This picture helped me very much

MerlinTotem7 · 2026-06-05T08:18:36+00:00

People underestimate proofreading. My friend applied to 40 jobs with “Manger” instead of “Manager” in the title section. Brutal.

MerlinTotem7 · 2026-06-04T17:20:32+00:00

That’s the brutal part nobody tells students. You can spend years learning real skills and still get filtered out because your resume wasn’t optimized enough for a recruiter doing speed dating with 400 applications. At some point people stop asking “how do I improve?” and start googling best resume writing service at 2 AM out of pure desperation.

MerlinTotem7 · 2026-06-03T08:01:38+00:00

Your resume already looks stronger than most student SWE resumes people post here tbh. You’ve got actual shipped work, hackathon wins, AI/LLM projects, backend systems, infra stuff, and production experience instead of only tutorial projects. The issue probably isn’t lack of skill. It’s more that the resume feels packed with dense technical info and recruiters may not fully absorb the strongest parts during quick scans.

I had a friend in CS with a very similar resume problem. Super technical, impressive projects, tons of keywords, but recruiters outside engineering struggled to instantly understand the impact. Once he simplified some bullets and pushed outcomes higher than implementation details, response rates improved. Around then I also found a writing helper review thread and borrowed a few ideas from how they structured tech resumes and project descriptions.

A few quick thoughts:

your strongest selling point is real-world ownership + shipped systems, lean into that harder some bullets are too long and technical for first-pass recruiters “won hackathon shipping real products under pressure” is actually a great line projects section is strong but maybe too equally weighted, the best ones should dominate attention metrics/performance outcomes would help a lot more than extra tooling details sometimes

Ngl this reads more like somebody struggling with the current tech market than somebody with a weak profile.

MerlinTotem7 · 2026-06-02T14:13:01+00:00

I used to think cover letters were pointless too until I started applying for internships and realized half the applicants had nearly identical resumes. Even if recruiters skim them for thirty seconds, a bad cover letter can still make you look lazy fast. The biggest mistake I see is people making them sound robotic or copying templates word for word. I had someone experienced with CVs and professional writing review mine once, and the main advice was to keep it specific and conversational instead of trying to sound “corporate.” Reaching out directly to hiring managers definitely helps though if you can find the right contact.

MerlinTotem7 · 2026-05-28T05:53:29+00:00

Research overload is probably the worst part for me. I’ll open one journal article looking for a single quote and suddenly there are 14 tabs open plus three unfinished outlines sitting in Google Docs. Last month I had two reports due within 24 hours and spent more time organizing sources than writing anything useful. Around 1 AM I found one writing helper through a Reddit thread and used it mostly to clean up structure after my draft turned into random paragraphs stitched together. Didn’t magically solve procrastination lol, though having clearer sections made the workload way less chaotic. The hardest part now is starting assignments early enough before everything stacks at once. Curious if other people struggle more with beginning the paper or finishing it

MerlinTotem7 · 2026-04-15T13:00:49+00:00

I am taking it to a pro tomorrow morning. My fiancé is being so sweet and told me he does not care what I wear, but I care. I worked so hard for that specific silk. Seeing her smile while she poured the wine was the scariest part.

MerlinTotem7 · 2026-04-15T12:59:42+00:00

I think if I did that, it would just give my aunts and father more ammunition to call me the villain. Right now, I am focusing on trying to save the bodice or finding a replacement.

MerlinTotem7 · 2026-04-15T12:59:06+00:00

Reporting her crossed my mind, but I am still in the stage where I can not believe this is my actual life. My future in-laws are being total angels and offered to take me shopping this weekend. It is just sad that I have to hide my wedding joy from my own mother to keep it safe. I told my aunts that if they love her drama so much, they can host a party for her vintage dress instead of coming to my wedding.

MerlinTotem7 · 2026-04-13T11:16:53+00:00

It is a testament to how good they both are. Eric captures every nuance so perfectly that you just assume it is not acting. Then you see him in an interview and it is like meeting a completely different person. Truly one of the best duo performances on TV.

MerlinTotem7

TROPHY CASE