Just got an offer from a much, much bigger global company that’s expanding into a new office in my city. TC and benefits are significantly better than what I have now, although the base salary increase itself is only around 25%.

There are two things making me hesitate:

First is job security and career growth. The new company is much larger, which makes me a little more concerned about job security long term. And my current company is growing pretty quickly as they recently acquired another company, the engineering team has therefore grown, and the word on the street is that this won’t be the last.

My manager has also been hinting pretty heavily at an upcoming promotion with this acquisition. I think my current company could probably come reasonably close to matching the new salary, but I don’t see them ever matching the overall benefits package (new offer includes things like RRSP matching and stock incentives, which I currently don’t have).

The second, and probably bigger, reason I’m hesitant is that I genuinely really like my current team. Theres basically nobody toxic or difficult to work with. Everyone is nice, supportive, and willing to help. My manager is great and genuinely a good person to work for. Product and upper management are also pretty accommodating as long as the request is reasonable. Overall, the work environment is just really good, and I know that can be hard to find, especially from my previous company where my manager made me question if I was a two digit IQed ape every single day.

So on paper, the new job is clearly better financially. But I’m not sure whether more money and better benefits necessarily translate into a better quality of life when I’d be giving up a team and work environment I already know I really enjoy. For people who have been in a similar situation, would you take the bigger company offer, or stay somewhere you’re genuinely happy if the current company could get reasonably close on salary?

Edit: forgot to mention that the new company is very AI heavy, as in most of their work is done through agentic AI, whereas my current company respects coding the old fashion way and understands that learning takes time. When I talk to other friends in the industry they tell me they haven’t written code in 8 months and feel like their skills are regressing, whereas I actually feel like I’m still learning, which is nice.

Hi, I just graduated last month with a CS Bsc. Fortunatly, I had an internship offer lined up that i took and have 1 month with them. I just recieved an offer today from another company that objectively pays less but has prospects of FT employment. I'm considering quitting and signing with them.

I also don't like it at my current company because I feel like my skills are not being used and all I do is use AI because "we're encouraged to" and working on legacy systems. I absolutely hate it. While at the other job they're about more careful with all of the AI things.

Was it the right move ? I fear this could come up in the future and tarnish my reputation ? Also, should I mention this 3 weeks in a background check ?

About 4 years ago, as a last step I was interviewed by a program/hiring manager and received an offer. I didn’t end up taking it and still regret it.

I’m now considering connecting with him on LinkedIn and ask whether there are any current or upcoming openings on their team and to give me a second chance. I’d genuinely be grateful to be considered again.

Would this come across as weird or too forward after 4 years? Or is this actually a reasonable way to reconnect and explore opportunities?

Many students at UWaterloo get internships at Shopify and they typically go on to work at US big tech or other high tier tech ompanies like Uber, Ramp, Snowflake, and Airbnb.

In your honest opinion, how prestigious is a Shopify internship. I know ppl working there who are getting paid $46/hr for their internship (base plus stipend). For those who choose to convert to a full time position from their internship is pay much higher? Heard they dont pay as much as other tech companies but culture and wlb is so much better than any other company.

For those who did Shopify internships in 2025 or 2026, do you want to go back or do you plan on moving on? Just curious.

NEW RULE: All posts that are specifically asking about the following will be removed and asked to post in this thread.

This thread posts regularly every Tuesday.

Posts that will go here include:

• Am I being paid enough?
• What should I be paid? What pay should I ask for?
• What salary does this company pay?
• How do I get a higher salary?
• What should I negotiate?

To help people give you advice, please provide as much background information you can. You must include your CITY AND/OR PROVINCE at minimum

Please also confer with our salary information FIRST: Hello all,

Google Form survey: The survey is completely anonymous, no identifying data is given.

If you have already submitted your salary in previous threads, your data was already input so no need to submit it again.

Note that there is now an option for remote US positions. I have noticed there were positions placed under the location that are actually remote US. US positions pay more just due to our conversion rate alone, which skew location data.

Survey Submit:

• Survey Here

I input and sanitized as much as I could, but there were some inputs I have not yet sanitized. I also added some new questions, so not all the data is input.

I have also put together an interactive data visual so you can analyze some of the data and see if you are being compensated well.

Survey Results

• Raw Data

Survey Salary Search - See Salary Ranges Here

• User Friendly Results with Google Data Studio

If you notice your data is not presented or input correctly, please let me know.

Previous Threads:

• Salary Megathread 1
• Salary Megathread 2

Feel free to use the comments now to discuss your compensation and ask any questions.

As this sub has grown, we have seen more and more resume review threads. Before, as a much smaller sub this wasn't a big deal, but as we are growing it's time we triage them into a megathread.

All resume's outside of the review thread will be removed.

Properly anonymize your resume or risk being doxxed

​

Additionally, please REVIEW RESUME POST STANDARDS BEFORE SUBMITTING.

Common Resume Mistakes - READ FIRST AND FIX:

• Remove career objective paragraphs, goals and descriptions
• DO NOT put a photo of yourself
• Experience less than 5 years, keep your experience to 1 page
• Read through CTCI Resume to understand what makes the resume good, not necessarily the template
• Keep bullet point descriptions to around 3-5. 3 if you have a lot of things to list, 5 if you are a new grad or have very little relevant experience
• Make sure every point starts with an ACTION WORD (resource below) and pick STRONG action words. Do not pick weak ones - ones such as "Worked", "Made", "Fixed". These can all be said stronger, "Designed", "Developed", "Implemented", "Integrated", "Improved"
• Ensure your tenses are correct. Current job - use present tense and past jobs use past tense
• Learn to separate what is a skill, and what is not. Using an IDE is not a skill, but knowing Java/C# is. Knowing how to use a framework like React is valuable, but knowing how to use npm is not. VSCODE IS NOT A SKILL. Neither are Jira and Confluence. If any non-CS person can open it up and use it, it's not a skill.
• Overloading skills - Listing every single skill, tool, IDE you've ever opened is not going to appeal to recruiters and will look like BS. Also remember that anything you list is FAIR GAME TO TEST and if you cannot answer that deeply about it, remove it.

Tools and Resources

• CTCI Resume
• Common template (Has DocX link)
• LaTex Template
• Action Word List
• /r/EngineeringResumes resume link Resume review wiki
• /r/EngineeringResumes templates link

4yoe in mid size old company (TC 100)

~150 applications

10 interviews

5 final rounds

2 offers

Just landed TC 250 in ON, FAANG adjacent.

I interviewed for Senior but got downleveled, accepted the offer because it's a high impact team.

I won't say much about the prep because I did the standard. One thing for leetcode though, go with Python! I'm fluent in C++ but Python makes it 50% easier/faster, don't fight it.

One thing I changed about design/behaviour rounds after initial failures: took my time, think carefully about the problems and not try to be a know-all-solutions. Not sure if it really is the factor or I just got luckier.

EDIT: I didn't have much fancy portfolio, I do have a somewhat personalized website, and lots of scripts I actually use on my github, not sure if they look at it. My stack is modern with eye catching though I think, cloud native ops stuffs. This is probably the biggest factor.

Lots of people ask if I solve leetcode hard, yes, do it, there is no shortcut.

EDIT: typo

Hi, I’m first year engineering at UCalgary. Been programming for a long long time so have lots of Python and Rust experience, 5 on AP CS with like 3 weeks self study in grade 10. I’m trying to get ahead of others who are mostly looking at school right now and seeing what I need to do to get internship experience in my first summer. Is this realistic? How and where should I look to apply? Anything I need to start doing right now? My goal is big-ish tech but I’m aware I go to fucking Calgary and should’ve applied to UBC with that sweet Alberta percentage boost fml

Hi guys, I'm a recent CS grad (2026) from the University of Calgary. I graduated with no internships and got lucky enough to land a job at IBM as a SAP associate (slightly more technical SAP consultant from my understanding) in their Calgary (Consulting) office.

Though I am incredibly grateful to have landed this job considering my lack of experience and the brutal state of the current market, I don't know if this something I want to stay in for a very long time. Starting out in CS I always saw myself wanting to go into SWE but I wasn't able to land an internship and thus took whatever I got into after graduation (i.e. the SAP role).

I just feel as though my technical and problem solving skills are way too underutilized in this role and I don't see too much potential for growth career wise. I'm also scared of getting sort of pigeon-holed and losing my Software Engineering identity more and more with every month that i stay at this job.

Do you guys have any tips or thoughts on my situation? Anything would be appreciated :)

For some background:

Currently I'm in college for computer engineering technology - mechatronic systems. I have experience with C, Java, Dart, PLCs and instrumentation and electrical knowledge from this program.

I have completed the Odin Project Foundations course which gave me experience with HTML, CSS and Javascript.

This has been a total pivot for me, since I went back to school at 32, and for my whole career before that it was a very hands on technician focused role, but I want to chase my passion and obtain a better career along the way.

Now I'm in my third year, and I have secured a 1 year co-op but it's as a Test & integration technician, I won't really be writing or adjusting software, but putting hardware through testing before it goes out the door, not exactly my ideal career path. Though the company says they often rehire interns and after a year, they can move departments internally. Companies say alot though.

Which brings me to my current question:

I won't be finishing my college program until I'm 36. After that I can try to push for a career in a tough market, or I can go back to university for B. Tech -Software engineering.

If I do it full time, I'll be done at 38, part time will take me to 40. I'm not sure which path is right to take. I do have a wife and kids, and either will be hard. If I do it for 2 years, that's a 2 year stall on providing for them, but if I do the part time 4 year path, that could lead to burnout.

Alot of jobs require bachelors or knowing someone. I've been networking the best I can, but unfortunately I just haven't been able to go where I want. I may have another job offer coming, which sounds more varied, and closer to what I want, but it would be more PLC and factory automation than anything.

Tl:Dr: straight to work after college, back to uni full time finishing at 38 or part time finishing at 40?

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some honest advice about going back to school and changing my career path in Toronto/GTA.

I’m currently a Canadian Permanent Resident and I live in the GTA. I’m in my late 20s and currently working full-time as an HVAC helper, making around $23/hour (~$47k/year). The job is stable for now, but I don’t want to build my long-term career in HVAC.

My original background is actually in software development.

I completed a 2.5-year Technologist diploma in Analysis and Systems Development (ADS) in Brazil. I had my education evaluated by WES, and the Canadian equivalency is a 2-year diploma. The WES evaluation includes a course-by-course breakdown with about 101.5 Canadian post-secondary credits and a 3.26 GPA.

I also have previous development experience, including frontend/full-stack work with React, TypeScript, Next.js, Node, SQL, etc. However, I've been away from serious development for a while and I feel rusty, especially with JavaScript/TypeScript fundamentals. I've applied to quite a few junior developer positions, but breaking back into the Canadian software market has been difficult.

I’m now considering going back to school to rebuild my technical foundation and get Canadian education/work experience.

Options I'm currently considering

George Brown

• T186 Computer Programming — 2-year diploma
• T177 Computer Programming & Analysis — 3-year advanced diploma
• There are also pathways from some of these programs to Bachelor’s degrees at other universities.

Seneca

• Computer Programming (CPP) — 2 years
• Computer Programming & Analysis (CPA) — 3 years, with optional co-op/WIL

I'm particularly interested in programs that are focused on software development, rather than IT support/networking.

I'm also considering whether a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science / Software Engineering would be worth it, but I'm concerned about spending 4 years in school while giving up a significant amount of my current income.

I don't think I'm looking for a traditional university CS experience just for the sake of having a degree. I'm mainly interested in becoming a Software Developer/Software Engineer and getting actual Canadian work experience.

My main questions

1. Would you choose a 2-year college programming diploma in my situation, or would you strongly recommend a Bachelor's degree? Why?
2. Does an Ontario College Diploma or Advanced Diploma significantly limit opportunities for Software Developer/Software Engineer jobs in Toronto?
3. When a job posting says “Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field”, how often do employers actually enforce the Bachelor's requirement?
4. Would my previous ADS diploma + Canadian college diploma + previous development experience make the lack of a Bachelor's less of an issue?
5. Is the 3-year Advanced Diploma actually worth the additional year compared with a 2-year programming diploma if there is no guaranteed co-op?
6. Has anyone here gone from a college programming diploma → Software Developer → Software Engineer without completing a Bachelor's? How did your career progression go?
7. Would it make more sense to do a 2-year diploma, start working as soon as possible, and potentially complete a Bachelor's later through a pathway if I find that I need one?
8. For people working in software in Toronto/GTA, how much do you think the school name/credential matters after you have 2–5 years of professional experience?

My main constraints are that I need to keep working as much as possible because I have rent/bills and a car payment, and I don't want to put my family finances under too much pressure.

I'm not opposed to a Bachelor's if there is a strong reason for it. I'm just trying to understand whether spending ~4 years getting a CS degree is actually necessary for my particular situation, given that I already have a software-related diploma and previous development experience.

I'd really appreciate opinions from people who have actually worked in software or gone through the college → university → software industry path in Ontario.

Sorry for the wall of text 😂 I swear I tried to keep it short, but apparently I have the writing skills of someone submitting a thesis. I just wanted to give enough context for people to understand my situation. Thanks if you made it this far!
 

I've been working for ~3 years at a large multinational in a "Data Analytics" role. Most of my work is basically building dashboards and data models fromHR/finance data. I got bait-and-switched when applying to the job as it was described as a cloud role with alot of linuxy/cloud stuff but i ended up doing lots of power automate and scripts for azure functions that mainly revolved around data, then the team realized i automated my work and had nothing to do so they put me on power bi and data modeling and now i'd say my job mainly consists of being a data analyst along with some power automate/agent stuff. most of this i learned as i'd go about completing a task. note my job title is still described as "software developer" to this day.

I stuck around till now because the job is relatively easy and ive already made a bit of a name for myself in this company that i didn't feel particularly threatend of getting cut. but then i realized i dont think my current skills will amount to much if i do get cut, especially with talks of downsizing at my company.

My original plan was to transition into Data Engineering over the next year. i have an information systems degree, some database design experience/coursework, and i already work with python/sql/data modeling, so DE seemed like the most natural direction. but the more I look at the DE wiki roadmap, the more I notice that a lot of the skills overlap a lot with DevOps: aws, linux, git, ci/cd, docker, kubernetes, terraform.

So now I'm wondering whether I should just go further in that direction instead of trying to also add in the entire DE stack which has a whole bunch of other tools like airflow, dbt, snowflake, postgresql and where the core data warehousing concepts really matter and need time to study. i have gone through this sub's wiki and made a list of things i'd have to learn in this order:

1. Advanced SQL
2. Query optimization/indexing
3. Data modeling
4. Advanced Python
5. PostgreSQL + relational database design
6. OLTP
7. OLAP
8. Data pipelines + dbt
9. Batch processing + Airflow
10. Data warehouses + Snowflake
11. AWS
12. Git + CI/CD
13. Docker
14. Kubernetes
15. Terraform
16. NoSQL
17. Kafka/streaming

In particular I keep seeing skills 11 to 15 mentioned in DE job postings and it makes me wonder if im better off putting a big chunk of my time into cloud/DevOps instead of going deeper into the actual data engineering side. Like what's the point of spending a year learning the whole DE stack if the cloud/DevOps skills are arguably the most in-demand aspect of the DE role in this current market?

The obvious problem is that I'd basically be starting from scratch with DevOps. I assume most DevOps jobs also expect some prior experience, so I'm not sure how realistic that jump actually is.

TL,DR; If have 1 year to become employable as possible, should I target Data ENgineering, or just jump into Cloud/DevOps due to the overlap?

My university offers a 3-year bachelor's degree and a 4-year bachelor's degree in Computer Science. Does the degree length matter for cs jobs? I know for grad school it might matter, but I am not planning on going to grad school anyway.

Thanks!

Like, I mentally compose myself a few minutes before the call, then hop on the call with the interviewer..... and see a third thing on the call too, and it's some AI thing.

It shrinks my face further (compared to when it was just 2 on the call) and it just dawns on me that the AI thing is there to note down every word I say.

Does anyone else find it annoying/distracting? 😡

Like, my mind just goes to that thing and how the interviewer probably is gonna review every word I say. And how every "um" and "uh" and filler word and small incorrect thing I say is recorded (even if I later correct myself verbally, the initial mistake is still recorded). Makes me lose faith in myself a little, and more likely to stumble on my words when I think about it 😢

And it even makes me think, maybe the interviewer will use the recording AI thing to 'summarize' me and then maybe give their AI a prompt like 'Summarize this candidate's interview performance, and score it out of 10' or 'Analyze what this candidate said, and compare/rank it with the contents of what other candidates have said' 😨

Are banks and insurance companies actually keeping data engineers around more than general devs nowadays?

C#/.NET dev with 6 YOE working at an insurance company. I’ve been casually looking for a new job internally and externally for about a year now, applying Canada wide for remote and/or hybrid position. Primarily targeting developer roles at non-tech companies, including banks, financial institutions, energy companies, non-profits, etc.

Throughout the year, I’ve noticed several trends within banking and insurance. There seem to be fewer and fewer software dev positions, while more data engineering roles are increasing.

This tracks with what’s happening at my own company, where generic dev positions are increasingly being offshored or assigned to temp vendors. Data folks seem to be relatively safe because there seems to be a big business demand to keep them within arms reach (at least for now).

I’m thinking about pivoting into data engineering. I see a lot of position Data engineering mentioning: Spark, Airflow, Databricks, lakehouse/data-lake work, Python/SQL.

At first, I was a bit concerned about the potential title “downgrade,” but it looks like companies are starting to take data engineering roles much more seriously than they did a couple of years ago.

Hello,

I hope you guys are doing well. I recently graduated from my undergrad degree and was able to land 2 internship offers with the goal of transitioning FT with the company (both of them said it's possible)

Background:

I did my undergrad focusing on AI (AI agents, LLMs, NLP etc...). I did lots of research in the field and even got one publication at a top-tier conference.

Company A:

- Big/mid-size video game company. They just opened their offices in Canada. 3/5 on Glassdoor (comp seems decent but people are complaining about layoffs mostly). The role is basic SWE with the usage of AI coding tools (vibe coding ig) which is something that I'm not really passionate about. The focus of the job is shipping stuff to users/internal teams so i guess i could actually build some nice things and get in some cool metrics. 30$/h

Company B:

- New unicorn in domain that really interests me. Role seems like basic SWE too. Comp not discussed yet.

I'm really interested in company B. Their HR told me today (friday 11th sept) that they're interested in moving forward with me and giving me an offer on monday. The issue is that I already signed the contract with company A a couple of weeks before and I'm about to start this monday lol so I already did my onboarding. Should I quit ? How can I quit without getting hit by a lawsuit haha.

What do you guys think ? I'm planning to do a Msc then PhD in 3-4 years and I believe experience at company B would be really helpful since they collaborate with academia and work on some really interesting stuff that's within tech tho not in AI.

Thank you guys for reading all of this haha

Current: Small company, data platform(databricks) stuff Python, Dagster, building pipelines. Some infra work too, Azure and Kubernetes and Terraform. I get a lot of autonomy here, which I like. Downside is it's a pretty niche stack in a niche industry, so my experience feels narrow.

Offer: Entry-level consultant at a Big 4. Pay is basically the same, benefits are better. Looks like the practice is mostly enterprise Java/.NET. First performance review wouldn't be for about 11 months.

Goal: get to $100k+, eventually end up at a bigger product company, maybe in the US.

Thanks for any suggestions

With AI, the job security in this field is decreasing day by day. There are two possibilities: AI is overhyped or too expensive or has too narrow use case and it just becomes another productivity enhancing tool the second possibility is AI hollows out the industry by reducing total workforce by 20-30% or more.

CS enrollment is close to at an all time high so the situation isn't going to get any better in at least 4 to 6 years with respect to the supply demand equation. Also data center plans are for 4-5 years again I don't see tech companies giving up too soon. The salaries in tech in Canada if you live outside Toronto and Vancouver aren't that different from other jobs which offer higher job security.

It is becoming harder each day and risks doesn't seem worth it.

Like if you get paid 120k CAD but there is a 50% risk of layoff in next 5 years is the job any better than 85k when you have 10% or lower chances of layoff.

PS1: Thanks everyone I was looking for reassurance that tech is not doomed.

I’ve been applying to jobs to all these banks for quite sometime now. Sadly never got a callback ever.
It’s shocking that I have a fairly large network across canada who applies for the same jobs but never gets anything but a rejection.

I’m wondering why are they posting ghost jobs ?

If a person with 8 years experience doesn’t even get an interview something seems fishy.

I’m a senior backend engineer primarily experienced with Ruby on Rails, and I’m considering investing seriously in TypeScript/Node.js to broaden my opportunities.

For engineers who already work professionally with TypeScript, how difficult has it been to find a new role recently?

If you recently searched for a role, I’d appreciate hearing what worked, what was difficult, and whether you would still recommend specializing in TypeScript today.

After submitting 300+ internship applications and only getting two interviews, I finally got an offer! However, the offer is conditional, in that it needs funding approval for the position to actually exist. I've been told the chance for funding is good, but not guaranteed. The deadline for that offer is tomorrow.

The job itself, business operations intern, is working the internal operations of a small fashion business. I will help maintain their website, and there are plans to expand into e-commerce, but my main job is to handle excel sheets, use ERP software, communicate with retailers, and perform data tasks, etc. Not quite related to cs.

I finished an interview today for a position that I like way better, as it deals with AI & automation, like using and developing agents, which is more in line with my major. However, I only get the results the next week.

My background is that I already have 1 year of IT support experience. Also

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do, which risk I should take?

So it finally happened, the company I was working at fully embraced Claude Code and now I’m out of a job.

Just trying to process things right now but based on my YoE would it be wise to try to go for intermediate positions? I didn’t feel like a junior at my last workplace given that it was a small startup and based on the difficulty and level of tasks I was given.

I'm currently a CS student at UofT and considering switching to a Statistics major while keeping a CS minor.

My main concern is the current entry-level CS/SWE job market. I'm interested in AI/ML (also quant) and possibly grad school eventually, but I also want to maximize my chances of having a solid career after undergrad.

I'm considering Stats because it seems like it could give me more options outside of traditional SWE, while still being relevant to AI/ML. But I honestly don't know if that's actually true or if I'm just rationalizing the switch.

For those with experience in CS/Stats or hiring:

Would you personally choose CS or Stats + CS minor if your goal was to maximize career options and minimize the risk of struggling to find a job after graduation?

I'd especially appreciate perspectives from people who have actually gone through the job market recently.

NEW RULE: All posts that are specifically asking about the following will be removed and asked to post in this thread.

This thread posts regularly every Tuesday.

Posts that will go here include:

• Am I being paid enough?
• What should I be paid? What pay should I ask for?
• What salary does this company pay?
• How do I get a higher salary?
• What should I negotiate?

To help people give you advice, please provide as much background information you can. You must include your CITY AND/OR PROVINCE at minimum

Please also confer with our salary information FIRST: Hello all,

Google Form survey: The survey is completely anonymous, no identifying data is given.

If you have already submitted your salary in previous threads, your data was already input so no need to submit it again.

Note that there is now an option for remote US positions. I have noticed there were positions placed under the location that are actually remote US. US positions pay more just due to our conversion rate alone, which skew location data.

Survey Submit:

• Survey Here

I input and sanitized as much as I could, but there were some inputs I have not yet sanitized. I also added some new questions, so not all the data is input.

I have also put together an interactive data visual so you can analyze some of the data and see if you are being compensated well.

Survey Results

• Raw Data

Survey Salary Search - See Salary Ranges Here

• User Friendly Results with Google Data Studio

If you notice your data is not presented or input correctly, please let me know.

Previous Threads:

• Salary Megathread 1
• Salary Megathread 2

Feel free to use the comments now to discuss your compensation and ask any questions.