Hello everyone, I’m a 2025 B.Tech CSE student, and I’m feeling incredibly frustrated with the whole job recruitment process right now. On-campus placements have been a nightmare. It’s disheartening to see companies prioritizing non-technical skills when hiring freshers. Worse, the online assessments are often poorly proctored, leading to blatant cheating. Even when there is proctoring, somehow people still manage to get through. It’s honestly demotivating.
What frustrates me the most is when I’m not shortlisted for the next round, despite solving the DSA problems quickly and confidently. I can’t figure out where I’m falling short.
When it comes to off-campus opportunities, it feels like I’m hitting a wall. Despite my dedication to competitive programming—being an Expert on Codeforces, 6-star on CodeChef, and Guardian on LeetCode—it still seems like it’s not enough to make it through.
If anyone could offer some advice, guidance, or even connections for SDE opportunities, I’d really appreciate it.
Thank you.
Get this shit out of here. Go to reddit or leetcode discuss. Also, I wonder why any recruiter will be interested in those CP "achievements" you mentioned. Having them on your resume is cringe.
Let the man vent. Leetcode would absolutely ignore his post, and reddit would tell him to become trans and worship satan.
That sounds like the kind of thing a newbie would say.
I love how you complain in your blog about "blatant cheating", while you have an entire contest skipped in May 2024. I feel like you should have a good look at yourself before complaining about anyone else.
may is not so far?
he maybe changed after that?
I think you should learn about facts vs stories in applications (I learnt it in the context of college, but I think it can apply anywhere).
Facts are easily weighed against each other. For instance, a fact might be something like "1600 Codeforces rating." Here's another fact: "1800 Codeforces rating." See how the latter is much better than the first? If facts were all that colleges (in your case, a company) were enough to select an applicant, then nobody would be the perfect applicant, as there would be someone below your rating, and someone higher than you.
Stories are not easily weighed against each other. "I volunteered at my local pet shelter" vs "I went on a 24 mile bike ride to raise money for leukemia patients." (again, more in context of college apps). Both have their own places to shine, but you can't compare the two.
In your case, regarding a job, the facts would be what you have listed. Expert on Codeforces, 6-star Codechef, etc. If facts is all you have, then there is someone who has "better" facts than you. But nobody can have a better story than you, which in your case would be stuff like coding projects.
I'm going to give you some life-changing advice. Once upon a time, I was in your shoes. I was all mad and sad about trivialities, but then I figured out that the key to life is just going with the flow and trusting in the Lord. You shouldn't even care about getting a job, because it always seems to work out in the end. When has it not? Believe it or not, the jobs will come to you if you trust in God.
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." — Psalm 23:6.
Didn't work out for me, but fine.
Do I need to post another encouraging Bible verse to get my point across?
I get what you are saying which is why I said "But fine". Since worst thing to do would be to discourage them. Your "god" idea is mostly a psychological support and I don't disagree with it.
But things don't always end well, and this placement thing didn't end well for me.
That is what I meant by the above.
Codeforces is limiting my comment rate, so I must split this comment into two replies. I apologize for the inconvenience.
To The5threich:
My advice was that, if you trust in God, things would eventually work out for you. You stated that things did not work out for you, but it is also true that you did not trust in God. I get that you're frustrated, but at this point in our conversation, you shouldn't really be complaining about things not working out for you, as you have not trusted in God.
I hope that I have not come off as rude, as that is not my intention.
To happy-frog:
Wow, how will God ever recover?
Is there even a "God" who will recoveR? We must trust in quantum physics which believes in uncertainity: God may ecist, God may not exist. One must prepare for either.
Is it not just: placebo believing in God? Human body wills it: should we ingest medicine, valid or not, it will help. So God is just but fake then of course.
How lucky that job come to yuo after God? If not then worry not: just believe in God more. If still not keep believing. This is called toxic positivity. Hence religion is false.
I agree
chill bro, cp is more important than job.
But only having paid job one can do cp.
CP is not enough, companies need to make money by building products or getting information from data!
Same situation. Think it's better to remove cp achivements and put some small projects. Also some companies are afraid to take cp peeps as they they can switch jobs pretty easily.
I failed 6 interviews BTW
Wait till you interview with big tech companies and see their behavioral interviews. There's a reason why average engineering level at meta and google is absolute garbage. People always think about top teams from fair\gbrain doing cutting-edge research or guys from google sre who can achieve six nines and think the entire company is like that. But in reality most of L5 recent hires outside of those top teams are only good at sucking corporate dick and are absolute trash at actual engineering, while people who are capable doing actual job instead of talking are filtered out because of behaviorals and instead join smaller and more efficient companies.
It's important to realize that working at a company where cheating is common means you'll likely face a toxic and unhealthy work environment. Getting into such a place isn’t a win—it can hold you back. Instead of feeling motivated, you might find yourself in a negative atmosphere that drains your energy and slows your growth. Working in such a culture can kill your passion and make it harder for you to improve and succeed.
So, while it may feel frustrating right now, consider the fact that rejection from these types of environments might actually be protecting you from a negative experience. Your skills deserve a place where they can truly shine, and you deserve to work with people who inspire and challenge you in positive ways. Keep pushing, and you’ll find that the right opportunity is worth the wait! :)
Competitive Programming will not guarantee you a job. For that you're probably better off just learning React.js or something lol.
I have experience in react.js too
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Toilet chamka, maa chuda
I don't feel that "non-technical skills" is the right way to put it. Also, you can increase your ratings to expert on codeforces if your target is to put it to make an impressive CV(Cheating and group formation for contest specific, etc.). So it's good if you can clear an OA using your friends and bypass the ATS. So other people are the same as you at the time of placement and internship. Also, many companies hire according to their job description(IDT if Microsoft has a job description they just need girls). Do some good projects and give a try to research internships if you are interested(it will help in the future).
Honestly, when it comes to cheating and the hiring process, it's the same across India.