u/Inner_Ad5548

I was an Senior Software Engineer at Oracle OCI and was laid off in April this year. I am currently working in a contract role on F-1 status with Day 1 CPT work authorization. My current employer’s willingness to sponsor me for next year’s H-1B lottery is uncertain.

I recently received a verbal offer from Microsoft for a Software Engineer II position. I’m still negotiating and haven’t accepted or received the written offer yet. My understanding is that the immigration review would begin after the written offer stage.

I’m concerned because I previously received an offer from C3 AI for a Forward Deployed Engineer role. We had agreed on a start date, but they ultimately declined to proceed because of my Day 1 CPT arrangement. I’d like to avoid a similar situation with Microsoft.

I’m hoping to hear from people who have recently been through this:

1. Has anyone successfully joined Microsoft in the US on Day 1 CPT, particularly as an external hire?
2. If US onboarding wasn’t possible, did Microsoft offer you the option to join an office in Canada or Europe instead? I’m willing to relocate, subject to obtaining the necessary work authorization.
3. Did joining outside the US require a different team, separate headcount, or additional interviews?
4. Should I raise my specific CPT arrangement with the recruiter and hiring manager now and request an early immigration review, or wait until the written offer stage?
5. How did you approach this conversation, and what was the outcome?

I understand that individual experiences may differ. I’m mainly looking for recent examples and practical advice on navigating the hiring process.

Separately, if you know of companies currently hiring engineers on Day 1 CPT, I’d appreciate any leads or referrals. My background is in backend and full-stack engineering. I’m ready to interview on short notice and also have a Google onsite also scheduled.

I have completed the Google screening round successfully and now passed for Onsite. Anyone else in the same boat? Also any tips for it's preparation? What topic should I focus on??
Should I try to complete the Neetcode 150 or any other list I can target?

Any help or suggestion is appreciated.

I was laid off from Oracle OCI Security team in USA during April layoff. It was a remote job.

Currently completed the screening round and now looking for the onsite round. Wanted to know if I am eligible for a rehire?? I have actually worked with the hiring manager before during some project work and he was impressed with my work. The hiring manager reached out to me again and he mentioned he has a req in his org and connected me with the recruiter. I completed the screening and now waiting for the result.

But I have heard from some folks that OCI doesn't rehire laid off folks. So is that true?? Will it be problem later on? Or should I just interview right now and deal with it later on??

So I was laid off during Feb 2026 from OCI SMTS role. And been searching for job since then. Finally i got the contract job at CVS.
Now last week one of the Oracle recruiter reached out for Senior Platform engineer role and I wanted to ensure I crack it.
Can anyone tell me what all I should focus on? Tech Screen is next week for me..
Should I read about CI/CD pipeline work and keep stories focused on it more??

Hi everyone,

I was recently impacted by the layoffs at Oracle OCI and am currently navigating the job market on an F-1 visa utilizing Day 1 CPT.

I’m currently in the interview process or have upcoming screenings with several companies, including NVIDIA, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and a few high-growth startups.

My biggest concern is the "offer stage" compliance. I don’t want to waste time or surprise a recruiter if the company has a strict blanket policy against signing CPT/curricular practical training agreements for full-time roles. Some folks have suggested me to tell them about CPT just 2 weeks before joining, and most companies allow it.

My questions:

1. From recent experience, which of the companies above (or others in the current market) are known to be "CPT-friendly" and willing to hire new folks on CPT??
2. Are there specific tiers of companies (e.g., Series C+ startups vs. Big Tech) that are generally more flexible with CPT authorization right now??
3. What is the best way to broach the topic with a recruiter before the offer stage to avoid wasting their time and mine?

I am currently in San Francisco, so I can try various startups too, but I was successful to get interview from Big tech than startups till now sadly. Any idea which startups would hire for sure I can target them specifically ?? I am ready to relocate too if needed anywhere in USA.

Any advice or recent DPs (data points) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone,

I was recently impacted by the layoffs at Oracle OCI and am currently navigating the job market on an F-1 visa utilizing Day 1 CPT.

I’m currently in the interview process or have upcoming screenings with several companies, including NVIDIA, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and a few high-growth startups.

My biggest concern is the "offer stage" compliance. I don’t want to waste time or surprise a recruiter if the company has a strict blanket policy against signing CPT/curricular practical training agreements for full-time roles. Some folks have suggested me to tell them about CPT just 2 weeks before joining, and most companies allow it.

My questions:

1. From recent experience, which of the companies above (or others in the current market) are known to be "CPT-friendly" and willing to hire new folks on CPT??
2. Are there specific tiers of companies (e.g., Series C+ startups vs. Big Tech) that are generally more flexible with CPT authorization right now??
3. What is the best way to broach the topic with a recruiter before the offer stage to avoid wasting their time and mine?

I am currently in San Francisco, so I can try various startups too, but I was successful to get interview from Big tech than startups till now sadly. Any idea which startups would hire for sure I can target them specifically ?? I am ready to relocate too if needed anywhere in USA.

Any advice or recent DPs (data points) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Anyone completed the OA and invited for SWE 2 hiring event of MSFT for July month?? Also does MSFT takes folks on CPT visa?? Anyone in similar event, we can plan to study together.

I was unfortunately impacted by the Oracle layoffs on April 1st and am currently trying to wrap up my exit logistics. I have a couple of questions for anyone who has been through this or has HR experience. I am on F1 visa.

I want to make sure I have all my bases covered regarding official paperwork. Right now, I am planning to reach out for the following:

• Experience Letter
• Payslips (Recent and Final)
• Tax Documents (W-2s)

Question: Is there anything else I am missing that I should absolutely request? Also, who is the best department to contact for this now that I am locked out (e.g., a specific Payroll or HR email)?

I also have a situation regarding an education stipend. I paid around $3,000 out-of-pocket on December 23, 2025, for a course that ran from January 2026 through April 2026. Because I was laid off right as the course was finishing, I hadn't formally submitted the reimbursement request through the internal portal yet. Honestly, my hopes are practically zero, and I am assuming they won't honor it since I am no longer an employee.

Question: Has anyone ever successfully claimed an educational reimbursement post-layoff if the payment and course occurred during active employment? Is it even worth sending an email to fight for this, or is it a lost cause? Also, whom should I mail about this??

Thanks in advance for your help.

I already have Sofi Bank account. I created it without using Rakuten sadly but using Sofi Bonus so wanted to know if I can still avail the Rakuten offer if i can close the account and reopen in 1-2 months after closing.??

Also for Sofi Plus, Sofi Invest and Personal Loan anything I need to remember? Currently When i use sofi plus and click on Shop Now button. It show - $25 Cash Back Activated but redirects to sign up page and does not show me as logged in. When I try to login on this page, seems like Rakuten activated sign goes away. Is this normal?? Or it can cause issue with tracking this sign up offer??

I will use the current Sofi account for bonus of - Sofi Plus, Sofi Invest and Personal Loan
And then close it and use Rakuten to open new account in 1-2 months. What do you guys think? Is it doable?

I already have Sofi Bank account. I created it without using Rakuten sadly so wanted to know if I can still avail the Rakuten offer if i can close the account and reopen in 1-2 months after closing.??

Also for Sofi Plus, Sofi Invest and Personal Loan anything I need to remember? Currently When i use sofi plus and click on Shop Now button. It show - $25 Cash Back Activated but redirects to sign up page and does not show me as logged in. When I try to login on this page, seems like Rakuten activated sign goes away. Is this normal?? Or it can cause issue with tracking this sign up offer??

I will use the current Sofi account for bonus of - Sofi Plus, Sofi Invest and Personal Loan
And then close it and use Rakuten to open new account in 1-2 months. What do you guys think? Is it doable?

I recently had a recruiter call for a Senior Software Engineer role at Axon, and I was told the interview process will include initial round of System Design. For SWE 2 they have coding round as initial round while for onsite, they will have 3 below rounds. My interview is for Backend position btw.

• Behavioral round
• Managerial round
• AI/Coding round

I’m particularly curious about the System Design round. For anyone who has interviewed at Axon (especially for senior engineering roles), how was the system design interview structured?

Was it similar to the typical big-tech style system design interviews (Amazon/other large tech companies) for example, designing scalable distributed systems or was it more domain-specific / practical in nature?

I’d really appreciate any interview tips, preparation advice, or insights into what Axon focuses on during these rounds. Also, if anyone is preparing for similar roles and would like to connect for mock interviews or preparation, feel free to reach out.