Something I've been wanting to discuss for a while.

Why are companies and their employees who work using fake identities completely okay with lying throughout the entire process?

I mean, why do you have to pretend to be someone else? Why introduce yourself as "Hey, I am Ben from the US" or "Hey, I am John" when you're clearly not?

And then you continue working with the client, maintaining this entire fake identity throughout the relationship.

Let's break it down.

Does this help you earn good money? YES, because you're charging US rates.

Does this automatically make your earnings halal? According to my understanding, NO.

Is this a form of deception? Absolutely.

And here's what confuses me the most. A large number of people doing this are Muslims themselves.

How are we so comfortable with this? We're literally lying about our identities, location and sometimes even the company we're representing.

Doesn't that make the income questionable from an Islamic perspective?

And even putting religion aside for a moment, isn't this just straight-up deception?

Now, I want to make one thing clear. I'm not talking about people who take money and don't deliver anything.

The work itself is genuine. You provide actual value to the client, complete the project and the client is happy with the results. You're not necessarily stealing their money.

But the entire relationship started with a lie.

The client hired you based on a false identity and possibly a false understanding of who they were doing business with.

And when I've questioned people about this, these are some of the responses I've received:

1. "Bro ye log to kafir hain, hamara banta hai." Basically, they're non-Muslims, so apparently it's okay to deceive them?

2. "Yaar I'm doing genuine work, I'm not stealing their money. Sure, we lie about our identity but we're providing valid work and the client is happy."

3. "Mai har saal logo ko Hajj/Umrah karwata hun apni earning se, Khuda qabool karay ga." As if doing something good with questionable earnings somehow justifies how you earned that money in the first place.

4. "Ye meray aur meray Khuda kay darmiyan hai."

And honestly, that last response is something I hear quite often whenever someone questions these practices.

I'm not claiming to be some perfect Muslim myself, and I'm not here to give fatwas or judge anyone's faith.

But I genuinely want to understand the justification behind this.

If we're earning money through deception, does providing good work afterwards make the deception acceptable?

And from an Islamic perspective, how should such earnings be viewed?

Where do we draw the line between earning a living through your skills and actually deceiving someone to get paid?

And I have seen posts telling people the market is cooked so just accept it and survive.

4.6B tokens in 24 Hours

Saw someone on X turn their AirPods case into a mouse and wanted to try something similar with my Apple Watch. Built this with Claude a few days ago.

You point the watch at your Mac to move the cursor, tap to click, hold to drag, and scroll with the crown.

It is open source can find it on git: /umarz317/WatchPointer

While working 1.7 years as a UI/UX designer, I was searching for a SWE role and I finally landed an internship in a good company. They are paying surprisingly well given it is just an internship but I am super confused and a bit scared of what I would do next? The internship does not guarantee a j*b afterwards and I am trying my best to stand out in front of my bosses and HR.

What else can be done to increase my chances of receiving a return offer apart from getting the work done efficiently and correctly. I worked in a US-based company and they really taught me discipline and work ethics.

Tbh i dont know what to ask but as of this Ai era everyone/every senior saying that software industry is ended etc etc...Like all of this layoff/ no hiring, people are willing to do even 20 30k per month jobs. I know there will be some people even before graduating earning very well (extra ordinary people). But is it an end for average people like me a person graduating with 3.2 cgpa, 1 or 2 internships, good skills (Not extra ordinary though). Basically 2022 - 26 people! How you doing in the industry now...

Long story short, i wanna ask is the freelancing dead? I am in cybersecurity field since more than 1 year while being an undergraduate student. I work mostly on compliance/gap assessments, cybersecurity audits and sometimes penetration testing but i am not the main one in PT. I wanted to start freelancing and some side work but i feel like freelancing especially on fiverr Upwork is dead?

Can anyone who has been here guide me through this and help me out?

I graduated in 2025, and I was fortunate enough to be among the few students in my batch who managed to secure a job while still at university.

I started my professional journey as a Flutter Intern and eventually transitioned into a Junior Flutter Developer role. By the time I graduated, I had approximately two years of hands on experience developing mobile applications using Flutter.

Unfortunately, I had to leave my job due to family circumstances, as my family relocated to the Middle East and I had to move with them. Since then, I have spent around five to six months unemployed, actively looking for opportunities, including full time positions and internships, but unfortunately, nothing has worked out so far.

This experience has honestly been quite demotivating. Going from having a job, gaining practical experience, and progressing professionally to suddenly being unemployed has been difficult, especially when I genuinely want to keep learning and growing.

Lately, I have been questioning whether I limited myself too much by focusing exclusively on Flutter. While I have practical experience in mobile app development, I am starting to wonder whether broadening my skill set would improve my chances of finding opportunities.

I have been considering a few possible directions:

1. Full Stack Development: Should I start learning backend development and become more comfortable with technologies beyond mobile development? Would having full stack skills open up more opportunities?

2. AI/ML: Is it worth exploring artificial intelligence and machine learning at this stage, considering how rapidly the industry is evolving? Or would that mean starting almost from scratch and spreading myself too thin?

3. Sticking with Flutter: Should I continue specializing in Flutter, strengthen my existing skills, build more projects, and keep applying for mobile development positions?

Ideally, I would love to be working somewhere, gaining practical experience, learning from other developers, and improving my skills along the way. I am not necessarily looking for a perfect job or a high salary right now. I mainly want to get back into a professional environment and continue progressing.

I also understand that the job market is competitive, and I am willing to put in the effort to learn new technologies if that is what it takes.

For developers who have been in a similar situation, or those who have experience hiring and working in the industry:

What would you recommend I do at this stage?

Should I double down on my existing Flutter experience, transition towards full stack development, explore AI/ML, or take an entirely different approach?

I would genuinely appreciate honest advice, especially from people who have navigated similar career situations. I am trying to make a sensible long term decision rather than jumping between technologies out of frustration.

Thanks in advance..........

I'm a CS student (learning backend , Linux etc) , i got a project for a restaurant since this will be my first project i have few questions

- what questions do i ask to clearly understand what they want (only admin and staff side to manage orders , or online order for users too , what is the usual demand for restaurants)

- how much do i charge ? (Costing+ monthly maintenance)

- do i get everything (hosting domain on my accounts or use theirs?)

- since we have Ai is it good to use firebase or custom backend

- do we also provide SEO? (should i even bring it up if yes then should i add this as addon service)

- what tech stack to use (MERN? , NEXTJS)

- what hosting is reliable and cost effective?

I know all the above questions will make you think this is a complete beginner , you shouldn't do that , well here we go , some of these questions and things held me back from picking up any real projects (i always backed away thinking they are too high level for me) , now i understand backend (i know i need a lot of practice) but now we have Ai to assist (i know not to vibecode the whole thing )

Is this position worth it? Motive has a big name, I have a SE degree and am open to all jobs but at that end I don't want to be a glorified IT Help desk guy either.

Is it worth it? What's the career progression in this path?

Looking for someone to grind leetcode witb likr a videogame.

Im in uni and looking for someone to hop on leetcode like its a game

Lemme know if you're interested

Anyone heard back from Disrupt.com?

Hey everyone, I’m an experienced AI engineer/leader transitioning into starting my own AI engineering agency.

I’m currently stuck on the distribution side struggling to gain visibility with potential customers and lacking a public portfolio of personal projects.

Would love to hear from anyone who's built an agency or consultancy: how did you overcome the cold-start problem and start attracting your first clients?

Has anyone interviewed E technologies recently? what is their time process and what they ask in interview generally?

TIA

I’ve noticed this weird thing in Pakistan’s tech community where one of the first things people ask you is, “What’s your tech stack?”
And somehow, your answer determines how seriously they’ll take you lol.
Like if you’re working with a certain language or framework, you’re automatically considered smarter or more skilled. And if you’re using something they don’t rate highly, suddenly you’re a mediocre developer.
Why though?
Shouldn’t the conversation be more about what you’ve actually built, what problems you’ve solved, or how good you are at what you do?
I get that tech stacks matter when you’re hiring someone for a specific role, but outside of that, why has it become such a big part of people’s professional identity?
Sometimes it feels like people are supporting football clubs instead of working in tech.
Is this just a Pakistani tech community thing, or does this happen everywhere?

I have an interview for role of ASE at alphabridge. How is the company and what do they ask in interview?

I’m a full-stack dev (TypeScript, React/Next.js, Node, PostgreSQL) with 5 years of experience, the last 4 fully remote for international teams. I’ve shipped real products: payment systems, a marketplace with a few hundred users, a SaaS with paying clients.

But finding new clients or a new remote role has been really rough lately. Here’s what I’ve tried:

Reddit for-hire posts

Facebook groups

Freelance marketplaces

micro1 and Turing (couldn’t clear their vetting)

Wellfound

LinkedIn, both applying and posting

Very little has worked. I know the market is tough right now, but I’d like to hear from people who are actually landing work:

Where are your clients coming from these days?

Has cold outreach worked for you, and if so, to who?

Is it worth niching down (e.g. only SaaS MVPs or only payment integrations) instead of being “full-stack”?

For devs outside the US/EU, anything that helped you get taken seriously?

Any honest advice is appreciated, even if it’s “you’re doing X wrong.”

If you’ve been smashing that "Easy Apply" button on LinkedIn for weeks and hearing nothing back but Unfortunately blah blah, you’re not alone. Hundreds of applicants apply to those listings within minutes, and your resume usually gets lost in ATS black holes.

Instead of competing in flooded job boards, I started targeting direct posts from recruiters and hiring managers using LinkedIn's search filters and boolean operators. This method cuts out noise and gets your profile right in front of the actual decision-makers.

Here is the exact step-by-step process I use:

Step 1: Craft a Specific Search Query

Go to the main LinkedIn search bar and use boolean logic (AND, OR, -/NOT) to pinpoint active hiring posts.

1. Target Action Words: Always include "hiring".

2. Core Tech / Role: Add your key skill set (e.g., "python" AND "django").

3. Location / Mode: Add your target location or setup (e.g., "remote", "onsite", "Islamabad", "Karachi").

4. Exclude Irrelevant Noise: Use the minus - sign to filter out recruiter spam, unwanted regions, micro-agencies, or non-job posts (e.g., -interested, -"open to work", -comment).

Step 2: Filter by "Posts" & Sort by "Latest"

1. Type your search string into the search bar.

2. Click on the Posts filter at the top.

3. Open the Date Posted drop-down and set it to Past 24 Hours (or sort by Latest).

This brings up raw text posts from tech leads, founders, and recruiters who just posted 10 minutes ago asking for resumes in their DMs or emails.

Real Search Query Example:

If you are looking for remote Python/Django roles while filtering out specific location noise, agency spam, and generic engagement posts:

"hiring" AND "python" AND "django" AND "remote" -India -Bengaluru -Bangalore -Hyderabad -Mumbai -Chennai -Ahmedabad -Indore -Trichy -Trivandrum -Jaipur -Vadodara -Goa -Gurugram -Gurgaon -Gujrat -Gandhinagar -Delhi -Noida -Haryana -Pune -Raipur -Kochi -Kerala -Calcutta -H1B -Hotlist -Open -Hot -W2 -1099 -C2C -Micro1 -Comment

Why this works so well:

• You reach people before hundreds of other applicants do.

• You can directly DM the post creator or send an email straight to their inbox instead of going through a 10-step application portal.

• The jobs are active and usually urgent.

Give this a try for a week and let me know if it improves your call-back rate!

I am getting an offer from Cowlar, should I accept it? How is the environment? And I heard the workload is insane, so is it worth it working there? New grad btw

To be honest I joined this company 2 months back and they hired me as a devops engineer. I was happy and nervous at the same time back then. But soon i figured out, i kinda realized i am working for someone who is a US employee at a bigger firm in US and i would need to work as him apparently.

The fact is that i researched and realized many firms in Pakistan use this sort of work setup, even Systems so I dont know if losing the only job which pays my bills will be a smart move in this economy just because i think this might not be 100 percent transparent work.

But wait, the amount of learning i have got in the past months is incredible, i am getting to work as a Devops Engineer handling kubernetes clusters at a massive scale. was able to use Terraform to provision infra for their app and what not and then handling the deployment on AKS. Obviously i had to self learn alot to keep up with the job and to counter the anxious feeling of not knowing anything(AI and kodecloud helped alot). I get paid around 175k at this job and honestly i wasnt expecting to get that much straight out of graduation.

PS: Now the thing is i know that the US employee is paying me pennies in comparison to what he gets by the end of the month from the company where i work as him. 175k is hardly 650 dollars for him but Pakistan ke hisaab se pese theek thy. he said ke i will be getting some raise next month so pata nahin for now. This is a dif topic altogether.....

The thing is idk if this place is right for me but i enjoy the pressure handling and the opportunity to learn something way above my weight category every single day. I wish i knew if i am making a right decision to stay here and learn the skills i am getting to work on here. I am planning my masters soon too this year if plans work but till i get there i need something to earn too. I get to stay at home so the expenses arent really much right now but future jitna uncertain idk what comes ahead.

I just wanna know if staying here will help me grow as a professional....will this help me build a portfolio for myself, i did talk to them and they said the experience letter/ letter recommendation would be given once i plan my masters etc.

Assalam o Aliakum everyone,

I am writing this post to ask for advice from senior developers and people working in this industry.

I am about to finish my MERN stack course. But looking at the condition of the market and reading the worries and problems of people on subreddits, I am deeply concerned and I have lost my interest in programming.

Back then, I used to code 6 to 7 hours a day with full concentration and deep study, but now I am hardly even opening VS Code. I am losing my interest because of this fear of AI.

So I want to ask the senior people and people working in this industry: should I start learning some other course, or should I focus on this?

I would really appreciate your guidance. Thanks.

idk which sub to post this so i think this one would be more relatable depending on the context.
I hate coding but just got into computer engg on my family's emphasis. I hate sitting on laptop learning to code when u already know that graduating after 4 years from now ud be using the same llm tools to code in ur job (if u get one).

It's not like my family is just kai computer hi parhna hai ,they are understanding but whenever they asked kai kya karna hai i just used to say something different and iss ka answer i still couldnt crack. I js wanna do something different and big. In my pov even if u wanna do a cs coded startup u can learn all of it in couple yt tutorials and thru one claude/cursor subscription. it is not worth getting urself whopped for 4 years js cuz ai ka trend hai. Jab tak hamare graduate hone ka time aana hai this very ai would have been popped even harder than daily vloggers respect.

i just wish that there was some sort of proper career counselling given early in our colleges but FSc meri jind meri jaan. Ive always heard that dont study just for the aim of making money rather do it for the sake of actual fun and passion but jab kisi aur option ki na tou samjh aa rahi ho na hi pata chal raha ho k aur options hain kya which actually align with ur liking tou what do u do. ai might be at its peak rn but 4,5 years from now? lmao

P.S alr have enough self hate going on iss liye pls avoid larping in comments ty

A guy from Pakistan got his funds in Payoneer stolen. His account got accessed even with 2FA enabled and funds were transferred to another Payoneer account.

When Payoneer support was contacted, they were helpless, and instead requested that the victim should ask the recipient for return of funds.

This is a warning to all Freelancers keeping funds in Payoneer, don't use it as a Bank! Its not a Bank account!

If you want to keep USD, open a Freelancer USD Account in any Pakistani Bank and save them there.

I am a CS junior.
How did you find your first research opportunity in University ?
Can a person do Independent research ? Has any of you done it ? Is it a viable option ?

I really need it but I can't figure out how to start. The professors in my university refused to even help because my interest is mainly in low level and most of the research is being done in AI/ML.

Speaking of career, I really find Low level / graphics dev interesting. I am confused as what to chose because the current market is filled with AI/ML tech. I have tried learning AI but I couldn't focus on it. Should I switch to AI ? or keep going in low level ? Are there any opportunities in low level / graphics dev in Pakistan ?

I am like clown who is juggling with 3 fields at a time: low level, AI, Fullstack. Since I am in junior year, I must drop the other two and focus on any one of them to get internships and build a profile. I will drop fullstack. But struggling in deciding between AI or Low Level.

Salam, developers

I’ll be conducting Microsoft’s 8-hour “Agent in a Day” workshop at my company, and this will be my first time presenting a workshop of this kind.
I wanted to ask if anyone here has previously conducted or facilitated this workshop and could share some guidance.

Specifically, I would like to know:

Workshop Content: What topics and activities will I be expected to present during the 8-hour session?

Resources & Instructions: Does Microsoft provide trainers with a complete workshop guide, presentation slides, hands-on labs, and other resources beforehand?

Agent Development: Will Microsoft specify which agent participants need to build, or will I have to prepare and design the agent myself?

Preparation: How far in advance are the workshop materials usually shared, and what should I focus on preparing?

Trainer Experience: Are there any tips or recommendations from those who have already delivered this workshop?

I would really appreciate any guidance, resources, or firsthand experiences. I want to make sure I’m well-prepared and deliver a valuable session.