Reddit Experience · 2026 Q1

Discouraged need advice

SWE System Design Intern Hard
37 upvotes 28 replies

Interview Experience

Hey everyone, Just needed a place to vent and maybe get perspective after this recruiting cycle because it’s been really hard. This past year I interviewed with Bloomberg SWE, Google SWE, Atlassian SW

Full Details

Hey everyone, Just needed a place to vent and maybe get perspective after this recruiting cycle because it’s been really hard. This past year I interviewed with Bloomberg SWE, Google SWE, Atlassian SWE where I was cut after the final behavioral round, Pinterest SWE where I was cut after the final round, Apple EPM, and Accenture, where I honestly am not sure what happened. I also recently got rejected from Netflix SWE after the second technical round. I did end up with offers from Wells Fargo SWE as a return intern, JPMorgan SWE, and ServiceNow SWE Intern, which I know are good outcomes and I am grateful for them. But emotionally, it has been hard to process how many very close rejections there were. The Netflix one hurts the most. I was part of the Netflix Formation program for the last 8 months, attended workshops, prepped consistently, and really thought I had a solid chance. After finals ended, I studied nonstop for the Netflix system design round, put my life on pause for recruiting, and stayed anxious for weeks, only to get rejected in the end. It makes the whole experience feel like a waste of time, even though I know logically it probably was not and am so incredibly grateful for the formation team for the opportunity. Right now it just feels like recruiting should not be this hard. A lot of my friends get interviews and then offers, so part of me wonders if it is something about me, but I honestly cannot figure out what is happening. It feels like whenever I try my absolute hardest, things still do not work out, and that has been really discouraging. If anyone has gone through something similar, especially lots of close calls, I would really appreciate hearing how you processed it and moved forward. Thanks for reading.
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Topics

System Design