Up next in 10
My First Official Software Developer Job and Interview (GOOD & BAD)
2K views
Feb 6, 2024
"My First Official Software Developer Job and Interview (GOOD & BAD)" is a personal and insightful video in which the creator shares their experiences and reflections on their first official job as a software developer, as well as their interview process. The video likely covers both positive and negative aspects of the job and interview, offering valuable lessons learned and advice for viewers who may be preparing for similar experiences. It may touch upon topics such as the technical challenges faced on the job, interactions with colleagues and supervisors, the interview process, and any unexpected hurdles encountered along the way. By sharing their journey openly and honestly, the creator aims to provide viewers with practical insights and inspiration for navigating their own career paths in software development.
View Video Transcript
0:00
I nearly walked out in tears. It was that bad
0:03
What's up and welcome back. My name is James and I'm a self-taught programmer. In a previous video, I shared my journey of going from a construction worker to a software engineer in nine months
0:13
In this video, I'm going to share my first software interview experience and all of its strange and awkward glory
0:19
Up to this point, I've been focusing on learning the front end, in particular with the framework Angular JS
0:25
Now, I filled out a LinkedIn profile and got my resume, you know, posted up there and my work experience
0:33
And after a couple bogus messages from people who hadn't even looked at my profile and complimented me for experience that I didn't even have
0:41
I ended up getting a call from a recruiter for an Angular JS position at a local company asking if I was interested
0:49
I was really, really excited, but incredibly nervous, incredibly terrified to make that jump
0:55
to trying to become a full-time software engineer at a company that did that at a large scale
1:02
I told the recruiter yes, and so the recruiter sent me over some assessments to take
1:07
you know, one for HTML, one for CSS, and one for JavaScript
1:11
And I actually did really well on the HTML and the CSS, and I did pretty well on the JavaScript
1:16
and so they forwarded my information on to a company, and I ended up getting an interview
1:23
I was so excited. I really rushed to try and finish my portfolio site that I had been working on and polished up my resume
1:31
And I was excited for the opportunity, but as I said, pretty nervous too at the same time because I had never actually been in a software interview before or seen one or had any idea really what to expect
1:45
Other than, you know, that they were going to grill me on things and I might have to do some whiteboarding of some code
1:51
When I arrived at my interview, I first met with the hiring master
1:54
who went through some of the normal process of, you know, just asking some basic about me questions
2:01
At which point, I handed him my iPad that was displaying my portfolio that I had built for him to take a look at
2:09
And he took a quick glance at it, seemed very disinterested, like he didn't even care, wasn't impressed in what he did
2:15
and handed it back to me like, oh, you know, that's nice. And then proceeded to, you know, ask me some more questions about my experience doing front-end development
2:24
By this point, I started to feel a little bit deflated because I put a lot of work into that portfolio
2:30
And he was only asking me some general questions, but then out came the clause
2:36
The next thing that he did was he laid out a scenario of an application to build with a bunch of use cases and he asked me to architect out the back end the server and the database and what I would do
2:52
I was like a deer in the headlines. I was thinking, wait a second, I thought this was supposed
2:57
to be like a front end engineering position. I was pretty sure the recruiter had said that
3:03
they were looking for someone with Angular Experience to work on the front end
3:06
but he is asking me about the database stuff and a complex situation and complex scenario
3:14
So I did my best to try and like, you know, work my way through this and to lay out how I would do
3:21
things and stuff. But clearly this was not an area that I was super well prepared for
3:26
And he tore into me. He took every opportunity to remind me of how much I didn't know
3:31
and to the point of pretty much belittling me and telling me that, you know, he was concerned with me that I didn't know what I was doing and he's not sure why he would even be interested in hiring someone like me
3:44
And he laid into me pretty harsh. I felt like I was totally hit by a bucket of stupid
3:50
I felt completely stupid. And inside, I just felt the emotions just kind of like swelling up of disappointment and frustration and this isn't what I was going
3:59
But I tried to like keep it together and I tried to keep my emotional. motions in check and for like a half hour he continued to grill me on the back end and did not
4:07
ask a single question about the front end from there he took me over to the whiteboard where he
4:13
gave me a couple different scenarios that he wanted me to write code out to solve these problems
4:20
and one of those problems he wanted me to calculate the angle between clock hands given any time
4:26
and to do that in my language of choice so I did that in JavaScript now
4:31
when I finished it and he was looking over it, he was like
4:36
this would work for the first case, but this is not going to work for this
4:39
you know, other case and everything. You totally screwed up. I've never seen anyone try to solve it the way you solved it
4:44
you know, and then he laid into me again. And I'm in my head
4:48
I'm like, I'm pretty sure that this works. And even after the interview, I went and double-checked the way I had done it
4:54
and my math and everything, and it was correct. The way I did it would calculate the angles
5:00
and account for the other. scenario that he had said and he was wrong in that case. But either way, I was getting pummeled
5:09
I got pummeled on the back end stuff in which case I just, the only thing I could do is string and say, hey, you know, I guess I'm going to have to buy some books and learn some back end stuff
5:17
And then I get pummeled on you know the clock you know problem and stuff And I just biting my lip being like you know what I totally like failed this interview
5:29
This totally sucks in everything. I feel pretty low right now. So then he takes me out and walks me down to another room
5:37
where I would be talking to a couple of the engineers who are on the actual team that they're trying to fill positions for
5:43
The whole way there, he continued to let me know how I
5:48
I was not going to be a good software engineer and all of the problems that I had
5:53
And I was not feeling good. But when I got into the room, he left
5:58
and the two guys that were in there interviewing for the next phase were actually very, very nice
6:04
and were very cool. And they laid out a scenario of a web page
6:08
that they wanted me to kind of draw and write out the code four of building this basic website
6:15
using Angularjs and what I would do, know for the controllers and things like that to see what I knew and so I started you
6:23
know writing out the code and building things and after about 10 minutes I got stuck on like some
6:30
syntax I just couldn't remember the syntax and so I ended up just you know acknowledge that I'm
6:36
like you know what I can't remember the syntax for this thing I set the marker down and I'm like
6:40
but this is what I would do so for the next you know while I spent a good amount of time explaining
6:46
that what I would do in each of the pieces of code and the components and what I would build
6:50
and how I build it and basically taken as an opportunity to try to explain everything I knew about
6:55
like, you know, Angular and how it would tie into this problem. And we actually had a really good
6:59
conversation and, you know, we chatted about, you know, NGConf about, you know, a bunch of other
7:04
things related to the front end. And it was going really well. And after an hour, the hiring
7:10
manager comes in. And apparently we went over and we were only supposed to have been in there for a half hour
7:16
The manager gave me a quick glance and then looked over at them. It was like, you know, how are things
7:20
And they just kind of shrugged a little bit and they're like, fine. And so that was it
7:26
He's like, hey, well, interview's over. You guys went over like 30 minutes and stuff
7:30
You know, come with me and based on his, you know, attitude and demeanor in there
7:35
and what I saw and everything. I was like, okay, well, I mean, I thought I did at least good on the second half
7:39
The first part I totally botched and everything. But this has been like a horrible experience
7:46
overall but I was relieved that it was over and feeling like that weight off my shoulders like you
7:51
know what I screwed it up but I'm done at least I can you know get out of here and go try and like
7:57
save some of my dignity so in silence I followed the manager down a long haul as you know we headed to the you know entry to the building When at the end he you know turned to me and said well that sounds like that went great
8:12
You'll probably be hearing from us either later today or tomorrow. And I was like, what the heck just happened
8:19
I'm like, what do you mean? Like, you know, you think that went well. I am so freaking confused
8:24
I have no idea, like, what is even going on at this point and everything
8:28
you flippin hate me and tore into me and think I'm like the most worthless piece of crap
8:32
and yeah it was great with the other guys but they didn't give any kind of like indication
8:37
that would make me feel like I did great or anything on the second part of the interview and stuff
8:42
I was totally confused by that and bracing my mind for you know is he just like punking me
8:47
and everything they're going to like contact me and say you know what you know sorry we're going with someone else
8:52
so I end up you know getting home and a couple hours later I decide to
8:58
call, you know, a buddy of mine who I knew also was interviewing for that same position. In fact
9:04
he was the person being interviewed right after me because they had a couple positions open just to
9:09
see how things went. And apparently this manager tore into him as well and told him things like
9:13
you should go back to school, you don't know anything, and it was a pretty horrible experience
9:18
So I asked him, well, how did the second part go? And there was an awkward moment of silence because
9:23
he was like, what second interview? So apparently I made it farther than the second. So, I made it farther
9:28
he had, despite feeling like I was worthless, I had at least made it to the second part of
9:35
the interview, which just added more to the confusion. And then I felt bad for my buddy and
9:42
you know, I told him kind of how that second part went. Later that evening, I received a call
9:46
from the recruiter who let me know that they had decided to extend an offer to me. And I was given
9:52
the amount and of the salary. And I was just left in a state of like, kind of speech, just like, I don't
9:58
know what to think. On the one hand, I should be really excited that I got an offer with decent
10:02
pay for my first job on my first interview, but on the other hand, the guy had totally like
10:08
torn into me and I wasn't sure about, you know, him and having to work with him. But then there
10:13
was the two engineers who are on the actual team who seemed really cool and nice and who would
10:18
be fun to work with. And so I wasn't sure, but I decided that there's an opportunity to get my
10:24
feet in the door and get me on the trajectory that I wanted to be on so I said yes if you
10:29
want to find out how my first experience at a large company working under that
10:33
manager went getting hoodwinked and all be sure to hit the like button and I'll end up
10:37
making a video of it in the future how did your first interview go let me know in
10:42
the comments below I'd really like to hear and I'll see you in the next one late's
#Jobs
#Programming