Comment by lurking_swe

Sorry - little sympathy here. I acknowledge the market is much worse this year and last year.

But I started at a lame crappy job 10 years ago after college. It’s not a big deal, it gets your foot in the door and then in 2-3 years you can move up to a better company. I did this a couple times and after 10 years i’m now working at a faang adjacent company (household name but not part of faang).

That’s what normal life looks like for a typical CS grad. The fact you think getting a job at faang is expected or normal right out of the gate shows you’re in a bubble. It happens, and i’ve worked with colleagues who did it, but it’s not the norm.

and nobody is changing the world with their code, unless you’re linus torvalds or similar. best to squash that naivety earlier than later lol. It’s a job, and a passion for some (like myself). that’s it. It’s also healthy to find additional hobbies outside of the computer - something i learned the hard way.