Consider it like dating. It doesn't matter what you say as much as it matters whether or not you're compatible.

They passed. They were kind enough to offer feedback. They said they liked my responses and felt I had the right skill set, but I didn't sound confident enough. Which is just... how am I supposed to feel, in an interview deliberately designed to be challenging, going up against the top minds in their field? Am I supposed to wear a douchey, smarmy grin throughout this process and act like this whole deal ain't no thing? Maybe I really wasn't smart enough for the job because they're looking for someone with the smarts and background to solve their problems without breaking a sweat.

Again, if you are not the exact perfect cinnamon roll of a candidate the company is looking for, do not expect to be hired.

I advise my direct reports and people new to work that you should seriously interview every six months.

As a manager, the one-to-ones we have when my people are interviewing are much more goal oriented and concrete, and give me actionable information to help them get more out of their career.

That typically helps them, our team and our shared mission. Sometimes it leads to departures, but they and I are conscious about why - we can’t always give them the work or the opportunities that they are seeking. Sometimes it’s remuneration; it’s either a useful datapoint which can be matched and used for salary adjustments through our org, or a unicorn offer which we can’t match in cash, but which offers a discussion about growth and maybe their own priorities.

In nearly all cases it’s just a huge win.

People do leave for pure pay concerns, but it’s not that simple for many.

Also: this strategy might not work so well in places where future financial security isn’t so assured, as where I am. Thinking about the USA or some developing countries where I grew up - piling up capital is so critical to survive surprises ranging from illness to state failure, so ymmv.

That's what lands me jobs.

no tech degree. just a couple classes in statistcs & databases under my belt. other than that, self-taught via online resources (videos, ebooks, forums, chatrooms)

  * Not everyone is for web development, even though I'm very fascinated with back-end development and solving sophisticated problems that are considered unsolvable. I have a Computer Science degree (a 2-year diploma, which basically is nothing comparing it to a bachelor's or a master's) and still cannot please them.
  * My important projects were in-house for certain clients under NDA, which ties my hands and cannot demonstrate any of them.
  * I had LinkedIn account and closed it after getting spammed countless of times. I have informed the company at that time and instead of fixing my problem, they would start sending me their own ads for Linkedin Learning courses instead LOL!

Who cares if LinkedIn wants to spam you? The only purpose of it is to help me look attractive to potential employees, so I keep it up to date but don't pay any attention to it. I turned off all email notifications and they don't email me, but if they did I'd just set up a filter. I get hundreds of recruiters spamming me, but that's just what recruiters do. I ignore them and get on with my life.

Interviewing is a skill, and it's something you can learn, so focus on that. Apply for jobs that you don't even care about just for the interview experience, maybe you'll get an offer and decide to take it :-) Skip FAANG or whatever requires you do 7 technical interviews where you reverse red black trees of doubly linked lists, go for smaller companies where the interview is typically just a few informal chats.

I am a very difficult person; I am diagnosed as HSP and have characteristics of autism.

> If you gave me that impression in an interview I'd probably pass on you too, no matter how great your technical skills are. The most important skill for me is how you can work in a team (what education you have isn't at all important).

That's good to know; that helps me clarify a few things in my mind and I should try to find jobs that I could work solo, if possible.

> I'm not Google or Facebook, but there's a million people like me When I ask you to tell me about your experience, I understand that you can't tell me all the details, but even with an NDA you can tell me roughly what you did.

I give them enough information to get a rough idea of what I have done, but cannot show them the whole project nor the names of the companies; but I do let them know what type of architecture I have designed and implemented for each project.

> Maybe if you worked on a secret project for Apple that hasn't yet launched it would be different - but if you gave that as an answer I'd understand and move onto other questions. If you just said "it's under NDA" I'd assume you are trying to hide something.

I have explained above how I handle it.

> Who cares if LinkedIn wants to spam you? The only purpose of it is to help me look attractive to potential employees, so I keep it up to date but don't pay any attention to it. I turned off all email notifications and they don't email me, but if they did I'd just set up a filter. I get hundreds of recruiters spamming me, but that's just what recruiters do. I ignore them and get on with my life.

Not all people like such thing nor can I handle social media; it affects me emotionally and causes me symptoms of severe sadness to the initial state of depression.

I had to look for my mental health to stay safe. It's not a comfortable feeling seeing countless people being "successful" with how many certifications, masters, and PhDs; it made me feel the last person on earth, like a complete worthless human being.

That's why I had to close it down.

> Interviewing is a skill, and it's something you can learn, so focus on that.

I have tried for 2 decades now. I fail miserably with interviews.

The way I function is first knowing the person I'm about to talk to so I can be stress-free. I know, such thing cannot work with an interview process, but what can I do? It's not something I can change forever...that's how I have been my whole life!

> Apply for jobs that you don't even care about just for the interview experience, maybe you'll get an offer and decide to take it :-) Skip FAANG or whatever requires you do 7 technical interviews where you reverse red black trees of doubly linked lists, go for smaller companies where the interview is typically just a few informal chats.

Currently the market is limited where I live and they have high demands and expectations.

I wish I had more professional experience, but I don't I'm afraid.

Spam back. Recruiters contact me-- that's 95% of the reason I am on LinkedIn: So potential employers can find me.

Now I've had Amazon, Meta, and Google contact me. Amazon I worked with as a consultant so I was in their system. a Meta recruiter found me on LinkedIn. and I applied to Google and a few months later they reached out.

In call cases, they've viewed my Web portfolio, Github profile, and LinkedIn page.

This is "Marketing".

It's one thing to have "Skills". But if no one knows you have skills, then you must market yourself in order to use the skills in the course of working for others.

Skills + Marketing => Get job => Be productive => Build career & Make money

But you can't do it efficiently without both Building Your Skills and Marketing Yourself.

** Regarding Recruiters on LinkedIn: I simply use a text expansion tool like Espanso ( https://espanso.org/ ) to paste a message to them, usually something like this (Note: this is a "strategy" just like marketing. For any problem/challenge, develop a strategy to tackle it.):

Thanks for contacting me! Unfortunately since I am contacted by <insert some number here> recruiters per week it is not feasible to meet with them all.

Before we meet, could you please tell me:

-> Who is the company? (optional)

-> Is the role 100% remote & am I permitted to live outside the USA?

-> What is the salary range?

-> Is the role for a Full Stack Javascript (NodeJS, ReactJS, AWS --> my areas of expertise (Learning React-Native currently))?

-> What steps does the interview process involve-- How many steps, What is involved in each step?

-> Do you have a full job description you could send?

Here's my resume.

Thanks, MyName -- https://www.MyWebsite.com/ https://www.github.com/MyProfile/ https://www.gitlab.com/MyProfile/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/MyProfile/

I was so frustrated by the ridiculousness that I just immediately signed off and left the meetup group and discord.

An HR called me after a 1 and a half years I originally applied for a C++ position at a FinTech company to ask me whether I'm still interested in it.

I replied "of course I am!" and she asked me to send her my resume, updated.

As soon as she received it, she immediately replied back "but here says you are an Assistant Systems Administrator; how about to arrange you another position that is closer to what you are currently doing?".

I was like "WOMAN! Read the darn line after what you read that says 'Teaching assistant (C++) during office hours', I have the necessary experience! Are you playing with me now, why did you even call me in the first place?!".

I nearly exploded from my nerves and she didn't like it.

She started shouting at me and closed the phone.

I checked her name online; lo and behold, the very first result Google returned was her (age 23) thanking an Anger Management Center for talking courses how to handle her wrath(!) with annoying customers.

I was speechless! You let a young, fresh graduate without previous experience to handle the most difficult department of your work...at a freaking FinTech company that deals with billions of dollars at a global scale?

Things have gone very wrong at so many levels...GLOBALLY!

Why? Why not just calmly explain the situation? Why let your emotion get the best of you?

I saw you disregard someone else's advice as well earlier, I think you're forgetting that you have to mould yourself around what the market wants not the other way around.

I know I did not handle it properly, but since you were not in my shoes at the time of the incident, you should not condemn me nor judge me for my reaction.

There's a whole theme behind the scenes with this particular HR that led to this unfortunate reaction; still though, I appreciate your sincerity and I am thankful for that.

Let me remind you: > An HR called me after a 1 and a half years I originally applied for a C++ position at a FinTech company to ask me whether I'm still interested in it.

She literally ghosted me for 1.5 years while I was sending emails for months without response; even my calls were ignored, so I decided to stop trying...and then she decided to check her Discard email folder to look for possible candidates and when she read my updated resume, she went "oh, you are not a good fit"!

Then why did you even call?! Could not you just send me an email and ask me for an updated resume so you can check whether I'm suited or not for your company's needs?

I honestly don't understand you people, seriously.

I'm not sure why you'd say "you people"; I'm not in HR, I'm purely technical, and I find many HR folks to be incredibly frustrating and even infuriating at times. But I do not express that to them. Rather, I have, but only through a mediator, after I've cooled off, to help ensure that I wouldn't say something regrettable. As frustrating as they can be, if you yell at the HR person helping my team find a new member, bzzzt, next.

Even though the person is asking for them to apply they are probably asking a lot of people so are going to scan your resume looking for keywords and alignment to a role

I’m pretty tired of getting laughed at and the rampant dishonesty.

Same. Anytime someone says the market is hot, I get irrationally angry.

It's probably hot for kids in their 20s with ex FAANG experience. Not so much for the rest of us.

What industry / YoE / skillset combination do you have? Seems like full stack engineers are writing their checks these days.

I have applied to hundreds of places, grinded leetcode, studied advanced system design, and am near giving up. Becoming a famous actor is probably easier than this.

I can't imagine if my peers that's less fortunate or less passionate with programming to be able to pass.

There’s a lot more humourless bureaucracy than there is else it seems. It just gets packaged up in the popular mode.

It’s kind of like the Vogon with slightly savvier marketing teams and a Patagonia jacket.

I changed my nutrition, plus some other bad habits which reduced its intense; now I am way better than past times.