The latest articles on DEV Community by COBRA KAI (@cobra_kai_). https://dev.to/cobra_kai_ https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3995675%2Fcc829e2e-7475-4443-8851-532f18f7209a.jpg https://dev.to/cobra_kai_ en COBRA KAI Sun, 21 Jun 2026 19:23:27 +0000 https://dev.to/cobra_kai_/self-taught-final-year-and-honestly-asking-for-guidance-52jm https://dev.to/cobra_kai_/self-taught-final-year-and-honestly-asking-for-guidance-52jm <p>Quick context: final-year CS student, self-teaching full-stack via 100xDevs. College isn't teaching me real dev skills, so I'm doing it myself.</p> <p>What I've built so far:</p> <p>Counter App, Todo CRUD API, Users API, Hospital API<br> Books API — fully solo, no help<br> Auth Server with JWT (signup/login/middleware/protected routes)<br> 4 LeetCode done, targeting 50+ by August</p> <p>The actual problem:<br> I understand the concepts. But in interview settings, I freeze and under-explain things I know. Just had a mock interview come back "borderline, not selected" — not a knowledge gap, a communication-under-pressure gap.</p> <p>Target: fresher dev role (10LPA) by September 2026. Clock's ticking.</p> <p>Asking the community:</p> <p>How do you go from "I understand it" → "I can explain it confidently live"?<br> Hiring managers — what made a self-taught fresher stand out to you, beyond GitHub repos?<br> Should I sequence learning differently, or just keep shipping (MongoDB → Course Selling App → TS project next)?</p> <p>Not asking for sympathy — I show up daily either way. Asking for advice from people who've actually done this or hired for it.</p> <p>Drop your take in the comments 🙏</p> career discuss interview learning