Laid off techie applies for 700 jobs, fails to land new role

A computer science graduate says that they were laid off a few months ago from a role of data and automation engineer. Since then, they have been trying to find a new job, but after 700 applications, they only managed to get a single interview.

In Short

• CS graduate gets laid off months after starting first job
• Applies for over 700 jobs, gets only one interview
• They ask what are they doing wrong?

The job market is tough at the moment. Some of the biggest companies, like Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and TCS, have laid off thousands in recent months. But what happens when you get laid off, and you try to find a new job? One techie says that even after sending 700 applications after losing their job, they are yet to find a new role.

The techie, who goes by the handle Xoop_4933, wrote on the subreddit DevelopersIndia that they had been placed on campus last year. “I graduated in Computer Science this year (Oct 2025) from a private tier 2 university and landed a job on campus before graduating,” they said. “It was a Data and Automation Engineer role, remote, and I genuinely liked the work.”

But just a few months later, they lost the job. “The reason they gave was ‘lack of proper communication,’” they added. Following this setback, the techie has tried to find a new job across various platforms. “Since graduating I have sent somewhere north of 700 to 800 applications across LinkedIn, Naukri, Instahyre and a few others. Total interviews so far: one. Most of it is just silence,” the techie explained.

Techie asks what is he doing wrong?

The graduate claimed that since being laid off. They had also been DMing founders and recruiters to get a job, while also tailoring his resume for each listing. But these efforts did not bring in any results, forcing the techie to ask Redditors what were they doing wrong.

It's not like I have nothing to show. But 700 applications and one interview messes with your head,” they wrote. “I don't think I lack any skills that are required from a fresher to be honest. I literally got recruited from campus.”

Redditors responded to the post. One user pointed out that the situation was not uncommon, and even they were facing it. “Same boat. Keep applying,” the user replied. Another person added, “In (the) same position.”

While one person claimed that this was the reality of the job market due to how affordable AI tools had become. “AI has nuked the whole software industry. Just think like the CEO of the company you are applying (to). AI can do all those stacks very easily and do it way better,” the person wrote.

The person claimed that it was much cheaper for companies to now use AI tools, and even if the techie finds another job, there was no security. They added, “DeepSeek models costs $1 a day to write good codes and AI is improving substantially every quarter. Even if you land at some job somehow the risks of losing it again are enormous.”

- Ends