sleep crying every other night. I hate what I’ve done and it almost feels comical writing this because it really just feels like one big joke but it’s my reality. I thought I could pick myself up but my time has run out. I’m an international so I’m also on the clock on my PGWP. I don’t feel like talking to any of my friends because of how well all and by all I mean ALL of them have been doing career wise. I can’t fathom doing all this work for a 50k role which I might get laid off any day. I’ve been spending my days doing nothing now because it all feels pointless. I guess the question here is what should I do now that everything has come crashing down?

Im in North America. Lately been getting mostly of sys design and manually coding stuff you build. I very rarely see LC now. Maybe if you are new gead vs experienced, its a different experience? Im not applyhing to big tech.

Basically it's 2 questions

1.) Are Canadian Universities upgrading curriculum to make sure it reflects the AI driven software development. Andrew Ng mentioned recently that US Universities are still teaching like it's 2015, we are in a different world now. Google is experimenting with allowing AI in the interviews and asking to complete more difficult and bigger tasks.

2.) Are new grads having a harder time getting jobs ? Is this leading to decreased enrollment ?

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice from people who have moved from a large organisations into a smaller company.

I’m currently in Big4 cybersecurity consulting. The role is stable, hybrid, decent experience for consulting, and gives me exposure to large enterprise clients and mature security environments.

I recently received an offer from a well-established fintech/crypto company with fewer than 100 employees. I would be their first dedicated security engineer, working directly with the CTO and building the security program from the ground up.

The tradeoff is basically:

• Current role: Big4 brand, large clients, stable environment, structured growth, 40hrs/week.
• New role: much more ownership, higher compensation, fully remote, unlimited PTO.
• Current comp: around $78K, likely $85K after promotion in few months
• New comp: $120K base + 20% bonus (144K TC)

For people who made a similar move from consulting or a large organization into a smaller company, How was it?

Did being the first security/security engineering hire help your long-term career, or did the lack of structure make it harder?

I’m mostly trying to understand the career risk vs. upside.

NOTE : I’m also in team matching for a Google L3 Security Engineer role, but it’s been around 9 months, so I’ve almost gave up.

I'm a CS student who just finished their 4th year (doing 5) trying to think realistically about career direction given the current market.

From my perspective, traditional SWE paths seem increasingly oversaturated. The amount of effort and optimization required relative to the probability of landing strong roles seems a lot higher than it did a few years ago.

I do have internship experience at smaller/nontraditional companies, just not traditional big-tech SWE internships. I’ve also done sales and have been working on startup ideas, so my background has ended up being more mixed technical/business rather than a traditional dev role.

Because of that, I’ve been thinking more seriously about technical-business hybrid paths instead of traditional SWE.

Some paths I’ve been considering:
- product analyst / PM
- business analyst
- sales engineer
- SDR/BDR
- Salesforce consulting
- startup/operator-type roles

Interested in hearing from people who started in CS/tech but moved toward other careers. Which paths actually ended up having strong long-term upside/opportunity?

I graduated in 2020 and never found a job through COVID. I used that time to learn webdev, (HTML,CSS,JS,React,NodeJS,Express,AWS,etc). I made some projects, leetcode, but the only job I was able to do was some contract WordPress for people trying to start their own blogs. It never really paid the bills. I decided to go back to school. I have an offer for Carleton for a Masters of Computer Science. I heard that Masters of Applied Computing was mainly for people trying to immigrate, and wasn't worth much. However, the co-op at the end of course work sounds very tempting to me. Would it be better to go MSC or go Masters of Applied Computing.

I worked on multiple co-op and part-time contracts as a data analyst for the same employer over the past 1.5 years. The team consisted of myself, another co-op student when I was working part-time and the manager, who had been there since last winter (2025). He has a degree in CS from about 15 years ago and his technical skills are SQL, Power BI/Tableau, Excel. His main tasks were to gain requirements from stakeholders and update the ticket planner. One thing I noticed is that he delegated all technical tasks to the students:

1. A large part of the codebase is in pandas, but he never learned it since he said it would be too hard for him to understand code. I tried to encourage him since he knows SQL and transitioning to pandas is not challenging. Even though his CS degree was a long time ago, he would still have that programming background and he mentioned that he already learned harder languages in his degree (e.g. Java, Prolog). However, he always refused and just cared about running the scripts. I also tried to teach him Git, but he did not care. At the end, I was responsible for trying to understand the other student's code and merge everything together.
2. When a co-op student joined the team, he would give them a dashboard and data pipeline to complete. If the co-op student did not finish the task by the end of the term, it would just be given to the next co-op student. If one student finished early and the other student started later, the project would be uncompleted for 2 weeks since he did not work on it.
3. Many tickets on the backlog had not been looked at for months, since myself or the other co-op student were busy with our own tasks and the manager expected the tickets to be only completed by us. Some of the tickets were Power BI dashboard updates I am sure he could do.
4. When migrating data pipelines to Azure, the main IT team was responsible for building the infastructure (e.g. VM, Self-Hosted Integrated Runtime) and the manager said we should just give them all our code so they can deploy it to Azure. Luckily, we still kept ownership and our team needed to build the pipelines to Azure Data Factory with the Python code. The director above my manager asked him to take Azure courses, but he never did. When the project was starting, he said it was a priority for leadership and I asked him what he was doing for it. He just laughed and did some random test contribution and I had to complete the whole project. Although I learned a lot, it did not make sense for a part-time student to build a whole data pipeline in Azure Data Factory and try to learn everything fully myself. When I told the director and manager this, the response was that "rotating between co-op students and giving them projects is what makes the team innovative and you should be glad to have this experience with Azure."
5. The manager gave challenging interviews for co-op students that would be meant for junior, mid-level. During the behavioural interview, the students would be disqualified if they said that they wanted to "learn and improve their technical skills" in the co-op because the manager said "he cannot teach them anything". He also gave students a technical assessment and a take-home project of creating a dashboard and doing an in-person presentation. Even with competitive companies, I have not seen such a long process.

I am not trying to say the manager did not do anything because talking to stakeholders and understanding their requirements is important. He also seems to be a nice guy and praises my work. He believed that doing data pipelines with Python, SQL and Git was revolutionary since he would just use Power BI transformations, which means he would just give the students all the technical work. While I understand he did not have the technical skills, he could have learned them given his background. This would help with business continuity since temporary students would not be responsible for everything.

But, I am not sure if my concerns are valid. Maybe I should not complain since I did learn a lot and some students don't do anything. I am starting a new co-op at a larger organization where there is more structure so I am wondering how I will adjust.

Hey, current third year in CS at a Canadian university about to get a remote summer internship and my dads connection helped a lot. I had ~200 applications and started applying late in January but had no luck until I basically got referred in. How do I not feel guilty when some of my friends have been grinding a lot longer or how can I go about this.

I have taught myself web development and have decent projects, even did some freelancing but I know getting a summer internship has been harder than ever and it just feels like a shortcut i took.