Back in 2015 through 2019, landing a tech job in the U.S. felt almost too good to be true for international students. The whole industry was on fire, from Silicon Valley to Seattle, startups were popping up nonstop and the big players were hiring like crazy. Dropping a resume at Facebook, Google, or Amazon? If you’d prepped your coding problems, built a few solid projects, and brushed up on system design and behavioral questions, you could pretty reliably snag an offer in a month or two.
That was pure golden-age luck. The economy was booming, tech was exploding, and companies were starving for fresh talent. Sure, interviews still had their nerve-wracking moments, but underneath it all there was this quiet confidence: work hard, and you’d get a shot.
Fast forward to today, and the scene looks almost unrecognizable. Hiring in tech has ground to a halt, layoffs, hiring freezes, postponed start dates have become everyday words. The job process is a drawn-out slog, interview bar keeps rising, and visa uncertainties only add to the stress. International grads aren’t the hot commodity they once were; too often we’re seen as extra cost and paperwork risk.It’s not that we’ve gotten worse,it’s just that the times have changed. That 2015–2019 window was a one-in-a-generation boost for a whole cohort of international students.
If you rode that 2015–2019 tech wave, what’s your story now? And for today’s international students, how’s the job hunt treating you?