Recently I talked with my friend. The kid is learning Android development and has a pretty strong knowledge base. I asked him the question: “Why aren’t you still going for interviews? You would have found a job a long time ago. ”And the answer was something like an interview, it’s stress that makes you feel awkward. And it directly made me think about how many people would have long been able to get what they want, and they don’t get it because of banal fear.
When I started going to a social security interview, my knowledge probably didn’t even make up a quarter of what this kid knows. When I was hired, I did not know even half of what he knew. I went for interviews every week, received a test task, did it and went on to the next one. (By the way, I had a one-year-old child and work that did not contribute to learning, and each task took a lot of time). I received more than twenty refusals, some of my friends even made fun of me: “What, will they call you back?” And yet one day they called back.
So what am I doing all this for? Not to brag about how cool I am, but to the fact that you just need to go to a social security interview. Here I will share my thoughts on why.
Firstly, every interview is a huge experience. You come to the social security agency, people ask you questions and you begin to understand that you don’t know what is worth reading. Very often the Jones are given test tasks and this is a very cool experience, because most of the tasks are close to what you really have to do. (For the last 4 months, I have not written any code at all, except for test tasks, and I studied something in each task). There are many companies that are giving feedback and this is even more valuable. I had an interview, where they asked me questions, I answered incorrectly or could not answer, and they immediately gave me an answer. There were companies that refused me after the test task, but attached links or simply materials to the answer, what should I pay attention to and what to read and it is invaluable !!!
Secondly, at each subsequent interview you will feel more comfortable. When I came to the interview, 4 programmers loaded me with theory and it was the most disastrous interview that could only be. I could not answer the questions that I knew the answer to, not to mention the more complex questions, because it was just real stress. But after a dozen interviews, I felt quite calm and confident there. At this point, I was able to analyze many template questions, draw conclusions how best to answer (questions of a non-technical nature such as: “What kind of RFP will you count on?”, “Who do you see yourself in 5 years?” Believe me, such questions are very often confused with confused when you hear them for the first time).
Thirdly, and probably for many, the most obvious, but there are those who really do not understand this. How do you know if you are ready or not. You may think that you don’t know anything, that all around are really cool specialists, but this has little to do with reality. You will be interviewed by different people, each with their own views on a good candidate. You can banally just like someone as a person and the interviewee will simply believe in you, but anything can happen. Because having a chance of 1 out of 100 you are much ahead of those who do not go at all. Now you can wait another half year, so for sure. Then, at another job, 2-3 years old, to go to the company of your dreams for sure (they would suddenly fail earlier). Then another 10 years to open the startup of your dreams.
It’s also worth understanding that everyone doesn’t give a damn about you. And this is good. Those. no matter how silly you look at the social security, believe me, the person who is interviewing you most likely saw even more stupid situations. Yes, he can remember himself in your place. No one will laugh at you (and how important it is in general) if you don’t know something, even if for many it is very simple.
There are those who say that failures demotivate them. Yes, this is sometimes unpleasant, but it is also a matter of habit. You can be an overkill specialist and sit at home and no one will ever know about you, or you can be an average person and scream all over the world that you are and sooner or later someone will notice you. Will refuse? Yes, very likely. There are those who were lucky from the 1st or 2nd time, but there are other stories (I was lucky from about the 25th). The question is what will you lose. You can go to social security and get a refusal, and the only thing you lose is a few hours of your time and return to where you were, and if you're lucky you will get an offer.
PS And a couple of tips.
At interviews, recruiters can sometimes behave inappropriately, ask questions that have nothing to do with work and which I would like to answer: “Not your business,” only more rudely. In general, it can be different. Never be rude to them. Recruiters have the ability to communicate with each other. They have chat rooms and blacklists. Today, you can be a naughty recruiter in one company, and tomorrow you will be refused on an equal place in another.
Learn to ask questions. How will the workflow go? What conditions? Who do you have to work with? Is there a code review and how does this happen. Ideally, prepare a list of questions about everything that interests you. So, an opinion will be formed about you as a person who really wants to work in this company, and not just where they will take it (even if this is true =))
PPS
Before the interview, it is advisable to spend 20 minutes of your time and read about what the company is doing. This is a fairly common question. By the way, at one interview I just forgot to read about where I was going and when they asked me, there was nothing to answer. The recruiter says: "Anyway, what is he doing, if only they took it?" We smiled and yet they sent me an offer, but another recruiter may refuse because of this.