Blogging 467

Landing a full-time software engineering role is not easy. Especially while you are still in school and working full-time in another profession. Not only must you learn to juggle your daily duties for your job, but also the commitment to the classes in which you are enrolled as well squeezing in time for interview preparation.

When I first got the opportunity to go through the hiring process for FAANG company, I was very poorly prepared. Granted a recruiter had reached out to me asking me to apply, I honestly did not think I would be fortunate enough to participate in the online assessments. Thus, I did not take the proper measures to study up on Leetcode questions I would encounter during the assessments.

During the first online assessment, I decided to do first round of questions in the C programing language. Bad idea. The questions I was forced to answer involved using complex data structures that took too long to code in C. Time is of the essence during these assessments as the more questions you can answer, the better chance of moving on to the next round. Granted the questions you are able to answer successfully, must pass the tests presented. Luckily, I answered not all of the questions, but just enough of them correctly to move to the next round.

When it came to the interview process with other engineers, I stumbled answering the behavioral questions in the manner they preferred. They wanted answers in the STAR format which I had never done before. The answer format required that I describe the situation I was in, the tasks that need to be handled or completed, the actions I took to complete those tasks and finally the results from my actions.

Answering these behavioral questions on the fly was difficult without proper preparation. I made the mistake of assuming most of the questions I would discuss during the interview would pertain to my resume and past projects listed on my resume, but that was not the case. It was a very rude awakening and a bit embarrassing considering I felt I could have answered those questions much better had I prepared or thought of scenarios that fit those behavioral situations.

After the completing the assessments and interview process, I was rejected. I will admit I was very upset with myself after getting my rejection email and kept running the “what-if” scenarios in mind. I felt like I finally had an opportunity and I blew it. However, after a few days of moping around and doing some reflection I realized it was a great learning experience for me. I forgave myself for my faults and learned I needed to make some changes and improvements if I was serious on landing a job as a software engineer.

The failure lit a fire in me that helped me devise a plan that ultimately was a path to success. I began by allotting an hour of everyday doing a few leetcode questions. If I could not answer all the questions in an hour, I would stop and pickup where I left off with a fresh mind. Eventually, I began to do a series of questions while timing myself in order to become more aware of time management for each question. Most importantly, I stopped doing these questions in C and moved to C++ which had a bunch of built in libraries that would make my time coding much more efficient.

Next, I began thinking of scenarios similar to the questions I was asked during the interview. I would then write out my answers for each aspect of the STAR to better describe my thought process. I would write copies of my answers to memorize my answers. Eventually, I was able to refine my answers with time and added new ideas that improved my process.

After making these changes to my study regimen and dedicating ample time to preparing for behavioral questions despite handling a full schedule with working full time and an eight hour course load, I felt prepared. Thankfully, the next opportunity I was given to interview for did not take long. And with the preparation I had, it was a breeze. I managed my time effectively answering coding questions, demonstrated confidence explaining my logic and time complexity and finally knocked out the behavioral questions with ease.

Was it easy dedicating extra time to the process? No, but I exercised restraint from deviating from my plan knowing what my end goal was and how I wanted to accomplish it. I hope my experience can serve as a valid template of what not to do and instead of how to do in regard to landing a full time role as a software engineer.