Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends

Service industry (waiting tables is my go to) doesn't pay well but it does pay...

I worked at Stinkies Fish Camp as a dishwasher fwiw after my 6 years as a Cyber Threat Operator in the AF (2012 government sequestration did wonders to clearance renewals). It sucked, but I lived. Well, survived.

Best of luck, always keep a candle of hope to a wildcard interview!

This is indeed a very rough time to be graduating. You're unfortunately getting screwed. It happened to me too in '08/'09, so I know very well how shitty it can feel. Try to be stoic about it though and just worry about the things you can actually change, not what you can't change.

Here's my advice and what I would do in that situation again, though you should definitely adjust/adapt to your strengths/goals:

1. Don't "spray and pray" your resume out there (at least, don't do that to jobs you actually want). When jobs get tight it feels natural to want to spread your (resume) seed as widely as possible hoping one will germinate, but realistically that doesn't work. Instead I would find job postings that you want, and make yourself spend 20 to 30 minutes tailoring the resume for the job. Don't lie or even exaggerate, but don't include irrelevant information and definitely don't omit anything relevant. If it's something you have and it's mentioned in the job post, it should be on your resume, unless you don't think you could speak intelligently on the subject. For example I put in a job posting I needed someone with bash scripting experience, then interviewed somebody who put bash on their resume, but when I asked about it they hadn't done much more than just run simple commands. They didn't even know how to set a variable in bash. They did not get an offer.

2. Be willing to take something in QA or another adjacent area even if you feel it is beneath you (especially being from MIT. You went to a phenomenal school and deserve to be proud, but don't let that turn into counterproductive pride). Even the best school only partially prepares you for the workforce, and you can learn a ton even slinging test code. (to be honest, my time working in QA was one of the most enjoyable because I didn't have to deal with Product :-D). Being humbled to dust a few times in life has (IMHO) ultimately given me much better perspective on myself.

3. Take a look for Professional Services and/or Support Engineer roles that involve some coding. These are often a little less pay, but they are also more plentiful and the competition is much lower because many people avoid these roles. However, this can be a great way to get your foot in the door and pivot to a full SWE role 6 to 12 months down the line. You can also get some incredibly useful experience in these because you'll work will real customers/users and will learn a ton about product, bug hunting, and building clever solutions to solve real problems. You'll also gain industry experience in whatever industry your employer is in, and that can be invaluable for getting your next role. I worked with someone who started as an L1 support with no schooling, learned to code, started automating small parts of his job, and also learned a ton about the finance industry. He later got a fantastic job in large part because he knew a lot about loan origination and underwriting from working with customers. If you do this, talk to and get to know the engineers you work with. Not just to use them to pivot, but to actually get to know them as people and also learn from them. Many of them will be able to give you excellent advice and mentorship to help you get to where you want.

4. (this one can be a bit controversial but it's my opinion): Don't just look at local options. Moving sucks, but there are lots of great jobs in areas with rapid growth that will even sometimes pay for your move. I would definitely look in areas like Texas, Utah, and Colorado. I've even seen some interesting roles coming out of Arkansas, Chicago, and Minnesota as well. Hell, Boise Idaho has some good roles pop up here and there too, especially if you are interested in embedded systems.

5. Unless you are well differentiated in it, I would avoid chasing "AI" or even "Big Data" roles as those are insanely competitive and saturated right now, so you'll be competing against people with a ton more experience than you. Also everyone is currently throwing cash at AI, but I think the vast majority of those companies aren't going to see anywhere near the ROI they expect and will start slashing. As a n00b you'll be among the first to get the axe, and even if you don't you may find the work drying up and getting assigned stuff that isn't what you want to do. Generally speaking I recommend trying to work on whatever core product the company makes, excepting maybe if you're a researcher and it's a big tech co

Broaden your search. Apply to startups, for less money / more equity - there are plenty of them in the Boston area. Basically just do a sober assessment of how much you need to live on (perhaps with a roommate), add 30% to that and that's your minimal acceptable cash-side compensation. Do that for some time (a year or more), learn, move on. While you work, set aside some money for the rainy day. This is not optional, you have to do it even if you don't set aside a ton. Fundamentally, you have to stand out and you have to start building a track record. How much money you make in your first job is not very important. I'd say what you _do_ in your first job is more important. That's what people see in the resume. Good luck, and remember - you've got the very best education available. Do not sell yourself short in job 2 and so on.

I never had any internships and I didn't gradute from a well-known university. During my senior year of college, I took on low-paying software development contracts I found on craigslist.

I used this as previous experience and found a job right out of college. I also learned a lot from this experience and used the same skills to find work during the 08 crash and never really had a loss of income during this time.

I’ll echo a couple of other people who have said to network. This was many years ago, but when I was in college and applying for jobs I was getting no interest at all. No interviews… not even an email response acknowledging receiving a resume. Then a person that I knew who had graduated the previous year was at a campus event, I started talking to her, and she told me the company she worked at was hiring. I emailed the hiring manager the next day, attached a resume, mentioned the woman I was talking to. Got a call 2 days later, an interview the following week, then an offer after later.