As a fresh graduate, I have been hit by the reality that I have to spend hours over hours learning interview skills and leetcode grind instead of actually learning a new paradigm or something that I will use in my day to day job. The burnout is devastating at this moment but your videos keep me going. Thanks a lot
Making sure you resume is ATS friendly is super important. I used to have a highly graphical resume that looked good, but didn't get good results. Now my resume looks pretty plain, but its rare that I don't get a call back for positions that I apply to. (Full disclosure, my experience is in IT and non-tech roles, not software dev.)
@@shyjy6241 I didn't choose IT, IT chose me! 😅 But seriously, I learned programming and IT Operations in tandem, but was always daunted by what appears to be the arduous, ring-jumping application and interview prep process. KC's videos don't exactly help on that front! lol Now I have a steady, low-pressure, and decent paying IT gig. Not sure that I want to step in the programming world if it means higher pay but higher stress along with it.
The worst part is that HRs won't tell you their salary budget, they hold it until the very end of super long selection process, and then either you end up seein they're not worth your time, because you'll be workung for a pat on a back and a sandwich OR you tell them your salary expectation and they go "OMG!" and start playing dumb, like they were not expecting to have to to pay you for your work.
I am a C++ developer and I hate the question part. I have 7 years of experience and if I need to study a question for the interview, then the question is not important, otherwise I would know it by now without studying. Why asking experienced people coding questions? Ask only those without job experience or without a university degree.
My advice. Don't overthink it. Its ok to be rejected. Never do more than two interviews. No interview should take more than an hour tops. Interview prep should not take more than an hour. Be yourself, get a game plan together but keep it true to who you are.
Are you a working software engineer? And have you gotten jobs with this little work or prep involved? Because this has not been mine or many others experience.
@@eliana993 I'm unemployed for almost a year now but I stand by what I said. I have had many software engineering jobs but 20 years in and I may be moving on to something else. Play silly games win silly prizes. Bar the first couple years starting out I have not ever 'failed' an interview I didn't want to 'fail'. You don't need to put up with nonsense.
I agree with this, its so painful to apply right now. I just got a offer for a DOD gov job but I have to go through the whole clearance and security checks so I can't even start for several months. But I have that offer pending so I feel a bit relieved while I am still searhing for a better opportunity. You helped me through this process with your videos so THANK YOU so much.
What I hate was that as a QA Engineer, they were asking dev-grade questions (and the leet-code problems), and never about testing methods or even the testing framework itself. For an SDET, I can understand...but just for QA stuff...nah). Also asking about things not explicitly listed on my resume. Of course nowdays that's assuming I can make it past an ATS...
The interview process in most places seems like a massive waste of time for everyone involved considering how many rounds of layoffs these places have had along with the fact that most devs just stick around for 1-2 yrs on average.
The part I hate is the timed coding test. This in no way resembles the work environment. When working I do not face a 45-minute limit for coding, testing, and optimizing the code required for a project. Nor does the typical ticket involved coming up with a new algorithm; 99% of all coding involves tasks that are very common across all problem domains.
Just got denied after a month process where they said I did everything perfectly. Then they hit me with the generic rejection and then a week later they sent a survey about their process lol
I feel you on applying to, studying for, preparing for, and going through the interview process, KC!! I have less than 2 years of experience as a Software Engineer in my 8 year IT/Tech Career! I spent my first 6 years doing Desktop Support Engineering, then, Hardware Engineering, then, QC Testing Engineering, then, Network Engineering, then, Software Engineering, and now back to Network and Hardware Engineering! That's were I am, now! The bull you have to go through to get a Software Developer or Software Engineer job is why I stopped working, as a SWE, earlier this year in February! Who knows when and where I will return to Software Engineering??? Great videos, KC!
The market will likely be better by the time you graduate though. This industry is very cyclic, with notable crashes in 2000, 2008, and this year. It'll be back again though.
@z7sk It seems like the explosion of people wanting to get into tech combined with current developers getting laid off, any future improvements in the market will be met with a huge pent-up supply of applicants. It seems very similar to other industries like trucking.
@@willford-sn4ko I don't know if trucking is a good industry to compare to. Software engineer automate things. If software engineers are no longer useful, it means everything useful that could be automated HAS been automated, and we now live in an AI-controlled utopia/dystopia and your job no longer matters at all. As long as this isn't the case, engineers will continue to be useful. Then there's also the fact that engineering is similar to law and medicine, where the best engineers/lawyers/doctors have ridiculous salaries. On top of that, any of these professions are well positioned to start a business. A trucker can start a trucking company, but it's a rather limited option and you don't get the skills for it by being a trucker. Engineers learn how to build systems that work well, and this knowledge is easily transferable to many industries. I wouldn't give up on an engineering degree if I were you, at least not because you feel like the industry is dying (it's not).
@@willford-sn4koUnlike trucking the current day software industry is driven by investments. Unless the companies figure out a way to cut costs(reduce salaries) for the long term I don’t think there’ll be real improvements.
@@willford-sn4koThis is also why the interviews are so ridiculous. The companies are aiming to hire the talent that look very smart and appealing to investors rather than the ones who can get things done.
Had one interview where I was asked how a map structure was implemented. This was a stupid question, because as a library user, the implementation details are usually unimportant; indeed the whole f***ing point of a software library is to save the user from having to worry about these things.
The interviews are what intimidates me the most. I didn't realize I would have to do technical interviews until some time ago. I'm still in school, so I'm not applying for jobs yet. At least it's good to know the size of the company can get an estimate of how long the interview process will be.
It also is unfortunate that no one looks at portfolio's. Here I have a beautifully crafted, thoughtfully documented example of my skillset and it is almost NEVER viewed. Frustrating
Interviewing has become a pretty shitty industry unto itself. It's gotten so terrible that I just don't apply to startups because of the amount of time their willing to waste on this nonsense. Companies are spending too much in time and energy on shit that doesn't matter and it's exhausting for everybody. But for whatever reason, they won't stop.
I think a big issue is that employee's have too much protection, so it's very risky to hire the wrong people. For startups that don't have all the in-house experience with "hiring the wrong person" it can be even more scary. It is also much more critical to have the right people, because you are going to prove to the marked that it is worth taking the risk to become a customer and then there are no room for mistakes, because that will very fast end up with "its not worth the risk to be their customer at the moment"
Intreview prep can be really painful, but there is a positive side. If you had dozens of interviews and study unfamiliar topics your changes increase. At some point, you could not do prep at all because questions would repeat
I don't particularly appreciate giving them my resume and then having to type in everything on it; it seems there are a lot of companies that require this. In one case, I just typed, "It's on my resume."
try documenting learning experiences you had on the job or creating blog articles getting into the nitty gritty stuff that interests you. I implemented a storage area network for an employer that eventually took my early career downhill but i learned a lot in the process and have hope i will supersede those bastards
I am kicking myself for not acing the final round of Google. Nerves got the better of me. Thankfully, I have a SDE internship. Something is better than nothing I guess.
The problem is that the technical interview. What you get asked to provide is not even a requirement at the job and you get rejected because of it. Even resumes have to be customised nowdays so why job interview stay soo outdated.
Why are people accepting the reality of having to send 250 applications per interview? Like, do you folks think other fields are having the same problem? No. Doctors and lawyers aren’t sending hundreds of applications. Maybe 10 and in their local city. If it’s this bad, then why major in getting a CS degree in the first place?????????
its super saturated from social media pushing everyone to do tech via bootcamp. Now theres a bunch of candidates with not enough positions. Reason the bars just keeps getting raised on these interviews. Over time these people will probably leave the industry and hopefully the market gets better
I once dated a dentist. She said to me that she sent a lot of applications. And I asked how many it was and she said 5. And she got invited to 5 interviews. And when she declined 4 of them, they kept calling her.
Because most people filling non technical parts of the industry (managers, hr, leadership...etc) are bumbling idiots that entered the industry chasing cash without any passion for their own roles. This is why companies are going bust or have skilled staff jump ship.