Hi! In today’s post, I am going to talk a little about my job search. When I started the program, my hope was that I could transition into the industry of Software Engineering so this has pretty much been the culmination of these past years at OSU.
Humble beginnings
My job search started during my first year of the program. I had learned from other devs that it is good to get an internship — at this point, I was very inexperienced with the whole interview process! I applied to only a couple places in my area (Seattle) that were looking for interns. The only interview I got was Flexport, and I was so grateful for the opportunity and also really interested in the work they do! I made it through the tech screen and OA with basically no background in leetcode (more on this later) — but didn’t get through the final onsite because they were looking for someone with a little more experience. They were very encouraging to me and overall I was glad to have a chance to go through the interview process.
The start of the new grad job search
It gave me a good intro as I was about to begin my second year, and as others know, the interview process for June 2022 jobs starts almost in June 2021! This time I was armed with information from my first experience, and I applied to every interesting-sounding new grad job in my desired areas that I could find. Probably did over 200 job applications.
The Process
Most of the jobs that I applied to followed a standardized process that was some form of the following. In my past roles, it was just one or two behavioral interviews before getting the offer. Software development roles were the first that I’ve experienced with so many loops to jump through!
- Resume screen. Applying through new grad portals I think means the application goes into a big pool that recruiters sort through to determine who they want to move forward with. Some of the companies that I was super passionate about, like Microsoft and Boeing, didn’t seem to move me past this stage and I was really sad I didn’t have a chance to prove myself. BUT — near the end of my application process, when I had given up all hopes and months after I applied, both reached out to me for interviews. So there is always hope!
- OA (Online Assessment). Some companies go straight to this step, which I actually think is a great choice for giving all candidates a chance to prove themselves. I recall that eBay, Adobe, and Pinterest were among these companies that sent applicants directly to this step, so these might be good companies to look at for anyone just wanting to get their foot in the door! The best prep for OAs (and tech screens!) for me has been leetcode. The other is reviewing what we learn in the Advanced Algorithms and DS&A class.
- Tech screen. Leetcode is the key to this one! I have a little bit of public speaking anxiety so I didn’t want my nerves to get in the way of demonstrating my problem-solving. Having practice solving similar problems was so helpful. Other than that, I tried to just concentrate on having fun pair-programming with the devs from the org and learning more about what they do! They were potential future coworkers 🙂
- On-site. I had to prepare to be tired from these! These would range from 3-5 hours of interviews with various members of the team – typically company engineers and at least one engineering manager. Two or three would be coding interviews which followed similar processes to the tech screen and at least one would have a behavioral component. I made sure before going into these to write out some scenarios I thought they’d ask about (projects, challenging situations, long-term goals) so that I’d be prepared.
Every time I proceeded through one of the steps for these interviews, I was exhilarated and exhausted! A huge source of support and encouragement for me was my husband, who is a SWE himself with several years of experience. He was awesome to talk to about my options, how best to prepare, calm me down when I was panicking about nothing, and most of all, do many, many hours of leetcode with me!
The light at the end of the tunnel
This post is getting quite long so I will continue through my journey in future posts. Overall, I was overwhelmingly grateful for the opportunities that I received throughout my job process. People have described it to me as a numbers game and that really sums up my experience. Out of the ~200 applications I sent out, I received OAs on roughly 30 of them, tech screens on about 15 and on-sites for around 10. Out of these, I received 7 offers which I was really thankful for!
Please continue following to see what these offers were, the excruciating process of deciding, and where I will be beginning my career!
