Hi, my name is Lucas Bergholz and I recently graduated in Software Engineering from the University of Brasilia.
I’m currently looking for job openings as my internship ended with my graduation. In this blog post, I’ll share a bit of my experience as a recent graduate and junior IT professional, and how I’m dealing with the current job market.
My Background
My background is mostly focused on Artificial Intelligence and IT Infrastructure (Cloud and Storage). For the past year and a half, I had the pleasure of working at Huawei, the Chinese multinational company.
My journey at Huawei was great and the work environment was wonderful. The Chinese and Brazilians are nothing alike as our cultures are really different, but the Chinese style of objective and clear communication really fit well with me.
To work at Huawei is to have a sea of opportunities in front of you, and if you embrace them, you will collect the benefits.
Thankfully, I did embrace the opportunities that showed up, so now I have the chance to work in other companies with Infrastructure.
Job Hunting in 2026
The job search has honestly been brutal.
Looking for job openings in the LinkedIn and AI era is demoralizing. Junior roles have literally thousands of applicants, meaning that your resume, despite how good it may be, probably will never be read.
The market is clearly overcrowded. Together with the rise of AI capabilities, I believe finding a junior role “on your own” will only get harder as time goes by.
So how do you find a job then? Is unemployment inevitable?
The answer is no. What I believe will help me get a job in the next weeks is using my network to find an opportunity. Today more than ever, building connections and meeting people will be a much safer road to go, instead of facing LinkedIn’s system alone.
As for interview preparation, I’m focusing on:
- Studying core concepts of my area (IT Infrastructure)
- Building small projects to keep improving my resume
- Taking free courses and certifications for hands-on practice
AI and the Future of Development
The question is not “if” AI will take developer roles, but rather “how” it’s going to happen.
I don’t think the Software Engineer role will be extinguished, but we’re seeing the market change really fast toward a huge dependency on using AI on a daily basis alongside the developer.
This will make job openings become increasingly lower, and the market will be even more overcrowded. But the developers who can adapt to this new fast-paced system will still be safe for the short and medium term.
I’ve been studying AI/ML throughout my whole graduation, and it’s great to understand how things work underneath the surface. My studies were composed of university subjects and YouTube courses and tutorials.
Honestly, my approach to future-proofing is trying to find roles that AI will take more time to reach, such as:
- Dealing with physical infrastructure
- Roles that require human interaction (like sales)
- Positions that need hands-on problem solving
Building Your Profile
I recently completed the AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification to strengthen my resume. Now I’m looking forward to building my own SaaS, not to make money from it, but to provide a statement of my knowledge.
Nothing better than a deployed, fully functioning website to prove your front-end, back-end, and DevOps capabilities.
My main advice to other developers breaking into tech:
- Reach out to people and build a strong network
- Attend college events, hackathons, and meetups
- Don’t try to figure out everything by yourself
Final Thoughts
The best tip I could give myself back then is to trust yourself.
I don’t know if I’m the best version I could be right now, but I am sure that everything I tried and failed at before resulted in the success that came later on.
Never stop trying.
Lucas learned much of what he knows through YouTube courses and tutorials. If you’re on a similar self-taught journey, CourseShelf can help you find the best free courses based on real reviews from learners like you.