r/cscareerquestions • u/CSCQMods • 12d ago

Interview Discussion - August 27, 2026

Please use this thread to have discussions about interviews, interviewing, and interview prep. Posts focusing solely on interviews created outside of this thread will probably be removed.

Abide by the rules, don't be a jerk.

This thread is posted each Monday and Thursday at midnight PST. Previous Interview Discussion threads can be found here.

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u/Sjain1234123 11d ago

Hello I'm a Senior Eng with ~4 YOE looking for a new role. I was wondering if people had any anecdotal advice for getting interviews for specific roles in the current market, given how cold applying is essentially useless. Are people cold reaching out to recruiters, trying to connect through engineers, etc? What is a proven approach?

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u/ObeseBumblebee Senior Developer (Graduated in 2012) 10d ago

My strategy that worked and found me a job within 5 weeks of unemployment (and a really good remote job with a strong mission):

My first week and a half of unemployment I focused entirely on a portfolio project. One that emphasized my skills in system design and end to end software development with AI integration and tooling. Build something that you love to talk about.

I built a fantasy space station scenario. Because sci-fi is cool and fun to talk about.

Once I had that in place I talked about it. I posted it on linked in. Talked about all the pieces of it and what it showed off.

I kept a regular presence on LinkedIn. At least one post a week and one comment every couple of days.

What this does for you is keep you on the algorithm. It keeps you in recruiter searches.

From there almost all my interviews came from recruiters finding me. Not the other way around.

In total I applied for about 12 jobs directly, and was reached out to by dozens of recruiters.

I interviewed with about 10 companies. Landing 2 offers.

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u/Dymatizeee 11d ago

Startup CEO interviewed me and asked "What do you do that makes you a 10X coder, a top 1% coder"

My first time hearing this; i thought it was just memes on LinkedIn. Is this a good question, and if so, what is a good respond to it..?

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u/ccricers 11d ago

It sounds like they are trying to reaching blind for unicorns. But many startup founders are the gambling type.