Lessons Learned From a Failed Interview

I vividly remember walking down the street in San Francisco with frustration and embarrassment. I used to walk around here all the time. But that day was different. I had abruptly ended my first phone screen in 4 years.

I joined my first job right out of school, and I WAS KILLING IT. I was working 14-16 hours, eating and sleeping in the office, churning out features like a team of 3. I had received fat bonuses for 3 consecutive quarters. I was a dream employee and the best engineer that can get a job in any company...or so I thought!

I decided to interview to demand more TC (total compensation) than I deserved. I applied to a few companies that I thought would give me my dream paycheck. The first phone screen ended with me saying, "I am sorry, we will have to end this interview. I am not well prepared and don't want to waste your time.”

I wanted to take time to reflect on the learnings from this failed interview. I’m hoping this will be helpful to others in their pursuit of finding and cracking the next set of interviews.

Burst the Bubble

I worked hard for which I received accolades from my peers and upper management. But I forgot to stay grounded and in touch with the outside world. One of my favorite quotes since then has been

Overconfidence precedes carelessness.

I try to learn from everyone. And I assume I will probably see a lot more failures than successes.

The Right Motivation

if(TC < $1,000,000) {
  open_blind()
  life_sucks()
}

I get it. We need money to pay bills. Our society judges us (or at least we think so) based on how much money we make or what position we hold. While money was a huge motivator for me initially, during the last few job changes, I started looking at the bigger picture which is to grow professionally and help others grow around me.

This has made it easy for me to know how long to stick around and when is the right time to move. Money is definitely part of the equation but not on top of my list.

Research

My previous motto was

Ready, Fire, Aim

I looked at Glassdoor and other sites and found the companies that would give me the highest TC, applied, and just showed up for the interview. While this worked for a few years, I realized that I do not look at my paycheck every day. But I work with my coworkers, deal with management issues, appreciate the feeling of belongingness, and feel happy when I have learned and grown.

For this reason, before applying, I spend quite a lot of time researching companies, their culture, tech, and products, based on my interest and motivation. I try to place myself in a position where not only can I just keep learning, but also contribute to the success of the company and enjoy every day.

Prep and Prep Hard

Interviewing is a completely different skill set. When on my job, I have all the toolkits (IDE, copilot, google, etc.) and support available. But for interviews, strong fundamentals are the key. Knowing the patterns, tricks in different questions, and what data structures and algorithms to use can help ace the interview.

I get super nervous when someone is looking over my shoulders and constantly gauging me. To calm my nervousness, I prep in various ways. In a nutshell, I plan, practice, and do a lot of mock interviews to get the desired result.

Sell, Sell, Sell

Each of us has a unique experience. I believe we all have different ways of learning, expressing ourselves, solving problems, and interacting with others. I may think that the social games I have built are not "cool" enough for someone working on TensorFlow or the autopilot team.

However, that may not be true since the games I have built are played and loved by millions of users, and I have a knack for understanding player requirements which might be a desired skill set depending on the company I am interviewing with.

In the end, I am proud of what I have worked on and this enables me to wear my salesman hat efficiently. Prior to interviews, I spend time crafting a story around my achievements, and I am not shy about bragging about them when asked.

Conclusion

In the end, for me, the lessons learned had more to do with identifying what I wanted out of my career which can help me grow not just technically but also professionally.