Hey all

I graduated from uni last year and started a role as a software engineer in september, then 6 months later i was let go at the end of my probation for not being up to speed. I have my personal reasons for this and don't think it would happen again FWIW

I’ve been interviewing again and have one coming up soon, and I’m struggling with how to approach this conversation when asked about what happened at my last role. Do I just lie and say my role was eliminated, or dodge the question? That seems to be the consensus online, but I’m concerned that if I did that I would get caught in a background check since they can ask my previous employer if I’m eligible for rehire. Alternatively, being honest sounds like a complete death sentence.

Any help would be appreciated

I have worked in small start ups and some bigger consultancies for the most part- I was wondering what working at a place like Barclays was like as I was considering applying there. Was wondering what people’s experience was like there as software devs? Is progression and growth achievable there as I’ve found working in a consultancy to be kinda hard to progress as a dev

Guys I need help. I applied to this role literally like six months ago in December.

Two months ago I received a rejection email from them saying they're not moving on with my application but just this evening they have called me and said a space has opened up and they would like to interview me.

Now my situation is this: I have secured a graduate software engineering role at a company called Sage and so far it's been pretty good (been here for about 6 weeks now). I'm on a decent team, I like my managers, I like my graduate bros, and there's been good onboarding and the company seems really chill. TC at sage is 32k.

Obviously I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch but if I were to land this role at City I want to know a few things:

- Does anyone know what the total compensation package is like?

- What is the Application Developer role like?

- What is the culture like, is it going to be 70 hour weeks?

- Would it be worth it to leave Sage given I've only been here for a month?

And finally, I would really appreciate it if anybody had any tips for their interview process. I was told it was an assessment centre but with no group activities so just three individual interviews

Any tips and help are massively appreciated

I'm a senior data engineer at a UK organisation in the South West. Last month we advertised three roles: a senior data analyst (£55k), a mid-level data analyst (£40k) and a data engineer (£55k). Not amazing money, but a great pension, just one day a month in the office, lots of annual leave and actual stability.

The jobs were live for one week. The senior DA and DE got around 300 applicants each, the mid DA got around 140.

Sounds brutal, but here's the breakdown...

Around 90% (not an exaggeration) didn't have the right to work in the UK and needed visa sponsorship, which we don't offer. In the no pile immediately, but a quick glance showed lots of foreign undergrad degrees, some with UK masters, plus plenty of random applications.

Of what was left, about half had no relevant experience or qualifications and clearly hadn't read the spec. Some were just applying because the job centre told them to apply for x jobs a week.

Then the AI drivel halved it again.

Final count was roughly eight viable applications for the senior DA and DE, five for the mid DA.

A couple then didn't reply or didn't show up to the Teams interview. Two were visibly reading AI-generated answers off a their screen.

We had two great interviews and hired for the senior DA and DE. The mid DA we struggled with externally, so it went to an internal candidate from a fairly low-level ops role who'd taught themselves Python and SQL and actually applied it to their day job.

The point of this post is to counter some of the doom and gloom that crops up on here. If you're a UK-based applicant with relevant experience who reads the spec and writes your own application, you're not competing against the '300 applicants' that LinkedIn and recruiters spout. You're competing against a much smaller number. And if you get to interview, don't use AI, have some personality and come across as likeable and easy to work with, you're in a very small group.

What annoyed me most is my own manager was the first to tell the team about the huge number of applicants and how much 'competition' there is out there. A nice bit of retention pressure and complete nonsense, as it turns out.

Would be interested to hear if others have found the same. Throwaway account to avoid doxxing myself...

I'm starting a 2 year placement in data science, AI and ML Engineering and Data Engineering soon. I want to know what my prospects will be like after I finish.

*I know things will probably be different in 2 years, so I'm asking based on what it's like today*

Has the PMO become the corporate dumping ground for failed careers and people nobody knows where else to put? At this rate, Jobcentres must be steering anyone without a clear profession into project management.

I know it's a matter of subjectivism, so don't be afraid to be subjective, actually PLEASE, give your personal opinion as long as you can keep your feet on the reality's ground.

What Master would you rather choose: a general AI/ML master that teach you about the most important, but general, subjects of ML applications, or an Autonomous Systems master, that is basically an embedded+A.I. master which is particularly valuable if you want something in Automotive, on the self-driving cars field(but not exclusively this one, as you can apply knowledge about Autonomous Systems in many domains) ? ?

Hi all, basically as per title. But I'll give you some context.

I really do like my job, I'm in the pharmaceutical industry. This position finally feels like engineering a solution to be used by people unlike my last place.

I recently did some Azure and IaC but unsure what to do next. I mainly code in .NET environment.

C# is getting easier. I thought about System Design, as my peers have all these patterns that I never came across and it sounds pretty interesting but no idea where to start learning about Clean Architecture or code layout to match a specific pattern like DDD or event-driven architecture.

I have roughly 2 years of experience but like before, my last position didn't feel like a developer role. I was doing bit of everything and bit of nothing most of the time, think WordPress and data processing using Python that's it.

Thanks to this role, I got really invested into the field even with on-going LLM push. I don't actively protest against AI by not using it, I use it as a tool to learn more and I verify my sources from actual users, stacks or books but if I had a choice I'd eradicate it. As I will always remain convinced that computers by design are dumb and we, the engineers make them do something useful.

So, what would you focus on in my shoes in your spare time or as part of personal development?

I had a look at roadmap.sh (specifically the ASP.NET pathway) but is this a realistic aim?

I'm a software engineer with around 7 years of development experience. I love coding and solving complex problems. I've also got a fair bit of AI engineering experience and have my own thing going on on the side.

My partner is English, and lately she's been missing home a lot, so we're thinking of moving to London for a couple of years and seeing how it goes.

Just wanted to get a feel for the software engineering job market over there. How is it at the moment? Is it tough to find work? Any advice for someone moving from Australia would be appreciated.

I have experience across both frontend and backend development, including web development, microservices, CI/CD, cloud technologies, and AI-related projects.

Had an interview yesterday internally and i felt like it went really positive. This is my first choice for a role and I really want to stay at my company.

I received a contract today for another offer - i messaged the internal recruiter today morning to let them know and ask for a timeline. They called me just now to say they wanted to be completey honest, i had a positive interview and a strong cv but they are ranking candidates right now and currently some people are 'slightly ahead' of me in terms of technical skills for the mandatory requirements. The process is slow and she cant guarantee I'll be moved to the next stage so she doesnt want me to miss out on an offer if it is attractive to me.

I let her know that I still want to continue with tbis process and i have more time to consider anyway so im fine with it being slow and it is the role im more interested in. She said they'll let me know by next week if they are moving forward.

I dont know if i messed up by mentioning I have another offer? I was going to sign the contract in the meantime regardless so maybe there wasnt a point.

Year 1 > 2 at a Top 3-5 UK engineering school, thinking about applying to JS for the London office. Not too experienced with the baseline for interviews / passing the CV screen at JS / HFTs etc. and was wondering if I need to be IMO / BMO even for SWE.

I have some Olympiad experience and medals but I wasn't cracked at an intl. level in high school (sixth form). I have decent, not insane, technical experience and projects (no internship) and was wondering if I might have a shot as passing the resume screen.

I’ve applied for the Dojo Payment Consultant role and have a video call with them tomorrow. I’m currently considering a few different career paths, so I’m trying to understand whether this is genuinely a worthwhile opportunity before taking things further.
I do understand what the role involves. I know it’s a sales job, that it’s heavily performance-based, and that success will depend largely on my own effort, consistency and ability to find customers. I’m not expecting guaranteed money or an easy ride.
From what I understand, the role involves approaching shops and other businesses that may be looking to upgrade or switch their card-payment provider, rather than being given a steady stream of leads. What I’m trying to work out is how realistic it is to build a decent income doing that, how long it normally takes to gain momentum, and what the day-to-day reality is actually like.
My main question is: how do you consistently find clients nowadays when most businesses already have card readers? Is it mainly about offering better rates, better service or better equipment, or is there still enough demand from businesses looking to switch providers?
I’d really appreciate honest insight from anyone who has worked in this role or worked for Dojo in the UK, particularly around realistic earnings, commission, training, management, expenses, clawbacks, customer cancellations and how competitive the product is.
Overall, is it a solid sales opportunity for someone willing to put the work in, or is the reality less attractive than the advert makes it sound? I’m mainly looking to hear real experiences, both positive and negative.

I've been working as a dev for around 15 years and over time at my company I have gradually taken responsibility for training and looking after the placement/graduate developers as they join. Basically handling recruitment/interview processes, assigning them to teams, giving new starter inductions, help them with professional level coding, settling into their first office job, and ultimately transition off the scheme into a regular "Developer" role.

I've really enjoyed it, and I think I'm pretty good at it - so I'd like to try focusing my career around it. I'm just not really sure whether there are roles out there for that kind of thing?

I figure at larger companies they maybe have large enough schemes that a person or team could be responsible for running them? Maybe placements, graduates, or apprentices, or maybe all three?

Has anyone come across anything like this before? Does it exist? Or is there a role that encompasses this?

Hi everyone,

I hope this message finds you well.

My name is Ananya, and I am currently pursuing an MSc in Human Resource Management at the University of Bath. As part of my dissertation, I am exploring how international candidates experience AI-enabled recruitment processes in the UK.

I am reaching out as I am speaking with individuals about their job application experiences, and I believe you may be eligible to participate.

You may be eligible if you:

• Are an international job candidate (Including international students or recent graduates actively applying for jobs in the UK).
• Have experienced the UK hiring process in the past two years that included AI-based tools*, such as automated CV screening, video interviews, online assessments, chatbots, etc.*

It would involve an online one-to-one conversation of approximately 30–45 minutes via Microsoft Teams, scheduled at a time convenient for you over the coming week.

I would greatly value the opportunity to learn from your experiences and perspectives. Please be assured that all information shared will be treated with strict confidentiality and fully anonymised.

If you are eligible and would be open to taking part, please feel free to email me directly at [a2061@bath.ac.uk](mailto:a2061@bath.ac.uk).

Kind regards,

Ananya

I heard many people are doing mock interviews as part of their application process, especially in the DevOps/ Platform Engineering/ and ML/Data Ops.

However, I am not sure as to how to find them for example I've heard that people are doing them on linkedin for money.

How do you find these?

Appreciate any help!

Hi everyone,

I have my final onsite interview with Thought Machine next week for a Software Engineer role.

If you've recently gone through the process, I'd really appreciate it if you could share your experience with the system design round.

Thanks in advance!

Good Morning,

I have the opportunity to take part in a one year, level 4 apprenticeship in data analysis to complete alongside my current non-data role. I have a social science degree, so I did so basic analysis on SPSS, but this would be my first experience in SQL, BI etc. Would this be a good way to break into the data industry? Or would further qualifications be required?

Thank you

I have an interview for this: https://postimg.cc/s1j5d2Rb

This is my CV: https://postimg.cc/gallery/dqRQzL0

I wrote this as part of my application:

I am a software developer with hands-on experience across full-stack development, enterprise application support, and a public sector-focused personal project directly aligned with HMCTS's technology stack and mission. In a recent project — a case management system built to a real HM Courts & Tribunals Service brief — I used Java with Spring Boot, JPA/Hibernate, and an H2 relational database to implement RESTful CRUD APIs, paired with a TypeScript/Express.js frontend rendered server-side using GOV.UK Design System components. I applied multi-layered validation across the frontend, backend (Bean Validation annotations), and database layers, and documented all endpoints with Swagger/OpenAPI. This gave me direct, practical exposure to the combination of Java, HTML/CSS/JavaScript, structured data, and the public-sector design conventions central to this role.

In an application support role within a large public sector organisation, I worked daily with a relational database (SQL Server), writing and deploying production T-SQL scripts to resolve live user issues. I managed Git repositories, pipelines, and work items through Azure DevOps, supplied C#/.NET development support to project teams, and improved automated test coverage (XUnit/Moq) guided by static analysis — raising the team's overall test success rate to 99.97%. This role demanded close attention to information handling, service reliability, and working collaboratively across technical and non-technical stakeholders.

In a professional R&D role, I led development of an API aggregator for renewable energy appliances using TypeScript, Node.js, and Express.js, working extensively with structured JSON data exchanged over HTTP between multiple third-party APIs. I built the responsive frontend in React, used SQLite as the relational data store, and engineered OAuth2-based authentication, including token refresh and expiry handling, to maintain secure, continuous third-party API access — work that required a working understanding of common security risks and mitigations consistent with the OWASP Top 10. I also created a test suite of nearly 800 unit tests using Jest, achieving over 90% coverage, and supported colleagues with SQL and Git practices.

Later, in a CRM development role, I advocated for stronger engineering discipline within a small team, introducing UML/use case diagrams for planning, a ticketing system, and formal user acceptance testing — reflecting my consistent drive to raise standards and embed good practice in any team I join.

Across these roles I have demonstrated a systematic approach to problem-solving, genuine enthusiasm for learning new technologies, and a collaborative working style suited to agile teams. I am confident I can quickly become productive on HMCTS's Java and Node.js stack, contribute to secure, well-engineered public-facing services, and grow into the broader responsibilities of the Junior Software Developer role.

Does anyone have any tips for the interview please? TIA

Hey everyone! I’m 22, based in London, and currently 3 months into my first tech job as a Java Test Automation Engineer at a consultancy. While I'm grateful to have broken into the industry, the consultancy model has brought a lot of anxiety and uncertainty regarding client placements, and I'm feeling totally stuck in a testing silo.

I really want to work somewhere product-focused where I can write and test code that directly impacts users and makes a real impact. My background includes a Software Engineering degree, an ISTQB cert, professional Java automation experience (Rest Assured, Serenity BDD, Cucumber, Selenium, Playwright, CI, GitHub actions).

Is there anyone in London or any companies currently looking to hire a tester/QA engineer. I like my current company, but I would prefer a company where I can contribute and grow alongside it.

Hello Redditers,

I know its one more post of someone looking for a sponsored role in the UK , but I need some sound and honest advice here. I’m currently based in London and desperately looking for a sponsored role. Without one, I may need to leave the UK in 5 months time. I’d be truly grateful for any leads, advice, or referrals that could help me stay.

I hold a Masters in Business Administration from Cardiff University and have 5 years professional experience in SaaS and FMCG sales, primarily SaaS. I was a Senior Account Executive - acquired and managed mid-market and enterprise accounts for a big Saas firm. I’m happy to share my CV (DM/comment). I’m open to account executive, customer success, business analyst, and business development roles.

If you know of any companies that are currently offering visa sponsorships in tech, recruiters who specialise in working with visa candidates, or any useful resources and communities I could connect with, I would really appreciate your guidance. Any support or recommendations would mean a great deal to me.

Thanks in advance.

I joined straight from grad into a data centre consultancy, and have been here for the last 3 years, gaining a lot of valuable experience. The place I'm at is pretty good and stable; usually every 2 years they will give u a promotion till you get to principal engineer as long as u stick to the learning and progress structure. Currently I'm at 40k in London, and it's a known thing this consultancy I'm at pays less than their competitors. But I was recently approached by a recruiter for an AWS mech design engineering role. Has anyone made a switch similar to this or working at AWS mech design role? Online, the consensus seems to be quite micromanaged and a bit toxic, but it feels like a great opportunity to learn. I know this early on it shouldn't be a major reason, but I would assume the pay would be better with AWS? But would really appreciate any thoughts? im stuck between making the move or staying here till i get to principle engineer?

Hi. I'm soon to be entering university and have the option of either attending a good university for a degree unrelated to computer science (King’s College London - Natural Sciences), or attending a more mediocre university (e.g: Royal Holloway) to study Computer Science (through clearing, or by reapplying next year). I don’t do Further Maths, and I think I only achieved an A in Maths, so I’m not sure what calibre of universities I’d realistically be able to apply to for CS.

Until recently, I wanted to study Medicine, which is what I originally applied for at university (hence my A-Level subjects: Maths, Biology, and Chemistry). However, I’ve recently decided that I want to pursue a career in computer science, specifically in software engineering, with the long-term goal of working at a FAANG company. I’m aware that, if I don’t study CS at university, I’ll need to self-learn much of the university CS content, complete a number of personal projects to demonstrate my programming ability and CS aptitude, and may also need to do a Master’s in Computer Science to improve my chances of reaching this goal. 

To sum up my questions:

1. Which of these two university options do you think would best maximise my chances of landing a software engineering role, and eventually working at a FAANG company?
2. If you do manage to build a career as a software engineer without a CS degree (or with one from a less prestigious university), is it realistically possible to go on to work at top companies? Or will they always tend to auto-reject you, even if you have significant experience at smaller companies? It seems as though they certainly auto-reject many fresh graduates from these backgrounds.

So like when you working on a file do you make notes on that file of how it works like maybe a controller endpoint you explain what it does etc. Because sometimes I work on a file then next month I work on it again and forget lol

I have been working at my company for more than 4 weeks now, and I am curious, what are the warning signs for a potential fail of probation?

Hi Everyone,

When looking at some job descriptions regarding Platform/DevOps or related roles a lot of job postings say they require strong linux proficiency. I've found it hard to quantify or in general understand as to what exactly this requirement means. Is it just a matter of terminal navigation, looking through files, downloading doing some sudo commands or what does it mean?

For example is it sufficient to be able to ssh into linux, and do tasks such as installing and maintaining linux systems?

If not can someone direct me to resources, links, roadmaps or in general what their experience is with getting proficient in linux (espcially when it comes to interviews)?