I started a new role today at Cabonline Group. Excited to be part of the team and look forward to working with everyone!
It was an extremely difficult job search process, in the one of the toughest job markets I’ve ever encountered in my career. A lot of pre-conceived ideas about my position in the market, my craft, and who I am as an engineer were either refined in fire or completely obliterated.
Key lessons after this most recent period:
- Interview prep now is more important than before in a market that is being driven by the market and employers.
- Don’t eschew DS and algorithms – get good at them, get good at solving them, and get good at communicating the process as you solve them.
- System design is important for senior roles. It may not look like how you prep for them, but being ready for them is essential.
- Our feelings as engineers about coding tests are not important. The market and employers are not listening to us about them. They will continue to use them, so get used to them and get good at them. See the first point.
- ATS is here to stay. Understand how the software analyzes resumes and play the game.
- You don’t know how companies scrutinize applicants. The criteria differ from employer to employer. Accept it and be prepared. Some favor open source contributions, while others value code tests. Some look for a stellar behavioral interview. You never know. I learned this from talking to Amaechi on Codementor.
- The most effective and useful feedback will come from people you hire or you don’t know. Seek it out and listen to them intently. Feedback from Christoph really changed my thinking and transformed my job search. I’m really indebted to him. Without his insight, I wouldn’t have gotten this job!
We are tribal beings, and an impromptu tribe of people helped me in landing this new role. I want to thank them because I am indebted to all their help, insight, guidance, time, mirroring, and experience.
Adam Castle, Yury Vinter, Christoph Nakazawa, Justin Bartlett, Harry Clayton Cook, Brett Hardmann, Alexey Bykov, David Stephenson, Amaechi Johnkingsley
So, thank you!
