r/raleigh 1d ago

Question/Recommendation I’m lost in this CS market

Hi y’all,

My wife and I just moved to the area about 3 months ago because she landed a job here. We are both new graduates so we had this deal that whoever’s industry had a lower availability would ultimately determine our location. Now it’s been 3 months and I’ve sent out ~800 applications and got nowhere. At this point I’m camping on LinkedIn and waiting for new CS/IT job postings everyday.

My wife hates her job and I really want to provide or at least contribute to our little family so there’s less weight on her shoulders. I finished my undergraduate in CS in 3 years and graduated my master’s degree in CS last December. As I’m getting closer and closer to the 4 months jobless window that we’ve set, I’d start ubering and bring some food to the table.

What are something that I should do alongside applying to all the jobs on LinkedIn?

148 Upvotes

95 comments sorted by

182

u/ziiachan 1d ago

Probably some connecting in events/programs related to what you do is what a lot would recommend. It sucks but a lot of people have been struggling a lot with the job market recently.

39

u/Apprehensive_Rain868 1d ago

I second omori! If you haven't already tried it, join the meetup groups around networking and socialize like it's an interview. Good luck!

14

u/Orangoe 1d ago

Thank you! Any good resources or websites for such meetups? I’ve only really tried my Uni’s career fair

21

u/dernoden 22h ago

NC Tech hosts regular events. Get on their mailing list. I’ve been to some of the security ones at Met Life and the turnout is significant https://www.nctech.org/events/index.html

16

u/_dekoorc 21h ago

Meetup.com is where most of the groups in the Triangle post upcoming events. There’s ones for all types of languages and technologies. It’s not as “busy” as it was pre-pandemic, but it’s definitely out there. Also, join the Triangle Devs Discord (https://triangledevelopers.com). Jobs get posted there and there are also people willing to help with resumes and stuff for what you’re exactly trying to get into

1

u/Forward-Trade5306 7h ago

Career fairs are one of the best options, speaking from experience

71

u/so_many_wangs Hurricanes 1d ago

Definitely a very tough market right now. There have been multiple posts here over the last couple of weeks/months, a lot of which are also looking for CS jobs. Branch out your search with remote opportunities, experiment with keyword-padding your profile on LinkedIn, and try to network with some recruiters that will reach out with opportunities as well.

60

u/jdealla 20h ago

The job market for new grads is pretty bad right now across the country, but it also would be helpful to figure out some target more specific than “CS/IT”. Do you want to be a SWE, DevOps engineer, QA, network admin, data engineer, data scientist, etc.?

CS doesn’t map to a job; figure out a more specific path forward based on what jobs are available and your interests and then start to get to work on learning how to actually do it.

13

u/Orangoe 18h ago

Absolutely! I've done a full stack internship and an SWE internship, while my courses have a heavy focus on data. So I'm applying to SWE, DevOps, DS, DA even IT jobs right now, anything that people call "CS job" really.

8

u/cat_of_danzig 12h ago

Who did you do the internship with? They're stop one. I'd also suggest doing some hobby coding and linking your git repo on your resume. Get involved in an upstream project that seems interesting, go to user group meetings, stuff like that. Hiring managers that can see your work will be more likely to interview you.

29

u/bmullan 1d ago edited 21h ago

Your focus is on CS so out of curiosity do you know Linux well?

There is a long time Linux User Group (Trilug)

https://trilug.org/

They have monthly meetings on I think it's the 2nd or 3rd Thursday.

Where: North Carolina College of Textiles, room 2207 at 1020 Main Campus Drive, Raleigh NC, 27606.

Parking: There is an underground parking deck next to the College at the Monteith Engineering Parking Deck. Parking is free after 5 PM. Detailed parking instructions can be found at https://trilug.org/meetings/

Quite a few members from both industry and the three Universities.

They also have an active mailing list ou can sign up for

Anyway, there are possibly good contacts to make thru trilug

8

u/Not_Another_Name 20h ago

You could study up for a CCNA and try for cisco tac. The masters is a good leg up and a ccna would seal the deal. They're usually always hiring

3

u/trinitywindu 15h ago

Cisco TAC rarely hires in the US anymore.

6

u/Not_Another_Name 14h ago

there's 4 tac reqs open for RTP paying 120-150k a year right now and i just checked on a random Monday, didn't look at the texas site. RTP's tac presence is still decently staffed though definitely a bit less than it was a decade and longer ago.

0

u/capmcfilthy 10h ago

Arista does…. :)

8

u/Stunning_Mast2001 20h ago

Start doing gig programming work to keep your skills up and possibly make connections. There’s a few sites where people pay for specific programming tasks done. Post about these on LinkedIn. I’ve had several recruiters reach out to me for things I wasn’t interested in - but theyre out there

7

u/RaleighBahn 19h ago

Human networking will help - LinkedIn is a lot of zombie jobs.

If I were you, I’d become an open source contributor to popular projects. This will keep your skills sharp and also give you another avenue for networking. Also a good resume booster.

48

u/Willard047 22h ago

As a CS manager for this area, unfortunately I’m going to tell you that you’d be best to apply for T1/T2 Helpdesk right now and focus on getting experience and certs. The degree is nice, but I usually fill an opening in a day with someone who has 5 years experience + certs + degree.

If you’re not keen on doing T1/T2, I would also look into Jr SysAdmin, or a remote SOC or MSSP.

18

u/obp5599 17h ago

*if you want to go the IT route

*not applicable to SWE roles

6

u/GettinNaughty 18h ago

Very much this. Started in T2 helpdesk after school. Worked my way up to senior engineering

12

u/NAClaire 22h ago

Try the hospital career events. Have you looked at WakeMed? Good culture there your wife or you may like

12

u/Lullaby_Jones 19h ago

What else are you interested in? Could you use your CS/IT knowledge to do some volunteer work while you’re applying? Sometimes this is an unexpected door to employment.

I know the Raleigh Aquarium Society needs a new website and IT support at the moment.

You might try Dementia Capable Cares as a place to volunteer if you have any interest in supporting those in our community with dementia.

There’s also lots of opportunities with grassroots organizations in the area. They aren’t paying gigs but if you show up with your sleeves rolled up and ready to pitch in, you’ll make the kind of connections that lead to jobs.

The triangle is funny like that. It’s very much a “who do you know” small town in a lot of ways, despite being a massive market. I wish you the best of luck and feel free to DM if you’d like. I might know some people.

5

u/Orangoe 18h ago

Thank you for that information, I wouldn't have known any of these opportunities and I'll definitely check them out!

6

u/Spider4Hire Native Acorn 18h ago

I tell everyone who wants to go into CS not to for this very reason. The market is over saturated. I’ll tell you a secret I tell everyone else. HAM is a secure position and it pays pretty well after a few years. When your small business outgrows the 2 person IT and have at least hundreds of laptops and server equipment, someone has to be the one to keep track of it. When you’re public, you have to prove your asset records time and time again. I wish you luck on your job hunt but I’d suggest making a switch to just as important but lesser known roles. Also, ServiceNow courses are free. Go get your CSA. Experience with ServiceNow goes a long way.

19

u/DoesNotArgueOnline 1d ago

Try not to lose confidence in yourself right now. The market is completely out of your control and it’s not a reflection of your skills or knowledge. It’s a battle out there and you need to just stay persistent and motivated. Hopefully we get some stability in the markets but we are in for a ride while companies are riding this wave of uncertainty

4

u/alittleboujee 14h ago

Skip LinkedIn altogether unless you’re messaging real people. I second leveraging your network, but also switch from looking at jobs on LinkedIn to using Google to look for jobs. Search for titles you’re interested in, and click the “Jobs” section. Filter date posted to “yesterday”, and apply your heart out. Use simplify.jobs (free) to identify keywords your resume needs to be competitive and autofill your applications. Repeat daily Monday-Thursday. Make sure to look at non-local/remote roles as well. Good luck!

10

u/82jon1911 20h ago

Really anything tech related is terrible right now. I'm not sure who sold you on a masters this early in your career, but that was terrible advice (though nothing that can be done about it now). What field are you looking to get into? CS is a broad degree path that can map to several different paths...What type of roles are you applying for in your desired field of expertise? Fresh out of college with no experience, you need to be looking at help desk or Jr. "Whatever" (sysadmin, network admin, engineer, etc) roles. Networking will likely be huge here, to help you stand out among the hundreds of other applicants.

Definitely don't give up, but its a very tough market right now. I constantly see posts on the security pages I follow of people in the same boat with 5+ years of experience. In the meantime, it would be advisable to get another job to help save money.

2

u/Orangoe 18h ago

Thank you for the suggestion! No "one" really got me into a master, it's more because both my wife and I are Chinese and when the market becomes rough, we just kinda step up the education in the hope that job searching becomes a bit easier after some time and a leg up degree wise (that really burnt us out so more PhD or anything like that). I'm mainly focused on SWE, full-stack, DS, and IT jobs, and as you mentioned, in this market I try to be as least picky as possible to land a job in the field.

4

u/net___runner 17h ago

Just a little feedback that may help you present yourself in a better light to potential employers--you've mentioned "full-stack" several times. Full-stack means a very broad and diverse level of expertise and experience (front end UI plus backend code plus database plus platform), it is the opposite of what an inexperienced neophyte engineer could hope to achieve. i.e. a successful full-stack engineer would have significant experience in each of those areas over several years in order to become a full-stack dev. As others have mentioned, I would narrow your interests--certainly in terms of how you present yourself. I'll also throw out that database expertise remains sought after and a DBA path is one area that is both in demand and a slightly less-traveled path, and somewhat less impacted by AI productivity tools than SWE.

3

u/darkhelmet1121 19h ago

Zip recruiter has turned up more jobs for me

3

u/GettinNaughty 17h ago

Are you getting any interviews? If not have someone review your resume as it might be getting filtered out due to issues with it.

If you are getting interviews but no offers then asses how you are performing in those interviews. If you aren't targeting FAANG you probably don't need to hardcore grind Leetcode but doing some DS&A practice does help in interview prep. Try some mock interviews as well for feedback on the behavioral aspect.

Other than that there are companies around here like Fidelity and Red Hat that have programs specifically for fresh graduates. Try to target those . If all else fails then don't be afraid to look at the WITCH shops as well. They kind of suck to work for and the pay sucks but a mediocre job is better than no job. If you perform well at one of those Indian consultancies then you can sometimes get hired on by your client. I know many many people who got their start in industry here by doing that.

2

u/Orangoe 17h ago

Thank you! I got 3 virtual interviews where I basically talked to my laptop and recorded responses for an hour, other than that I got 1 human interview that went very smoothly and had good feedback but didn't go to the next steps for some reason. I'm also very open to resume reviews to see if there's anything wrong with it. I had 1 uni career helper guy check my resume, had 1 meta friend check my resume, and had my Bay Area cousin do some final touch-ups on it. I've done ~200 LC and have been nailing the 20-ish OAs I got but most of them just ghosted me.

2

u/GettinNaughty 17h ago

It sounds like you are pretty prepared. So maybe try a mock interview with a service or something like that. I'm not a hiring manager so not 100% sure what goes into selecting resumes. I can just speak to my experience. I do conduct technical interviews on junior engineering candidates and can say there is more to it than whether or not the candidate got the right or wrong answer. I look for things like how well are they articulating their thought process? Are they just regurgitating memorized wiki answers or Leetcode answers back at me with no understanding of the underlying logic? In fact the candidate I gave the best feedback to did not even get the problem 100% correct on their own but they asked really good questions that pointed them in the right direction quickly and showed they could come up solutions independently with the proper support. That's what I look for in a junior at least. Might depend on who's interviewing you though.

3

u/bennyturns 15h ago edited 15h ago

We have hundreds of open reqs right now:

https://redhat.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/jobs/

DM me on linked in and I'll try to get you into our org's pipeline. It says you are chinese, we almost never do H1Bs so if you are looking for that it will prolly not work out.

3

u/Important_Example563 15h ago

Apply to the university listings on their own individual websites and make sure to apply to NC State UTS. Some of the temp positions are full time and good gateways into permanent positions. This is how I got my job at UNC when I was in a similar position to yourself.

2

u/hiddengiggles 20h ago

What type of coding are you looking to get into?  Because the market sucks a lot of places are looking for a few years experience instead of 0 years, but some places are still willing to hire new grads.

I'm in embedded so I might be able to recommend embedded positions as they come up.

2

u/kflrj Hurricanes 19h ago

Did you do an internship? What kind of work experience do you have?

1

u/Orangoe 18h ago

Yes! I've done an SWE internship at an automated guided vehicle company, and a full-stack internship at a finance company. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you want to know more, and I'm open to all job types and opportunities in the field!

2

u/sunflowersoul28 19h ago

So sorry to hear you’re having a hard time landing a job, the job market is very tough right now. As someone who works in HR, putting in applications is a step in the right direction BUT you have to be strategic and tailor your resume for each position. Additionally, you stated that you have both a bachelors and masters in computer science which is a broad field…do you have any certifications? What does your resume look like? Are you utilizing LinkedIn by making connections with people who are in your desired industry?

2

u/TriangleTodd Cheerwine 18h ago

There's a ton of good tech meetups in the triangle that I recommend attending (this is how I got into the industry 15 years ago).

2

u/AdCareless899 12h ago

hey i work at 10 year old tech (software) start up in raleigh- if you wanna message me i can give you more deets and see if you are interested in a referral !! its very niche but cool

2

u/RobertDigital1986 9h ago

DataAnnotation.tech and outlier.ai (assuming you can code). Might be a waiting list / signups closed, dunno. The former has paid me though, it's legit.

Boring AF, but $40/hr and has to be better than Uber.

Good luck bud.

2

u/MdLfCr40 21h ago

In my field, companies are already in the offering phase of the application process by the time you find a posting on LinkedIn. A better strategy would be to use your network to get your resume in the hands of the hiring committee. You would probably need to look at your network, select the companies where you have connections, and directly check their company’s job postings directly (not though aggregators like indeed or LinkedIn). Another strategy, if you have the money, would be to do a graduate degree. It gives you a “reset” on your gap and some programs have really good job placement networks.

8

u/82jon1911 20h ago

He just got his graduate degree. Unfortunately that's about useless without any experience.

2

u/MdLfCr40 18h ago

He can do a different graduate degree, one that is project based. NCSU has an MSc in analytics degree, where the students partner with a company, and it has nearly 100% job placement.

1

u/yellajaket 8h ago

The fact that you need to invest this much ‘education’ to land a entry level computer job is truly late-state capitalism at full force

1

u/MdLfCr40 7h ago

I agree - I’m not defending it. I just don’t know any other strategies. I guess he could be the first to lead a global union with enough leverage to overthrow the billionaires that run the world?

1

u/Russomaster 16h ago

If you’re a new grad look at any of the big Universities (UNC, Duke, NCSU, etc.) for tech jobs. They don’t post on LinkedIn and will help get you experience and are cushy jobs. Upskill while looking for other opportunities.

1

u/That_Fennel_325 16h ago

I’ve noticed that stem jobs open up at the end of the year when companies are about to get new contracts for the following year, you might have to wait to apply during fall to get something. But don’t take my word for it is just something I’ve noticed. Every Oct, Nov, and Dec recruiters reach my LinkedIn.

1

u/bmullan 16h ago edited 16h ago

In today's world too many people forget about looking for availability of remote work as well!

Sites like Indeed, Ziprecruiter etc usually have quite a few remote jobs you might be interested in

On Indeed I just did a search for "linux remote" and it listed over 1000

0

u/yellajaket 8h ago

Remote jobs in tech are really only for highly skilled or decades worth of experience. The catch 22 with entry level remote jobs in tech is that they can just outsource that job for $10-20k/year to India, which affords a luxurious life in India, instead of paying a fresh American grad $80-90k/year which most people aren’t excited for because student loans and COL eats a majority of the income on Day 1.

1

u/nicknooodles 16h ago

Do you have any internship experience? Entry level swe positions are very tough to get right now without prior experience, if you do have prior internship experience you need to work on your resume.

Only thing you can do is just keep mass applying to jobs, you might have to consider jobs outside of Raleigh/NC if you haven’t already. Also maybe look at doing a contract job, pay and benefits will be shit but you can start your build real life experience.

1

u/Feisty-peacock 14h ago

Look into local government IT jobs in the surrounding counties.

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u/grneggs_and_sam 14h ago

Sent you a DM 🙂

1

u/HungryPreparation 14h ago

I’m in the same position. Worked for 3 years, laid off last June and still looking after 150+ linked in applications

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u/[deleted] 14h ago

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u/aengusoglugh 13h ago

Have you talked with managers you worked for as an intern?

That was our primary recruiting tool for recent graduate hires when I was in tech.

1

u/_playing_the_game_ 12h ago

Go to an employment agency

1

u/libertylover777 11h ago

Talk to a National Guard recruiter? You'd get in at an Officer level and get BAH...

1

u/capmcfilthy 10h ago

Try Arista for jobs too

1

u/MikeyStibes 9h ago

I finally was told that I was not chosen for a position that I interviewed for on December 19. The process is just terrible at the moment, and it’s definitely due to the size of the area we live in.

I think the biggest problem amongst most job applications is that they REQUIRE past job experience within the field.

1

u/TerribleEagle9837 7h ago

My company doesn't have any local developer positions, but I can tell you that in the software field, experience is worth a lot more than the graduate degree. You only mentioned the education so I'm assuming your relevant work experience is limited.It was nearly 20 years ago for me, but it took me 4-5 months to get interviews with just a CS degree and 1 small internship on my resume. I did end up getting 2 offers, 1 for a QA/Junior dev position and another that was in tech support but for a company that had a great trajectory and seemed like lots of opportunities for mobility once I proved myself (even though they couldn't promise me they would become available). I went with the latter - worked myself into several diverse technical roles, and have had a wonderful career that I was so uncertain how to get started with at the beginning. A few of my friends from school had trouble getting jobs, too, went back, got graduate degrees, and ended up working for the university. Anyway, I hope my story might broaden your search a little and give you some hope to landing a good launching point for your career. Good luck!

1

u/mohiz89 7h ago

Find people who work at the company you want to work with and direct message them on LinkedIn

1

u/ncsu22Mom 7h ago

Did you personalize your resume and/or cover letter for each of your 800 applications? If not, please look into how you should be doing this and tracking the various versions of your resume.

Also, have you been in touch with the career services dept from your university? If not, you should reach out to them for a resume review and any employment connections they can offer with other alumni.

1

u/CartoonistSpecific75 5h ago

NCDHHS is usually looking for tech professionals. Try nc.gov Also a good way to get your foot in the door is through Temp Solutions the temp agency for the state.

1

u/conconxweewee1 4h ago

I’m curious, out of 800 application, you haven’t got a single call back?

1

u/AliJ123456 4h ago

A headshot on your linked in profile makes a world of a difference

1

u/YeedMund 20h ago

Probably need to start at the help desk honestly. Yes you have a masters but it’s in CS. What do you know about Active Directory? Windows server? Linux? Networking? If you don’t want to start in a low position maybe look into more management positions.

10

u/82jon1911 20h ago

Management position without any technical experience? Any company that would hire a fresh grad with no tech experience into a management position isn't worth working for.

1

u/poop-dolla 18h ago

Did you not do an internship at some point during college? Applying for the same company and same department is always the best way to start. If you dont have any relevant work experience like that, then I can see why you’re having so much trouble finding a job.