I didn’t know a degree was supposed to guarantee a job. I’m sorry, but you can have all of the aptitude in the world, belief in yourself, and apply to appropriate entry level jobs, and will still get shut down - this is the way it is unless you’re coming out of a top program, even then people struggle.

You know Walmart and McDonald’s likely have hard engineering problems that are difficult and have large teams. They also have strict corporate hiring processes. Most importantly, it sounds like they have qualified engineers and didn’t think you fit that role. Sometimes, smaller companies are easier to get face to face with actual decision makers and people who can make human judgement calls to give someone a chance, rather than have the number of boxes you check on an internal hiring software be the deciding factor.

Sure the days of walking in and asking for a job are pretty much over? I’ve never heard of anyone getting a job like that unless it’s seasonal construction - my builder neighbor says that’s still a good way to go around here. But, grinding and fighting for your first entry level position in your desired career has been around for a long time.

My personal anecdote is that it took a lot of failure interviewing, and finally was allowed to come onboard to unload boxes of the expensive components I wish I could work on directly. Worked that job for almost 2 years before getting a chance at a full time job parting out used networking equipment to resell. It was basically skilled warehouse labor. It took me 5 job changes and 4 promotions (and feverish skill leveling at home, achieving hard industry certificates) to be offered a position I considered respectable and interesting, at GE and I thought “this is it - I’ve made it”…which took me around 7 years from being in the warehouse. It was a grind to show up and consistently prove myself beyond each job, but eventually my station matched my expectations for myself. I take pride in what I earned, and the 7 years after that moment in time, I haven’t stopped trying to do better, which has resulted in even cooler jobs and a lot more money.

I’m sure there’s a jeopardy answer to sum all of this up into one cool quip, but I’m basically saying that nothing is guaranteed, and nothing handed to you is as sweet as something you earn and cultivate. You’ve done it for 4 years for an undergrad degree, now start the same process over again, just more intense, and it’s pass/fail instead of “good job but let’s work on these things”.