throwawayc2020

I passed the shopify coding interview. The interviewer said the toughest engineering problem at the moment was hiring enough developers.

And then I failed the "life story" interview.

Enough money to be a homeowner

Vertical mouse + split keyboard.

Which forearm? The one you mouse with? If so, spend $20 today and get a vertical mouse. It was a game changer for me.

I think it's partly market conditions, but also I think the interview process changed a lot in the past five years and I didn't change with it.

There are plenty of jobs out there, but a lot of competition. One place said they received over 1,000 applications for one role.

I don't have any advice, but it's not just you.

This is my passion — I've been doing it since I was a kid and am ten years into my post-college career. I've been interviewing non-stop for six months and have been rejected at the end of every interview loop.

I'd leave the industry if there was anything else I was good at. Practically, if I do get an offer I'll just try to stay at the company as long as I can. I'm great on the job, but terrible in the interview (apparently).

Thanks for the tips, those do seem practical.

Thanks for the comment. Those are some good areas where I can show my expertise.

I've been interviewing non-stop for a few months. For a few months prior to interviewing I watched computer science lectures online, read CTCI, and had a premium Leetcode subscription with a good amount of practice.

I haven't done mock interviews with a friend, but I did pay for a few mock technical interviews.

I much prefer technical assessments that are related to the day-to day. In either case, I'm much more comfortable working alone than I am with someone watching in an interview. I've only ever worked alone and in these interviews I have a hard time concentrating.

I'm not someone who can talk out loud and code at the same time. When I'm coming up with a solution I think about a potential solution, recognize why it won't work, and then go on to the next idea. I feel like this happens rapidly in my head, but if I were to "talk out loud" I would just be constantly saying why things won't work and it would take so much longer to get to the final idea.

It's kind of like how if you were to loop through 100K items in the console. If you don't output anything to the screen it's really quick, but when you start printing the number it takes longer to run.

But really, I just feel like leetcode style interviews don't touch the surface of my working experience and capabilities at all, and only focus on a very narrow thing.

I realize this is where the industry is right now, so I'm looking for roles that aren't a "programmer" but still benefit from my programming experience.

Thanks for the comment. I pretty much feel the same way as you, especially the bit about a higher supply than demand and the expectation that it will only get worse.

I appreciate the advice of relaxing for a bit. Although I wouldn't want to wish this on anyone, it is a bit relieving to hear that others are experience something similar. Best of luck to you

Makes sense to me, thanks for the perspective.

Thanks for the tip

Thanks for the suggestion

All of the positions have been remote (US), and I suppose a lot of them are headquartered in SF or NY. The companies I tend to apply are pre-ipo startups.

I have been rejected by FAANG, but I'm not surprised. I knew those were long-shots, I guess I'm surprised that in reality the others were long-shots too.

I kind of have a feeling that everyone who has hired me in the past feels they made the right decision, but also everyone who hasn't extended an offer feels the same way.

Thanks for the tip, I'll give that a shot.