marrying-a-company
marrying-a-company
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marrying-a-company
A Presentation about Career Building and InterviewingOn Github dkoston / marrying-a-company
Marrying a Company
Dave KostonVP EngineeringHelp.com
On average, 118 people apply for every open job
24 of them actually get an interview
1 person gets the job
source: http://forbes.com
It will take us 3-6 months to train you
If you start at $70,000
It will cost $17,500-$35,000 just to train you
STEP 1: Get a Date an Interview
Get an Interview, Part 1:Make yourself presentable
No one wants to date interview a slob
Ways you can present yourself
- Your Resume
- LinkedIn (your resume)
- GitHub (your body of work)
- Talks / Events
Resume Building Tips
Pro Tip:Your one size-fits-all resume is a "Jack of all trades, master of none"Customize your resume to highlight your skills in relation to each job you apply for.
Tips for a solid LinkedIn Profile
90% of recruiters use LinkedIn (the other 10% aren't in software)
LinkedIn is social validation
GitHub Portfolio Tips
- If you're not impressed by your GitHub Account, don't share it
- Clean up old projects, no one wants to see 'TODO: everything'
- Give back to major projects whenever you have the chance
- If you build something useful, open source it
- Test everything, it shows you care
Making yourself presentable with presentations
- Presentations are social evidence of you being an "expert"
- You're reading this presentation in such a context
- Look, I seem really smart beacuse I typed up some slides!
- Find yourself somewhere to present: meetup.com
Get an Interview, Part 2:Find companies you want to work for
You spend 8+ hours a day at your job, it pays to enjoy it
Not every company is for you
Remember, interviewing is like dating, except you get to research your potential match. Take your time to find a place where you can be yourself at work.
Solid Jobs
If you like startups, and getting caught in the rain
(search both companies and jobs. Not all companies are hiring right now)
Dare to dream
(top companies that engineers want to work for)
Study the company
This will pay dividends if you get an interview.
Knowing about the business that the company is in is invaluable. Building something for the cusotmer is much more important than building something "to spec" (in most cases)
Get an Interview, Part 3:Choose a Strategy
Or just blast out your resume. It's like swiping right every time
Best Strategy: Get Referred
80% of jobs aren't ever advertised1
60% of people have referred someone for a job2
91% referred by a director-level or above get the job2
Runner Up: find a way in
- Stalk their stack on AngelList and contribute to projects in those languages
- Contribute to their projects on GitHub
- Locate team members on GitHub and contribute to their projects or forks
Last Place: cold resume
(approx 20% chance to get an interview)
- Read the job description carefully
- Make sure you have the key skills / languages they are looking for
- Your experience should not be more than 20% off what's expected
STEP 2: Passing phone screens
Ask about the interview process
You'll probably start with a recruiter. Use them as your guide. Ask them what to expect so you can be prepared and study up.
You have no idea what they will ask
It's all about studying up your algorithms, computer science, operating systems, and rolling with the punches
about.com (except for the landline part) businessinsider.comCommon QuestionsMore Questions
Prepare for coding challenges
Cracking the Coding Interview (book)Common Coding ChallengesInteractive Challenges @ HackerRankMore Coding Challenges
STEP 3: In-person Interviews
Ask about the interview process (again)
Try to figure out who you are meeting with ahead of time.
Understanding their motivation is important. Try to get as many details as you can from the recruiter.
Prepare to do more coding
You'll often get a sample project to complete (on-site or take home)
Pro Tips:
- Do this in your most comfortable language
- Worry about best practices over a complete solution
- Prepare a development environment ahead of time
- Testing will impress the heck out of your interviewer
Prepare to whiteboard
Pro Tips:
- Learn UML (from Stanford, for FREE!)
- Draw everything behind the scenes of the Amazon.com homepage (backend)
- Read Design Patterns (yes, it's boring)
- Read Martin Fowler's site
Be yourself
Getting a job is like getting married. If you can't be yourself, you're headed for a quick divorce
Be honest
Bullshitting only flies with someone who doesn't know what they are talking about. Do you want a boss who doesn't know what they are talking about?
STEP 4: Follow Up
During Every Step
Don't wait for a company to reach back out to you. Send them a thank you email after each round of the interview process to show your initiative and interest. Bonus points for hand written notes.
STEP 5: Marriage
Ensure you have a clear understanding of the position and your responsibilities before saying "I DO"
Figure out the market value of your position
Read up on Employee Equity Incentives and Equity Compensation, if available
Know how to negotiate with reason
STEP 6: Be the best employee you can be
Care about others; help them out
Ask questions
Don't wait until someone asks you
Be dependable; not a superhero
Allow a few years to pass
You don't get bonus points for job hopping
STEP 7: Divorce
(It's inevitable in business)
Be respectful of on-going projects (notice)
Make an effort to teach your co-workers about your work
Keep in touch