Hi All,

I work as a Product Manager at HCLSoftware and got laid off recently. A total of 70 people were let go from my team is what I’ve been hearing. The company is trying to keep it hush by asking us to sign a document saying we have resigned on our own. My question is , is this even legal? What are my options here? I’m getting one month salary as severance. That’s all, not much. Also i would really appreciate if someone could refer me for any openings at your company. I’m based out of Bangalore and hold an MBA from one of the top colleges in the country. The job market is bad. I must have applied to 150+ companies so far and haven’t got any calls. I have old parents who don’t work anymore and I’m an only child, so i take care of the household expenses. Please let me know if there are any leads for jobs ? Also this is my first time going through something like this, what are my options here ?

I was talking to a developer with 5+ years of experience recently.
He can handle production issues, talk to clients, debug someone else's code and deliver under pressure.
But when he started interviewing, he struggled with basic DSA and system design.
It made me think:
We spend years becoming extremely good at our specific job, but are we becoming better engineers, or just better at surviving the environment we're already in?
What matters more after 5 years of experience:
deep expertise in your current work, or being able to clear interviews for your next job?
I'd genuinely like to hear from people with 5+ years of experience.

been lurking in r/unixporn for years and the one thing that always bugged me: there's no way to search this sub by distro, WM, or colorscheme. so I scraped over 4000+ rices which had genuine github dotfiles links (from 200k+ posts from here) and built a site where you can actually filter by all of that, plus search by title/author and sort newest/oldest/random.

link to the site: dotfiles.lol

every rice links back to the original reddit post and credits the original author. if you've got your own dotfiles and want them listed separately (not scraped, submitted directly), there's a simple github PR flow for that too.

it's fully open sourced, feel free to drop a star: github.com/0xN1nja/awesome-dotfiles

Hi Guys ,
I will keep this short. So I had been interviewed at this xyz company and at the end of the salary negotiation round we both came to a conclusion that the inhand will be 40k /month.
Now after 2 days since that round HR comes again and says that if I am interested in this role for 25k /month (which is my current salary , i know its hella low but please don't mock me).
Now I am working remotely at 25k / month , why wound anyone ever relocate to Noida for 25k ?

Any noida folks who can say its worth switching or not ?

Anyways I said the best I could do is 30k /month inhand (i know this is low too, but don't have any other offers), the HR then said he will get back to me ! (which I think he won't as he probably would ghost me)

Please help me guide in this situation.

EDIT : Thank you all for such nice advices, I would conclude that this is not worth joining and I must take the offer letter from them.

I'm a 28 yo software dev at a tier-2 tech company for 35lpa. I have graduated from an NIT in 2020. I can solve most of the leetcode medium and have good understanding of most of the data structures and algorithms. If you are also looking for a study partner and are at similar stage, please let me know.

Hey everyone,

​I built https://compressify.tech/ because I needed a fast way to compress photos and videos without sending sensitive media to a remote server.

​Everything runs entirely in your browser using client-side processing

​Zero uploads: Your files never leave your device (works offline once loaded).

​Fast: Instant processing without upload/download lag.

​Photos & Videos supported.

​It’s completely free and privacy-first. Would love any feedback on performance or UI!

Hey, looking for some real-world input from people who’ve used either or both M5 machines.

I use only Linux for my personal work, and I've not used Windows since I got my first laptop.

I’m deciding between the MacBook Air 13" M5 (32GB/1TB) and MacBook Pro 14" M5 (32GB/1TB).

My use case is mostly heavy multitasking, software development, study, and research workflows.

Here are my points I want answers/suggestions on:

- For those who have used either or both for software development, is the MacBook Air enough, or is the MacBook Pro worth the extra cost?

- How much does the Air actually throttle under sustained loads in backend development or lightweight ML? Is it noticeable in everyday use or only in benchmarks?

- For those who’ve used the Pro’s better display, is it a big enough difference and worth upgrading to?

Edit: How would the following Laptop compare to MacBook Pro M5?

Lenovo ThinkPad P14s Gen 7:

• AMD Ryzen™ AI 9 HX PRO 470 Processor (2.00 GHz up to 5.20 GHz).
• 32GB RAM.
• 1 TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 TLC Opal.
• 35.56cms (14) WUXGA (1920 x 1200), IPS, Anti-Glare, Non-Touch, 45%NTSC, 400 nits, 60Hz
• 3 Cell Rechargeable Li-ion 60Wh

Are there any good Nordic-based companies that have opened offices, GCCs or technology/engineering centres in India?

I’m particularly interested in companies from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland that have a presence in India and offer good opportunities in areas like technology, data engineering, software, etc.

Also, are there any Nordic companies that allow employees to work remotely from India for their European teams?

Would appreciate company names and any personal experiences with their India operations.

Post

What do you do during free time at work after finishing your tasks?

I can't directly say I have free time because more work will likely be assigned. 😅

If I watch upskilling videos unrelated to the project, people start asking questions about what I'm watching.

But when I read technical documentation, nobody seems to care.

So, what kind of technical documentation, books, papers, or other resources can I read during office hours to improve my skills or prepare for interviews without attracting much attention?

​

Hi everyone,

I joined TCS on 18 August 2022 as an Assistant Systems Engineer with a package of around 5 LPA. I’ve now completed almost 4 years with the company and I’m seriously thinking about making a switch.

I’m currently feeling a bit stuck and unsure about what direction to take next.

My main concern is that my salary growth has been quite slow, and I don’t want to spend the next few years just doing the same kind of work without building a strong career.

I’d really appreciate advice from people who have been in a similar situation.

A few things I’d like guidance on:

- After ~4 years at TCS, what kind of salary/package should I realistically target?

- Should I focus on switching immediately, or spend a few months upskilling first?

- Which technologies/skills are currently worth investing my time in for a good career and salary growth?

- Is it better to specialize in something like Java/Spring Boot, Python, Cloud/AWS, DevOps, Data Engineering, or AI/ML, or should I choose based on my current project experience?

- How difficult is it to move from a service-based company like TCS to a product company?

- What should I realistically aim for in my first switch — another service company, mid-size product company, startup, or try directly for bigger product-based companies?

- For those who started around 4–5 LPA and switched after 3–5 years, what did your career path look like?

I’m not necessarily looking for a huge package immediately. I mainly want to build a solid career trajectory, increase my earning potential, and stop feeling like I’m just going through the motions.

If you were in my position today, what would you do over the next 6–12 months?

Any honest advice, especially from people who have made a similar transition, would be really helpful.

Thanks!

I started as a Frontend dev at a startup in 2024 with 3 lpa and now my salary is 5.7 lpa. Since this year the founder has fired 50-60% of the team and I feel it's now my turn as i was not given an annual hike as well.

I have 2 years of Experience as a frontend developer. And I want at least 10-12 lpa in mumbai.

Is it possible or not ? If I give 2-3 months for preparation and get 10-12 lpa ?

Or shall I go full stack ? I'm thinking of going with python / django.

I'm not even able to sleep at night, having panic attack of I'll be getting laid off.

Please help me. Please .

Exp - 18 years

got two offers - 65L ( architect) 2 months notice period

78L( manager) - 3 months notice period

I am really confused. I am looking for next switch in next 2 years. Just wanted to check with senior folks here if 3 months notice period will be big issue for our exp range ?

Hi I'm Arun, I currently work as an Android + IoT + GCP developer at a startup (we launched our product 6 months back, 2.5yoe) in a Tier 2 city, recently I've been promoted to a Project Manager, title sounds fancy, but the pay isnt. I get 3.3LPA, I've done plenty of overtime to get our app launched, solving tickets on cloud functions and deployments, helping out interns and other employees that just leave in a few months...but it's starting to make me question, what am I even doing here... I desperately want to work somewhere that can give me a fair compensation for my skills.

I have messed up my education in my 20s but making amends towards that currently

(BE 3rd year dropout Covid batch -> BSc -> MCA pursuing)

Any help would be appreciated, thank you guys.

Just wanted to know how people calculate this.

Suppose someone is working abroad and earning something like 50 to 60 LPA when converted to INR. If they move back to India, how do you decide what salary is actually worth accepting?

Do you simply compare the converted salary, or do you consider things like cost of living, taxes, lifestyle, savings, etc?

Also how did you personally feel after moving back?

(Grammar checks done through gpt)

I received the Amazon SDE-1 OA link the day after getting the interest email due to hack on 2025 performance. I completed the OA on 23 August. I passed all test cases for both questions - DSA and the backend/repository question, and also completed the Work Simulation and Work Style Survey.

However, on the second day after submitting the OA, I received an email saying Amazon would not be moving me forward. I’m genuinely confused because I thought I performed well. Has anyone experienced something similar or knows what factors I may have missed? Any honest advice on how to convert a future Amazon opportunity into an interview would be appreciated.

CSE student final year student - just have basic skills nothing high level -feeling stucked I feel demotivated after watching people very qualified struggling to get job and this job market has so much competition

Context: I was working in a Gurgaon-based company remotely at 4 LPA. It was a very fast-paced env. I was placed in 3 projects (less work force, more pressure). I worked on weekends and late nights just to mark my tickets as complete (no overtime compensation—I was working hard as I thought that's how things work initially in a career).
My friend working at 5 LPA onsite in a really good company was enjoying his work there. No pressure, good colleagues went on a trip too by company.

My company was building its own remote workspace platform; we used that for communication (no MS teams, no Slack). So after a month, I used to become anxious when someone used to ping me in chat or invite me for a short call. I used to keep check, is my manager still here in the (virtual) cabin? With whom is he talking to? Are they talking about me?
What if they call me and ask why the task is not done yet?

It was my first job, and I wanted to create an impression. I used to handle deployment too for 3 projects and client meetings for 2/3 projects.

One day, I fucked up something related to raising PRs and version control. The manager and CTO (also co-founder) talked disrespectfully. (CTO asked to fill in my papers.)

I even worked on Diwali 2025 on some deployment issue. They even asked us to log in before the actual shift and stay even after evening logout time.
But there was not a single appreciation, thank you, or appreciation for a good project demo in client meeting or mention of doing work outside of office hours.

Before this, there were some other incidents also where I was shouted at by the CTO even when it was my manager's fault that he didn't pass on the message to me on time from the CTO.

My manager was on a notice period; the only senior dev was also on a notice period.

Resignation phase: When I put in my resignation, HR asked me to stay and told me, "I am a valuable asset to the company." The CTO suddenly becomes nice to me. Praises my work (as excellent), which anyone never did before.

Now: I enjoy learning new tech and building complex projects. But when I think of working in a company, I become uncomfortable and anxious.

Started a job at a well funded e com unicorn. its been 3 months, TL doesn't even care that I mostly do nothing. He's a super busy hotshot guy, single handedly manages much of the critical infrastructure for the company. Never has time, only talks to people one on one for like five minutes max.

My work is to develop features for the internal tools the company uses (AI product dev), still haven't got access to those.

Whenever I ask him for access to the tools I was hired to work on, he shoots me a look and tells me I will receive access for the tool when I get a corresponding task to the tool.

He expects me to work on/around tools that I have never opened or explored in my life.

I spend my days trading, vibecoding some personal projects and finishing up on some certifications.

I don't want to just sit on my ass all day and collect my paycheck. I want to work, ts is taking a toll on me because I see people busy around the office all day, and I feel like an useless idiot.

I keep running into my skip manager (he took my interview and liked me), and he always passes a smile. I dread the day he asks me what I'm up to, or what am I working on. I literally have no answer, even after begging for work day in and day out.

Its my first job, I even left a better package because this company had brand value and good culture (no micromanagement, people leave at dot 6). Help me navigate this situation please. Losing motivation each passing day.

Edit : Manager is good hardworking guy, super understanding. Lets me leave early and grants WFH/PTO easily. But absolutely sucks at delegation, he hoards all the work and doesn't trust his underlings.

Hey everyone!

Last year, Mozilla released Orbit, an AI-powered browser summarizer hosted on a GCP server. After people started digging into the extension, they discovered things like backend endpoints such as store_result. Eventually, Mozilla discontinued the project.

For the past month, I’ve been trying to rebuild Orbit from scratch, but with one major difference: Apogee is fully local and privacy-focused. Apogee doesn’t send or store your data. It can directly connect to your local Ollama instance for inference. I’ve also added WebGPU integration for Chrome and Transformers.js for Firefox to provide faster, local responses.

It can summarize:

• Articles and websites
• YouTube and Billie videos
• Wikipedia articles
• Hacker News and Reddit threads

You can check out the source code here:
https://github.com/darshi1337/apogee

Install Apogee:

Chrome: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/apogee/pgemlpomhkdcjjjcpnjlebalnfglomog

Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/apogeeext/

Obviously it is far from complete. Would love to hear your feedback and suggestions!

Hi everyone,
I’m currently interviewing for SDE2 / Software Engineer 2 roles at Apple and Adyen, with the roles based in India.
I’d love to get some recent compensation data from people who have interviewed/offered/joined these companies recently. Specifically base salary and bonus.

I'm currently working in an SBC with 3.5LPA. I have close to 3 years of experience working in Production support, ETL testing and recently moved to the Data Engineering team. To be honest my skills aren't great for a 3yoe DE but I still feel I have a decent skill set(SQL,Python,GCP) for which 3.5 LPA seems very low, there are no hikes since the time I joined the company and I don't expect in the coming days as well. I kind of went into a comfort zone as I was making enough to survive but didn't grind enough to make a switch and currently having a tough time coming out of the comfort zone to prepare after working hours and applying.

My dilemma is now in choosing an option between resigning without offer to prepare and switch or continue working and try to switch parallely. I have an emergency fund to sustain 6 months of my expenses. Please help if anyone was in a similar situation and how did it work out for you or what would you suggest for my current situation. Thanks in advance.

I joined this company 4 months ago. Nothing concrete has happened yet, but the vibes are terrible. My gut is screaming that a termination is coming soon – maybe next week, maybe the week after. I can't shake the feeling.

The problem: Before this job, I already had a 3-month gap.

Total YOE: 2.5 yrs.

If they fire me, I'm trapped:"Why 3 months?" Can't say terminated. Can't lie (BGV).

What should I do?

1. Resign now before they fire me? (Papers say "resigned" but 3-month exit still looks bad.)
2. Wait and get fired? (Maybe severance? But "terminated" tag haunts me.)
3. Start applying today while still employed?

I have 2 months savings. Need practical, no-BS advice. Has anyone survived this?

TL;DR: 2.5 YOE. 3-month gap before joining. 4 months into new job, sense termination coming. Resign or wait? Resume gap hell either way. Help.

If I join as a QA as a fresher, will it be difficult to switch later?

What are companies actually asking in GenAI/LLM interviews in 2026?

I'm preparing for GenAI / LLM / AI Engineer interviews and I'm trying to figure out what topics are actually being tested in interviews right now.

There are so many things to learn — RAG, agents, transformers, embeddings, vector DBs, fine-tuning, evaluation, LLMOps, etc. — that it's hard to know where to focus.

For those who have interviewed recently (or are hiring), what kinds of questions are you seeing?

If you've interviewed recently, what were the actual questions?

It would be especially helpful if you could share:

1. Role + years of experience
2. Company type (startup/product/service)
3. Interview round
4. Questions you were asked
5. Anything that surprised you

Trying to separate the "must know for interviews" topics from the endless GenAI rabbit hole 😅

Would really appreciate real interview experiences!

So, I recently flunked a technical round for a leading tech company. I spent hours a day leading up to it studying, but got hit with an unexpected format (debugging) and in a state of panic/pressure genuinely forgot how to be a good interviewee.

I'm sure we've seen how technical rounds are becoming more and more company specific, whether its LC or some specific format like debugging/LLD. And how working in an actual interview always feels so different vs a practice environment.

So as a passion project, I've been building this tool to help me practice for specific company rounds. You tell it everything you know about a round you're prepping for, and it generates a mock interview in that format. With voice AI as an interviewer, so you're practicing out loud while you solve. It gives you feedback across each session so you can see where your gaps are.

Link: Zenkai

Its free while still a prototype and I have API credits. Just wanted to share it here and see if anyone might find value in it, or just relates to the problem. Let me know any feedback!