From a village in Pakistan to Microsoft engineer and chapter one of the LinkedIn CEO's book, Ume's path broke every rule.
She dropped her CS degree, scored a 12% on an exam, and still landed 7 internships without a single personal project. In this episode she and Aman break down toxic CS culture, why GPA doesn't matter, how LinkedIn got her a Cisco internship she never applied for, and why soft skills are now the only real edge you have in tech.

Computer science students, new grads, and software engineers…want to land your dream software engineering job or internship? Click here 👉https://www.amanmanazir.com/coaching/?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=podcasts_description&utm_campaign=Ume_BigTech&video=70xW2JHE59U

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I’m Aman Manazir, a career coach and software engineer. I interned at companies like Amazon, Shopify, and HP in college, and the day I graduated I landed a $168,000/year* full-time software engineering job. I help you make it as a computer science student & software engineer and get your dream job offer.

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⏱️ Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction
01:20 Growing Up in Pakistan, Dreaming of New York
03:21 No Roadmap, No Playbook, Just Grit
03:42 The CS Teacher Who Changed Everything
05:01 Imposter Syndrome Every Single Day
07:09 Why She Dropped Her CS Degree
10:33 Toxic CS Culture Is Real
13:33 Why CS Students Turn on Each Other
16:16 Gatekeeping Kills Careers, Openness Creates Them
19:06 12% on an Exam, 7 Internships Anyway
19:21 How to Build a Non-Linear Career
23:38 GPA Is Overrated, Here's the Truth
25:13 No Personal Projects, Still Got Microsoft
29:39 Unpaid Internships: When They're Worth It
31:53 How to Sell Any Experience on a Resume
33:34 Soft Skills Are the New Hard Skills
38:34 AI Democratizes Hard Skills, So What's Left
39:28 How a Recruiter Slid Into Her DMs
42:24 What Is an Employee Creator at Microsoft
43:43 AI Won't Kill Tech, It'll Create New Jobs
46:46 Why You Should Still Learn to Code
49:57 How to Build Your Personal Brand Early
50:11 LinkedIn Is More Underrated Than You Think
54:52 Where to Find Ume Online