r/cscareerquestionsCAD • u/logicalbeyond • Sep 02 '26
AB Recently let go Full Stack Dev with 2.5 YoE from Alberta
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.
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Sep 02 '26
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u/connka Sep 02 '26
This is solid advice!
I'll add that you will never feel as senior as you are. With 2.5YOE + a masters, you should be going for intermediate roles. You could keep applying for Jr roles if things are tough out there (IE if you aren't getting past the screening rounds), but you are likely overqualified for those roles.
Obviously there are a lot of other factors (like fully remote, team size, etc) that might factor into the application pool for you, but I would really encourage you to apply to intermediate roles--it sounds like you handled a lot as a solo dev, so you are undercutting your own experience. An independent is effectively an intermediate (obviously not always, but that is a big indicator for me when I'm evaluating JRs for promotions).
I'd also add that since you went straight from your master to your first role, you are probably not as involved with networking as you could be. It is annoying, but the biggest hurtle in job hunting for dev roles right now is getting past the screen round, since there are hundreds of applicants for every role posted to LinkedIn or Indeed. If you can get out there and meet some people to get a referral, then your odds significantly increase from there.
You mentioned Alberta (I won't make you out which city you are in)--If you are in Edmonton then check out events hosted by AMII. They do a lot themselves, but they also host a lot of different tech groups and act as a bit of a hub in the city, so it is a great place to get involved. If you are in Calgary, there is a lot going on. https://intheknowyyc.ca/ does the best job (I think) of listing all of the different events happening. Personally, I'd focus on the smaller ones specifically for networking (VS a fancy speaker being the big draw). https://www.meetup.com/pxandpints/ is a great place to start as it is a very informal meetup.
Sadly I don't know about other cities in Alberta, but hopefully those get you started! Meetup used to be pretty reliable for finding nerds in small cities too, but it is a bit of a pain in the ass for organizers (I used to run things on it) so I think many have migrated off.
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u/Personal_Yellow5349 Sep 04 '26
Can you explain Ai development more and any resources for learning more about it? Also any recommend projects
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u/ripndipp Sep 02 '26
What kind of work did you in your job?
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u/logicalbeyond Sep 02 '26 edited Sep 02 '26
Here we go… designed the frontend, built the entire backend system and authentication system, built RESTful APIs, worked with containerization tools and various AWS services to deploy the goddamned web application.
I can’t go into specifics for obvious reasons.
I was a one man dev team…
EDIT: I obscured the tech stack used.
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Sep 02 '26
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u/logicalbeyond Sep 02 '26 edited Sep 02 '26
Yes, you are correct.
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u/Ambitious_Eye9279 Sep 02 '26
How is possible to develop with Claude without dev
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u/logicalbeyond Sep 02 '26 edited Sep 02 '26
My PM took over my tasks and vibecodes
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u/PM_40 Sep 07 '26
They will be calling you soon for consulting unless your PM had software development background.
How big was your company ?
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u/logicalbeyond Sep 07 '26
Small, don't hire often. PM does software adjacent work but not a dev in the slightest.
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u/Sad_Butterscotch4589 Sep 03 '26
I saw an ad for a Lovable expert today! 10 hours a week at $25/h to manage multiple apps with a huge list of integrations. I hope this is a job that didn't exist before and not that they fired their full-time developer so they could hire a part-time Lovable expert.
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u/NastroAzzurro Sep 02 '26
lol they replaced the only dev with Claude?
Watch the company sink like the titanic man, enjoy that moment.
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u/mlz135 Sep 03 '26 edited Sep 03 '26
I was in a very similar situation to you. Basically, a one man dev team for the vast majority of my time at the startup.
I got laid off because the company was struggling financially but yes the end result afterwards is pretty much the PM/founder vibe coding.
I applied to junior and intermediate roles. Did a bunch of interviews but struggled to get a job until I recently took a junior dev role that's low pay. Although it's still slightly higher pay than my previous role.
It was a tough period but looking back at it, it really allowed me to grow, learn different things and gain lots of interview experience during the time I was unemployed.
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u/Drippy_Drizzy994 Sep 03 '26
Yeah Claude can write frontend for you, rest apis, config files for docker or k8bs but it ain’t spinning up ec2 servers, it ain’t thinking and wondering how many pods you need. You still need a human to design and think cuz Claude can’t and that company is basically doomed.
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u/asapbones0114 Sep 05 '26
> but it ain’t spinning up ec2 servers, it ain’t thinking and wondering how many pods you need.
Have you used any agent with Opus 4.8 level intelligence?
> You still need a human to design and think cuz Claude can’t and that company is basically doomed.
For system design and human-human communication yes, but not technical work anymore.
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Sep 02 '26
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u/logicalbeyond Sep 02 '26 edited Sep 02 '26
I graduated 2 years ago with a Masters, this was my first job right out the gate.
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u/Robos_Basilisk Sep 02 '26
First of all, my condolences dude that fucking rips. How long were you at this company if you don't mind me asking?
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u/logicalbeyond Sep 02 '26
I’m not all that bummed honestly. I think getting laid off here will get me out of my comfort zone and in many ways I think I overstayed my welcome anyways.
I was here for the entire 2.5 years.1
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u/algo49 28d ago
I am just reading this now, but you definitely should have been looking for work elsewhere a year or two ago. These startups with say (1-3) developers and none are senior are some of the worst places to work at for a variety of reasons. I know because I had an internship at one.
In theory yes intermediate level positions, but it would depend on he pay also. You can definitely leverage the experience you have, but I would not be forward with the information that you were the only dev ... as I mentioned a single Jr dev with no Sr is a huge red flag. If they ask questions in that area its up to you how you want to handle it.
What stack do you have experience with? I am pretty familiar with the Alberta market, ended getting a remote role and moving back to Ontario though since there wasn't much for me career wise in Alberta.
Good luck on your job search.
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u/logicalbeyond 28d ago edited 28d ago
Yeah, I realized I should have left ages ago but I was too comfortable working here. No guidance, support or mentorship was ever provided. My PM is senior in name only. The job was complete bullshit, those above me don’t know shit about web development, always asking for last minute changes and thinking it’s easy to implement feature requests when you gotta do front and backend.
I can DM you the stack if you wanna talk more about it. I omitted it in another comment cause I didn’t want to potentially out myself.
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u/Psychological-Nail-2 Sep 02 '26
2.5 years is long. I also got laid off due to AI and company direction has changed (Due to business went down). It's not a good market right now.
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u/Apart_Savings_6429 Sep 04 '26
I've been out of a job that I am used to it. Been doing this for 7 years now and its been the best its ever been. Gotta ride that wave bro
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u/boon-dock Sep 02 '26
7YoE full stack dev here struggling to get interviews.