“All’s well that ends better.”
I have begun the Job Hunt. Well more appropriately, I have been on the job hunt for awhile now. This blog post won’t answer any questions, in fact it might posit more questions than anything else. But sometimes it is important to step back and process everything you have gone through.
I feel like I am a strong candidate for employment (who doesn’t feel like that though). I graduate in December, I have a 4.0 in the OSU program, I am continuing my education with an online Graduate Program in January (Georgia Tech, designed for working professionals), and I have successful job experience from my previous career. I have spent time building an online portfolio, cleaning up and formatting my resume, and practicing l33tcod3 problems when I should be cleaning the kitchen.
Still, in an industry that is suffering a labor shortage, I am finding it really tough to even get interviews! I picked my brain about this for awhile, and I have started realizing a few things.
- As entry level Software Engineers/Developer/Code Monkeys we are an investment by any company that picks us up. We learn theory and get a broad exposure to a lot of different technologies in undergrad. But what we see in this program is a puddle in comparison to the ocean of the world of Computer Science. But there is no other way to be, if we were to become experts in all aspects of the field, we would never graduate!
- So far those people that do the technical interviews (as opposed to the behavioral) are in more technical focused roles. That means they are usually taking time out of their day to meet with you. That is a big ask for a lot of people, and it can show sometimes.
- I am use to interviews coming within a week of submitting an application (from my previous career), that it is not the case in the Tech world (for me). I have had recruiters and companies reach out a month plus after the application was submitted. Things seem to move a bit slower in this industry.
- Career Fairs have given me more success than anything else to get past initial interviews.
As I analyze these trends, I am going to try to levy them in to more success in the job hunt. I recently made it to the final round of interviews for a company I had interest in. But I bombed the technical interview. It was a painful learning experience as I knew all the questions that were asked, but I found myself nervous and thus stumbling over my answers. Learning to manage your own expectations and ego (for both bruised and big egos) is a lifelong learning challenge for all of us.
But. You learn and you move on to the next interview. I am working hard to keep the 5 P’s in mind, as they have served me well up until this point. Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance.
