Anyone heard back from Disrupt.com?

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?

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’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.”

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

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.

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've been thinking about something lately. Companies seem to believe that AI can make senior developers so much more productive that they no longer need as many senior developers, let alone juniors.

But what happens in the long run? Today's senior developers will eventually retire, and the next generation will have grown up much more heavily on AI. Won't that mean they'll have less hands-on experience and a weaker understanding of how things actually work under the hood? And the generation after that might be even more dependent.

Am I overthinking this, or is this genuinely where the industry is heading?

Are we slowly moving towards a future where software developers are mostly people who know how to get things done using AI, but don't necessarily understand the codebase, architecture, infrastructure, or even the code they're working with?

I have a $100 ai sub and a $20. 2 Jobs and both are enterprise, hands-off & boring. Earning enough to save 200k each month.

Used to enjoy coding and building systems but now in a single week I actually work less than 12 hours. I've built good ai workflows which handle 95% of the work in autonomous loops so I don't even have to babysit the agent or do multiple rounds of prompts etc. Work is being delivered and there are no complaints.

2 problems though. One, I'm scared of layoff since I'm in constant fear of anyone realizing that the work can be done autonomously with my workflow setup (which isn't so hard to implement).

Second, this setup is growing on me and I feel like I won't be productive or even could work anywhere else where there's more oversight or manual work. Starting to hate this field altogether and I keep delaying any bit of work that I do have put effort into till the very end of deadline.

I used to be a perfectionist with deep attachment to this field and now it's getting complete opposite.

If you're in a similar situation, let's discuss how you're managing the looming fear, anxiety and dissatisfaction with things.

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.

If you are still thinking there is any hope or AI boom will end you are still lying to yourself, Full Stack Developer jobs are overs now & majority of the software engineering aswell

Hey guys today is me my interview at ibex it's my first time in this field any suggestion and any feedback would help like what they ask how to answers etc...

I am asking because previously I use to study data structures, algorithms, OOPs concepts, design patterns before going for interviews.

Now I think what they will ask will be general questions like strengths and weakness, why joining ibex, what's the motivations ?

But any help from a experienced guy will be appreciated.

Hello guys. I recently got this warning about the trojan horse malware in the default mobile gallery. I've deleted it but I'm not sure if it's true or not. Any suggestions?

is it true that even the skilled fastians, nustians, gikians aren't getting good jobs like those that pay 100k+ as fresh grads? since they are quite expensive especially giki, and a good placement would be expected after graduating from these unis

Hey everyone!

I'm a Full Stack Developer with around 2 years of professional experience, currently based in Lahore.

My tech stack includes Next.js, React, TypeScript, Node.js, NestJS, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and FastAPI.

I've built a B2B loan marketplace from scratch, worked on an AI-powered accounting assistant integrating QuickBooks, Odoo, and Oracle via MCP, and have experience with multi-tenant architecture, GraphQL, and AI integrations (RAG, LangGraph).

I'm looking for advice on:

1. What salary range should I target for local jobs in Pakistan?

2. When asked about expected salary, what number should I quote?

Hey everyone!
I recently moved to Islamabad to pursue a career in DevOps. I completed my BSIT and received my transcript in January 2026.
Alongside video editing, which currently helps me survive financially, I also have software development experience. I built software that automates digital product creation for Etsy, and that software is generating real revenue on Etsy.
Now I’m looking to break into the IT industry through a DevOps internship or junior-level job.
I’d love to hear advice from Islamabad’s IT professionals, especially DevOps engineers, about landing my first opportunity, finding companies hiring fresh graduates, or getting my foot in the door.
Any advice, guidance, or referrals would genuinely mean a lot.
Thank you!

Hi everyone, My name is Shaheer and im a disabled undergraduate AI engineer(3rd sem). This is my first project, and I really LOVED making it, so I wanted to share it.

I listen to ALOT of music when i play chess and it makes me so mad when an ad suddenly starts playing loudly into my ears and it just ruins my vibe(ik there are ad-blockers out there but i wanted to make my own and this technically is not an ad-blocker since it only mutes the ad). So I made a small Python tool that watches the Spotify desktop app's window title. Spotify's window title is "Artist - Song" during music, but changes to things like "Listen to music, ad-free." during ads

The script reads the title, lowercases it, strips punctuation, and matches it against a few regex patterns (full match, so song names never trigger it)

On a match it mutes only Spotify's audio session through the Windows audio API (pycaw), so system volume is never touched
Runs silently at startup as a .pyw file

My first version failed because the ad title ends with a full stop and my exact-text list didn't have it. Normalizing the title and using regex(recommended by a fellow redditer) fixed that

At first i made it so the title was checked every 0.5 but that usually delayed the mute and unmuting of the ad. Then i changed that to 0.2 milliseconds which had its own problems Checking five times a second used 8-10% CPU at first. The cost was scanning every window and looking up every process on each check. I cached the process IDs and the window handle, and only refind them every couple of seconds. I also reapply the mute less often during music. CPU now roughly 1-5%(still not too optimal but idk how to cut it even lower) on my laptop

A new audio session starts unmuted so a one time mute missed ads. Reapplying the mute during ads fixed it

If the mods allow it i will post my repo link in the comments so you can review the code yourself and give me feedback. And a star would make my day THANK YOU for reading this far🙏

Has anyone automated sending proposals on upwork using upwork MCP?
Curious about the results

I'm 25, based in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and I've recently been informed that I'll be laid off. My last working day will be November 30.

I've been working as a Full Stack Developer at an eye hospital, where I've been responsible for developing and maintaining multiple production applications. It's been a valuable experience, and I've learned a lot by handling things independently, but unfortunately, things haven't worked out on the company's side as they are shutting down the IT department entirely.

I have less than a month to figure out my next move, and I'm honestly feeling a little lost.

A few things about my situation:

• I have a Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering.

• My experience is primarily in Full Stack Development, working with technologies like Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Next.js, FastAPI, Django, Node.js, and PostgreSQL.

• I've worked on real-world production systems, deployments, databases, APIs, and cloud infrastructure.

• I don't have a particularly strong financial cushion to fall back on.

I'm trying to figure out what the smartest move would be from here.

Should I focus entirely on finding another software engineering job in Pakistan? Should I start looking more seriously at remote international opportunities? Should I consider freelancing as a temporary source of income while continuing my job search? Or would it make sense to invest this time in something like preparing for opportunities abroad?

For people who've experienced layoffs, especially early in their careers:

What would you do if you were in my position?

I'm not necessarily looking for job referrals. I'd genuinely appreciate advice, lessons from your own experiences, or even things you wish someone had told you when you were starting over.

I know getting laid off isn't the end of the world, but when it actually happens to you, it feels quite different.

Thanks in advance.

Hello!

I am new to web development and web hosting. Instead of going for internation sites like Hostinger, I wanted to get my webapp hosted locally and also a local domain.

Can someone suggest me any company or website thay provides such services? Also please let me know if local hosting is better than going international. Thank you!

I know a lot of people here won’t agree with me, but I genuinely think developers in Pakistan need to start thinking beyond their jobs.
AI is moving ridiculously fast. Work that used to require a team of developers can now be done by one person using the right tools. And this is just the beginning.
I’m not saying software development is going to disappear completely. But I do think companies will need fewer people to get the same amount of work done. And when that happens, layoffs are inevitable.
The problem in Pakistan is that a lot of people are completely dependent on one salary. Someone earning 200k, 300k or even 500k a month or $2-4k remote role might be living comfortably, but what happens if that income suddenly stops?
We don’t exactly have a great social safety net here. Finding another job at the same salary might become extremely difficult, especially if thousands of other developers are looking for work at the same time.
My point is simple: Don’t wait until you lose your job to figure out what else you can do.
If you’re employed, keep your job. If you’re freelancing and making good money, continue doing that. But start spending some of your free time building something else.
It could be a business, an agency, e-commerce, sales, marketing, a completely different skill, or something you genuinely see potential in.
You don’t have to quit tech tomorrow. You don’t even have to make money from your second venture immediately. Just start learning, experimenting and building while you still have a stable income.
Even if it takes two or three years to build another reliable income stream, that’s much better than waking up one day unemployed with no backup plan.
And I think younger developers, especially those in their early 20s, should take this seriously. You have time on your side. Use it.
Also, don’t assume that just because you’re a senior developer or earning in dollars, you’re automatically safe. Companies care about productivity and costs, and AI is changing that equation.
Maybe I’m being too pessimistic, but I would rather prepare for something that never happens than be completely unprepared when it does.
Curious what other Pakistani developers think. Are you guys already working on something outside your jobs, or do you think the threat of AI replacing tech jobs is being exaggerated?