What jobs to apply for¶
For students, new grads and engineers with 0 to 3 years of experience. Use it to pick 2 role families, your target level at each company, and the title keywords you will search with.
Market snapshot (as of Oct 2026)¶
| Signal | Number | Source |
|---|---|---|
| New grads as a share of hires at the 15 largest tech companies | 7%, and new grad hiring is down over 50% since 2019 | SignalFire State of Talent 2025 |
| Recent CS grads (age 22 to 27): unemployment / underemployment | 7.0% / 19.1% (2024 data, released Feb 2026) | NY Fed outcomes by major (CSV) |
| Median time from search start to first offer | 82 days in Q2 2026 (108 days in Q1) | Huntr Q2 2026 |
| Software job postings vs Feb 2020 (= 100) | 78.1 on Sep 25, 2026, up from a low of 61.1 in May 2025 | Indeed Hiring Lab data |
| Open Summer 2027 internships: DS, AI and ML vs software engineering | 675 vs 617 (Oct 4, 2026) | Simplify Summer 2027 list |
| Saved jobs that name AI skills | 13.4% in Q2 2026, up from 6.8% in Q4 2024 | Huntr Q2 2026 |
| Amazon early-career hiring | "11,000 interns and new college grads this year" (AWS CEO, June 2026) | Platformer interview |
What this means for you:
- Each big company has fewer new grad seats than in 2019. Search more title variants and more companies than the famous five.
- AI and ML roles now outnumber classic SWE roles in internship lists. Both loops still test DSA.
- Budget about 3 months from first application to first offer (the Q2 2026 median was 82 days). Start applying 3 months before you need an offer.
Role types and who each fits¶
| Role | Titles to search | Fits you if | What the loop usually tests | Read next |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software engineer, new grad | New Grad, University Grad, Early Career, SDE I, Software Engineer I | BS or MS in CS or related, solid DSA, 1 or 2 internships or real projects | Online assessment, DSA coding rounds, behavioral. Usually little or no system design at entry level | Coding, Online assessments |
| Software engineer, entry level outside big tech | Engineer I, Junior, Associate, Entry Level, Analyst (banks) | 0 internships, or you want more interviews per application | OA or take-home, practical coding, behavioral | Where to find jobs |
| AI engineer | AI Engineer, Software Engineer (AI), Applied AI, GenAI | You build products on top of existing models: APIs, RAG, evals, deployment | DSA, LLM app design, deep questions about your projects. Jugal: "AI Engineers are software engineers first" | AI Engineering 101 plan |
| ML engineer, applied scientist, research engineer | Machine Learning Engineer New Grad, Research Engineer, Applied Scientist | MS or PhD, ML projects, ideally a paper. 34% of open new grad DS/AI/ML listings require an advanced degree vs 2% of SWE listings | DSA, ML coding, ML breadth. ML system design is uncommon at entry level (Hello Interview) | System design |
| Forward deployed engineer (FDE) | Forward Deployed Engineer, Forward Deployed Software Engineer (Palantir) | You enjoy customer calls as much as coding. Strong SWE plus LLM skills plus clear communication | Coding, plus how you would scope and ship a customer problem. Jugal's FDE loop: understand, prototype, validate, deploy | Jugal's FDE roadmap, Palantir |
| SRE, infrastructure, DevOps | Site Reliability Engineer, Infrastructure Engineer, Production Engineer | Linux, networking, cloud, scripting. Few new grad postings use these titles, so most people get here through generic SWE roles and team match | Coding plus Linux, networking and debugging questions | Google SRE books |
| Data engineer | Data Engineer I, Junior Data Engineer | Strong SQL and pipelines. Most postings are at banks, insurers and airlines, not big tech | SQL, coding, data modeling | Where to find jobs |
| Quant developer, trading SWE | Software Engineer (trading firms), Quantitative Developer, Algorithm Developer | Strong C++ or Python, math, contests. Applications open early (June to August) | Hard DSA, probability, low-latency systems | Jugal's HFT guide, Breaking into HFT (quant cold email), Jane Street |
| Residency, apprenticeship, fellowship | See the programs table below | Career changers, domain experts moving into ML, or research-minded early-career people | Varies by program | Internship programs |
| Solutions, sales or customer engineer | Solutions Engineer, Customer Engineer, Sales Engineer | You like demos and talking to customers. GitHub job lists do not track these roles; search LinkedIn and career sites | Varies by company. Read interview reports on Glassdoor | Where to find jobs |
AI and ML engineer skill posts from Ascend:
- 7 videos to master RAG for AI engineering jobs: a watch order for building a RAG pipeline. How to use it: build the full pipeline in Python with video 1, and keep video 5 for explaining RAG at a whiteboard.
- 7 videos on shipping ML to production: FastAPI, Docker, AWS, MLflow and Kubernetes. How to use it: deploy one project yourself so you can answer "how would you put it in front of users?"
- 7 videos to master fine-tuning LLMs: LoRA and QLoRA. How to use it: try a prompt, a few examples or retrieval first. Fine-tune only when those fail.
- Top 30 AI Certifications (most are paid): Jugal's start points are Google AI Essentials with no AI background, and NVIDIA's GenAI LLM associate exam if you already code. How to use it: pair any certificate with a project. His rule: certificates get the interview, projects get the offer.
Programs that are not a regular job (status as of Oct 2026)¶
| Program | What it is | Status | Visa note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Leap | 16-week apprenticeship for career changers and people returning to work, with a technical foundation | No cohort dates or pay posted. Simplify reports postings can close within 24 to 48 hours | Check each posting |
| Apple AIML Residency | One-year program for domain experts moving into ML | Last cycle announced Nov 7, 2025. Watch for a November 2026 post | Check each posting |
| Anthropic Fellows | 4 months of AI safety research, $3,850 per week (job post). No PhD needed | Rolling. Apply by Oct 18, 2026 for the January cohort | No visa sponsorship. Needs US, UK or Canada work authorization |
| Anthropic Claude Corps | 12-month paid placement at a nonprofit, $85,000 a year. Built for people at the start of their careers. No degree needed and no cap on years of experience | Cohort 3 (starts August 2027) opened applications at the end of Sept 2026, rolling review (Jugal's post) | Needs US work authorization that does not depend on sponsorship. F-1 CPT, OPT and STEM OPT do not qualify |
| Google AI Residency, OpenAI Residency | Older research residencies | Not listed on Google Research careers. OpenAI's job board shows no residency or new grad titles | Treat both as not recruiting |
Title keywords to search¶
Searching only "new grad" misses more than half the market. Of 295 open new grad SWE listings in the Simplify New Grad list on Oct 4, 2026, titles used: "New Grad" 128, "Engineer I" or "1" 91, "Junior" 34, "Early Career" 23, "Entry Level" 18, "University Grad" or "College Grad" about 5. Titles overlap.
Copy this list into your search tools:
"new grad" OR "new graduate" OR "university grad" OR "college grad" OR "early career"
OR "entry level" OR "junior" OR "engineer I" OR "engineer 1" OR "associate software engineer"
OR "2026 start" OR "2027 start" OR "AMTS" OR "SDE I"
Add if it fits you: "forward deployed", "machine learning engineer", "AI engineer", "Master's" (MS-only tracks)
Tip: Master's students should search for "Master's" in the title before the general pool. Capital One and NVIDIA run separate advanced-degree tracks with smaller applicant pools (Jugal's post).
Level mapping across companies¶
Your level sets your pay, your interview bar, and whether you get a system design round. Levels below come from Levels.fyi company pages and the company guides on this site (as of Oct 2026). Ladders change, so confirm the level with your recruiter.
| Company | New grad level | What the posting or offer says | Next level (about 1 to 3+ yrs) | Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L3 | "Software Engineer, Early Career" (US), "University Graduate" (India). Levels.fyi calls L3 "SWE II" | L4 (SWE III), usually from about 2 yrs | Levels.fyi | |
| Meta | E3 | "Software Engineer (University Grad)" | E4 | Levels.fyi |
| Amazon | L4, SDE I | "Software Development Engineer, 2026 (US)" style titles | L5, SDE II | Levels.fyi |
| Microsoft | 59 to 60 | "Software Engineer". New hires join the Aspire program | 61 to 62, SDE II | Levels.fyi |
| Apple | ICT2 | "Software Engineer, ... Early Career" | ICT3 | Levels.fyi |
| Netflix | L3 | "New Grad Software Engineer" | L4 (paid mostly in cash) | Levels.fyi |
| Nvidia | IC1 | "... New College Grad 2026" | IC2. IC3 is Senior | Levels.fyi |
| Uber | L3, SWE I | Levels.fyi: L3 typically has 1 to 2 yrs, so "1 to 2 years" does not exclude new grads | L4, SWE II | Levels.fyi |
| IC2 | "Software Engineer". IC1 is the apprenticeship track | IC3 is Senior, usually 5+ yrs | Levels.fyi | |
| Salesforce | AMTS | "Software Engineering AMTS (College Grad)" | MTS (about 2 to 5 yrs) | Levels.fyi |
| Oracle | IC1 (US), MTS (India) | Varies by org, such as OCI new grad cohorts | IC2 (about 2 to 5 yrs) | Levels.fyi |
| Stripe | L1 | "Software Engineer New Grad" | L2 (about 2 to 5 yrs) | Levels.fyi |
| Databricks | L3 | Software Engineer | L4 (about 2 to 5 yrs) | Levels.fyi |
| Snowflake | IC1 | No "new grad" label. Match by years in the JD | IC2 | Levels.fyi |
| IC13 (L3) | Software Engineer I | IC14 (about 2 to 5 yrs) | Levels.fyi | |
| Airbnb | G7 | Software Engineer | G8 | Levels.fyi |
| Coinbase | IC3 | "University Grad" or "Emerging Talent" | IC4 (postings ask 2+ yrs) | Levels.fyi |
| Robinhood | L1 (IC3) | Software Engineer | L2 (IC4) | Levels.fyi |
| Walmart Global Tech | Software Engineer II (P2) | Yes, "II" is the entry level here | Software Engineer III (P3) | Levels.fyi |
| Intuit | Software Engineer 1 | "New College Grad" requisitions | Software Engineer 2 | Levels.fyi |
| Adobe | P10 Software Engineer 1 (US), MTS-1 (India) | "2027 University Graduate, Software Engineer" | P20 Software Engineer 2 | Levels.fyi |
| Capital One | Associate Software Engineer | Technology Development Program (two rotations) | Software Engineer (Senior Associate) | Levels.fyi |
| JPMorgan Chase | Analyst (502) | 2-year Software Engineer Program | Associate (601) | Levels.fyi |
| Roblox | IC1 | "[2027] Software Engineer, Early Career" | IC2 | Levels.fyi |
| Waymo | L3 | Software Engineer. Some new grad roles are PhD-only | L4 | Levels.fyi |
| Flipkart | SDE 1 | SDE 1 | SDE 2 (about 2 to 4 yrs) | Levels.fyi |
| Jane Street, Citadel, Palantir | Flat public titles | Jane Street "Software Engineer (Full-Time: New Grad)", Citadel "Software Engineer, University Graduate", Palantir "Software Engineer, New Grad" or "Forward Deployed Software Engineer, New Grad" | Same title | See company pages |
Same title, different level¶
| Title | Where it is entry level | Where it is mid level |
|---|---|---|
| Software Engineer II | Google (Levels.fyi name for L3), Walmart (P2) | Amazon (SDE II = L5), Microsoft (SDE II = 61 to 62) |
| Staff Software Engineer | Palo Alto Networks uses it for about 2 to 3 yrs (company page) | At most big tech firms, Staff sits above Senior |
| Member of Technical Staff (MTS) | Oracle India MTS at IC1 | Salesforce MTS (about 2 to 5 yrs, above AMTS) |
Read the level, not the title. Ask the recruiter: "Which level is this loop calibrated for?"
Typical pay at the entry level (US, as of Oct 2026)¶
Levels.fyi typical total compensation across all submissions at that level (not new grad offers only). Base in parentheses.
| Company and level | Total (base) | Stock vesting shape |
|---|---|---|
| Google L3 | $216K ($160K) | Most common: 38/32/20/10 (front-loaded) |
| Meta E3 | $181K ($144K) | 25% a year, vesting quarterly |
| Amazon L4 | $184K ($139K) | 5/15/40/40 (back-loaded) |
| Microsoft 59 / 60 | $161K ($128K) / $191K ($141K) | 25% a year |
| Apple ICT2 | $167K ($141K) | See Levels.fyi |
| Netflix L3 | $214K ($204K) | L4 and above show no stock or bonus (cash) |
| Uber L3 | $204K ($153K) | See Levels.fyi |
| Nvidia IC1 | $169K ($142K) | See Levels.fyi |
Posted base ranges are another anchor: Amazon's SDE 2026 (US) posting lists $110,500 to $160,000. Google's PhD Early Career 2027 posting lists $147,000 to $210,000 base plus bonus and equity.
Outside the US (Levels.fyi): Google L3 India about INR 3.55M, Amazon SDE I India about INR 2.75M (Google India, Amazon India). Google L3 UK about GBP 118K (Levels.fyi UK). In Europe, big tech and trading firms pay entry engineers about EUR 65K to 100K vs EUR 25K to 40K at typical local companies (Pragmatic Engineer).
Compare 4-year totals, not year one. Full comp breakdown: Compensation basics.
Which level to aim for¶
| Your profile | Apply mainly to | Stretch | Usually not yet |
|---|---|---|---|
| BS, 0 internships | Entry-level SWE at mid-size companies, Engineer I, Data Engineer I, startups, Leap-style programs | Big tech new grad SWE | Research scientist, quant research |
| BS or MS, 1 to 2 internships | Big tech new grad (L3, E3, SDE I, 59 to 60), FDE new grad, quant dev | AI or ML engineer new grad | Research scientist |
| MS with ML projects or a paper | ML engineer new grad, AI engineer, MS-level applied scientist, FDE | Research engineer | PhD-only research roles |
| PhD | Research scientist, research engineer, PhD early-career SWE | ||
| 1 to 3 years of experience | Next level up (L4, E4, SDE II, 61 to 62, ICT3) at strong companies | Senior titles |
Rules that hold across companies:
- Apply at the entry level until you have about 2 years of full-time experience. Levels.fyi data for Google L4 starts at about 2 years.
- With 1 to 3 years, apply one level up. Accept the entry level at a stronger company if you are switching domains.
- Expect some companies to set your level after the loop. A strong loop can move you up, a weak one down.
- Check the promotion pace before you sign. Meta expects E3 to E4 in about 2 years, and Google L3 to L4 averages over 2 years (Tech Interview Handbook).
Big tech or startup for the first job¶
| Factor | Big tech | Startup |
|---|---|---|
| New grad seats | Larger programs, but down sharply since 2019 | Small. New grads are under 6% of startup hires (SignalFire) |
| Interview | Standard DSA loops, OAs, team match | Faster and more practical: take-homes, debugging, real trade-offs (Jugal: 3 startup offers in under 3 weeks) |
| Pay | Higher and predictable. Stock is liquid | Base can be competitive. Equity is illiquid |
| Structure | Onboarding programs, clear ladders | Wider scope, less mentoring |
| Resume signal later | Strong for recruiter inbound | Varies by company |
| Visa sponsorship | Routine at large employers | Check the H-1B data hub per company |
| Risk | Layoffs happen at both. Check layoffs.fyi | Higher risk the company fails |
Apply to both. Put 10 to 20 startups in the "Likely" tier of your target list, and find them on YC Work at a Startup and Wellfound.
How to read a job description¶
Do this for every role you plan to tailor a resume for. It takes 5 minutes.
- Read the title. New Grad, University Grad, Early Career, I, Junior, or "[year] start" means entry level. "Senior", "Staff" or "III" usually does not. Exceptions are in the level table: Walmart's entry title is Software Engineer II, and Palo Alto Networks uses "Staff" at about 2 to 3 years.
- Note the posting date and req ID. Find the same req on the company's own site. If it is not there, run the 60-second ghost-job check.
- Split minimum from preferred. Minimums are filters, preferred items are tie-breakers. Google's campus posting accepts DSA experience "during coursework/projects, research, internships" (2025 copy), so coursework counts there.
- Translate the experience line. "0 to 2 years" or "1 year" is reachable with internships and projects (Google's "Software Engineer II" postings ask for 1 year). "3+ years" is not a new grad role.
- Check the degree and graduation window. "Currently pursuing or completed" means students can apply. Note the window, for example "Dec 2026 to Jun 2027".
- Check the start date. "Availability to start in 2027" means this is the new grad cycle for 2027 grads.
- Check location and office policy. Remote-only postings got 3.53% interviews per application vs 6.07% for hybrid in Q2 2026 (Huntr).
- Ctrl+F for visa words. Search "sponsor", "export control", "US person", "citizen", "clearance", "ITAR". Defense and aerospace roles usually need citizenship or a green card (Jugal's F-1 check).
- Read the pay range. Several US states and Ontario require one. Use it to sanity-check the level.
- Pull 5 to 8 exact terms you have. Put them in your resume word for word. Never add a skill you lack (Resume tailoring).
Worked example: Amazon's SDE 2026 (US) posting.
| JD line | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| One general-purpose language; data structures, algorithms and/or OOD | Classic DSA loop. Prepare with Coding patterns |
| Currently pursuing or holding a bachelor's in CS or related STEM | Students can apply before graduating |
| Preferred: internships or projects, AI dev tools, AWS, SQL/NoSQL, open source | Tie-breakers. Mirror the ones you have |
| "Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis" | Apply in week one. Later applicants compete for fewer slots |
| Base $110,500 to $160,000 (Seattle reference) | Entry level (SDE I, L4) |
New in 2026: Amazon's Summer 2027 SDE intern posting lists "Experience using AI-assisted development tools" as a basic qualification. Put honest AI tool use on your resume, including how you checked the output.
Decision rule after reading:
| You have | Do this |
|---|---|
| All minimums, most preferred | Apply in week one, tailor fully, look for a referral |
| All minimums, few preferred | Apply, tailor the skills line and top 3 bullets |
| Missing only a "years" minimum, but you have internships | Apply if the title is entry level (Uber's L3, for example, typically has 1 to 2 years) |
| Missing a hard filter (citizenship, clearance, required degree) | Skip |
| Not sure you meet it | Ask Claude or ChatGPT for a match score with the Resume tailoring prompts, then decide |
Copy this template into your notes for each job:
JD DECODE: [Company] [Role] [Req ID] [Link]
Posted: [date] Ghost check passed: [Y/N]
Level signal: [new grad / I / II / unclear]
Minimums: [item] = Have / Partly / No
Preferred: [item] = Have / Partly / No
Experience line: [text] Degree and grad window: [text]
Start date: [text] Location and office policy: [text]
Visa words found: [sponsor / export control / US person / citizen / none]
Pay range: [text]
My 5 to 8 matching terms (only ones I have): [term], [term], [term]
Decision: Apply now / Apply with referral / Skip
Do this in one evening¶
My profile: [degree], graduating [month year], [n] internships, visa: [status], location: [city / open to move]
Primary role families: [1] [2] Stretch: [3]
Target level: [entry / one up]
- Fill in the profile block above.
- Pick 2 primary role families and 1 stretch from the role table.
- Paste the title keyword list into your LinkedIn saved searches and the Google ATS query.
- Look up the entry level and pay for 10 target companies on Levels.fyi. Write both into your tracker.
- Run Jugal's 60-day setup prompt once to find titles you missed (post). The prompt is on Application strategy.
- International students: read International students before you apply anywhere.
Next: Where to find jobs