Failed interview with BigCorp, how do I regain my edge?
I graduated 3 years ago and took a well-paying 'software' position with a company, did well and succeeded on some projects, and quit because the company wasn't taking me where I wanted to go (technology or geography). Back in the city looking for better software work, I realize that my skills have fallen and I'm not nearly as acceptable as I used to be. Failing a coding assessment at BigCorp, I'm feeling somewhat lost.
Should I work on a personal project using the tech that I want to work in? Should I just spend my time mastering leetcode questions? It seems like most of what I learned in school isn't even relevant with getting a job.
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[ 6.3 ms ] story [ 26.2 ms ] threadhttps://medium.com/100-days-of-algorithms
Or work on open source, or work on some new passion project that you want to try some new tools on. A mix of these is probably going to be more effective than drilling down on any one thing.
Also, interviewing itself is a skill - take as many interviews as you can get with companies you'd consider working for -- the more you do it, the more refined your pitch and interview skills will become.
Agree so much with this, it took a lot of time for me personally to realize the 'art' (so to speak) of the interview and when that happened a lot of the stress vanished, I learned how to have conversations and not just rattle off answers to questions as if I were writing an exam essay.
That was a big mental shift for me in my career, it has paid off immensely and it's a piece of advice I will always share for others looking for better outcomes in the job hunt.
Supplemental to interviewing as well is learning to negotiate effectively and strategically, this is ultimately your career and you have as much say in where it goes as the companies that employ you. They want maximum value and output from you as an employee, it only makes sense that the early conversations properly set expectations that you want the company to return on that output (via compensation, benefits and all that good stuff) commensurately.
Lately I've been working on a simple React Native app just to try building something interesting. After not doing great with the coding test, I realize maybe just focusing on the classics (algorithms, data structures, big O) is a better use of my time, since that was the center of where I failed. I suppose I should just find a decent quiet place to work and refine the skills needed to get over whatever coding challenge that's presented, and I can work on the personal project after that. I'm just worried my savings are going to deplete before I can find work again.
To be honest, my interpersonal skills are excellent and I'm not very worried about that part of the interview.
Thank you for your words and the link.
I wouldn't focus too much on tools - frameworks are temporary, algorithms and data structures are forever. That being said, the right keywords on your resume will get recruiters and companies interested, but it's really fundamental skills I think that get engineers hired.
It's just really discouraging to filter LI jobs based on entry level, and 20-50% of the results are still out of my league at the lowest setting.
> frameworks are temporary, algs/ds are forever.
The classics it is. I wonder if a coding camp would be better for me than anything else, especially when you say they come out looking for junior/senior positions.