Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS graduated early from Virginia Tech with a computer engineering degree in December 2024, and has been looking a FT position since August 2024. He did internships in his sophomore and junior year. He applied over 1100 positions, received 14 interviews, and two offers. Those two offers were rescinded due to budget cut, and feels so depressed at the moment. Many of his friends who will graduate this week are still jobless who also have multiple internships. I really feel bad for them.

Tell him to seriously consider applying to DOGE. I’m being genuine. I don’t think joining would make him a sellout. A lot of the people in their 20s joining projects like that probably aren’t doing it out of conviction—they’re doing it because they’re struggling to find a traditional job. Some may be socially awkward or neurodivergent and find it hard to thrive in conventional work environments. DOGE as an idea may not be ideal, but given his skills—especially in coding and machine learning—it could be a place where he puts them to good use. He doesn’t need to act like some 20-something with an inflated ego. If he approaches it with maturity, he could actually gain a lot from the experience.
And he can always frame it honestly down the line: the job market was brutal, he didn’t want to sit idle, and he chose to stay sharp and productive. For what it’s worth, I’m 100% not a Trumper, and if he explained that rationale in an interview and came across well, I would absolutely hire him.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS graduated early from Virginia Tech with a computer engineering degree in December 2024, and has been looking a FT position since August 2024. He did internships in his sophomore and junior year. He applied over 1100 positions, received 14 interviews, and two offers. Those two offers were rescinded due to budget cut, and feels so depressed at the moment. Many of his friends who will graduate this week are still jobless who also have multiple internships. I really feel bad for them.

Tell him to seriously consider applying to DOGE. I’m being genuine. I don’t think joining would make him a sellout. A lot of the people in their 20s joining projects like that probably aren’t doing it out of conviction—they’re doing it because they’re struggling to find a traditional job. Some may be socially awkward or neurodivergent and find it hard to thrive in conventional work environments. DOGE as an idea may not be ideal, but given his skills—especially in coding and machine learning—it could be a place where he puts them to good use. He doesn’t need to act like some 20-something with an inflated ego. If he approaches it with maturity, he could actually gain a lot from the experience.
And he can always frame it honestly down the line: the job market was brutal, he didn’t want to sit idle, and he chose to stay sharp and productive. For what it’s worth, I’m 100% not a Trumper, and if he explained that rationale in an interview and came across well, I would absolutely hire him.

Anonymous wrote:DS graduated early from Virginia Tech with a computer engineering degree in December 2024, and has been looking a FT position since August 2024. He did internships in his sophomore and junior year. He applied over 1100 positions, received 14 interviews, and two offers. Those two offers were rescinded due to budget cut, and feels so depressed at the moment. Many of his friends who will graduate this week are still jobless who also have multiple internships. I really feel bad for them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d rather be a recent grad with parents to lean onto for next few years than a middle aged man whose career is being destroyed with little prospects who has two teenagers, a mortgage and family to support and now elder care to also manage.

True. And the grads I've talked to understand this. But knowing things could be worse doesn't really change their situation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not discount volunteering or temping. I used to hire for entry level research/data science type roles and I have hired people who were temps elsewhere in the company that were recommended to me (recent grads who were temping in admin jobs but had great work ethics/personalities so HR would ask them about their backgrounds and they would get referred to me if they were a fit for my team) into full time junior roles. I have also hired people who I met through volunteer or other groups I was in.

No volunteering opportunities for a Computer Engineering major. I work in tech and there is no such thing.

Anonymous wrote:I’d rather be a recent grad with parents to lean onto for next few years than a middle aged man whose career is being destroyed with little prospects who has two teenagers, a mortgage and family to support and now elder care to also manage.

Anonymous wrote:Has he thought about teaching at a STEM-focused secondary school? The teachers at my kid’s school seem happy working in this brainy environment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS graduated early from Virginia Tech with a computer engineering degree in December 2024, and has been looking a FT position since August 2024. He did internships in his sophomore and junior year. He applied over 1100 positions, received 14 interviews, and two offers. Those two offers were rescinded due to budget cut, and feels so depressed at the moment. Many of his friends who will graduate this week are still jobless who also have multiple internships. I really feel bad for them.

I'm sorry, OP. It sounds like he did everything right.

Anonymous wrote:DS graduated early from Virginia Tech with a computer engineering degree in December 2024, and has been looking a FT position since August 2024. He did internships in his sophomore and junior year. He applied over 1100 positions, received 14 interviews, and two offers. Those two offers were rescinded due to budget cut, and feels so depressed at the moment. Many of his friends who will graduate this week are still jobless who also have multiple internships. I really feel bad for them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He needs to move to where the jobs are. I had to do that.

And where is that exactly? OP says he is willing to work anywhere.

Lots of CS work in these metros:
Austin, San Jose, San Diego, Boston

Also lots of CS jobs here and previous posts have listed strategies for finding them.

A lot depends on the CS electives chosen by the srudent, however. There is a surplus in most metro areas of Windows administrators, web programmers (PHP, Java, Javascript, HTML), and other less skill needed CS topics.

Why would you move to any of those places without a job? Like a PP said, those are super expensive locations and there are tons and tons of people applying to every job out there (and everywhere).

Anonymous wrote:He needs to actually leave the house or talk to people to be looking in a hard job market.

How many people has he met for coffee, gone to drinks with, at least have a Zoom meeting or phone call with?

Anonymous wrote:That stinks. I’m sorry.

1. Practice interview skills. Does the career service people at VT offer this? He should contact them and ask for assistance. Since he’s a recent grad they should still offer assistance maybe they could practice interviewing over Zoom.

2. Network. He should contact his old managers at those internships and let them know he’s looking. Contact his top professors to see if they know of any roles. Maybe they know of a listserv or would be happy to connect your child with one of their contacts. He shouldn’t bother everyone but if he had a good relationship with 1-2 faculty he could email them. Do you know anyone? Let friends and family know your child is looking and see if anything comes up.

3. Contact alumni center at VT. He should contact alumni engagement at VT, see if they have any alumni events or things to network and attend those events.

4. Apply for in person roles and apply early. It’s fine to apply after it’s been on longer but if he sees a role he is interested in he shouldn’t wait weeks to apply. If I see a role and it has been up for 3 days I try to submit by day 7. Some hiring managers look at applications on a rolling basis and he might look better applying earlier. Everyone wants remote jobs now so he can apply to those but apply to more in office roles.

5. Diversify where he applies. Apply in smaller markets. Also apply all over! He’s young and can move. A friend of mine got an excellent opportunity in a very small city because not many people wanted to move there and it was in person! Everyone else in their field wanted NYC, Boston, etc and they got an excellent opportunity in a smaller market. Other people they know are still looking because they only wanted the major cities.

6. It’s early days. He graduated in December and even though he started looking in August many schools look at career data from 6 months after graduation so he technically still has until end of June to get a job for it to be “normal.” In this economy it might take longer.

7. Can you pay for some kind of online certificate while he’s applying? Maybe some kind of AI online certificate? This might make him more appealing. Only do this if you have the money / it would be helpful to his field. There are also some free ones.

8. Have him volunteer or do something. Look into a nonprofit or maybe some kind of area he likes and maybe he can volunteer 10-15 hours a week. Let’s him meet new people/ put something on his resume and make his network larger. Maybe someone where he is volunteering will know someone who has an open role.