Another benefit is it would help you keep your resume fresh, your networking skills fresh, continuing to look for interesting opportunities, etc.
I think the best advice I have heard and can give is never wait until you really need something to try and get it.
- Don’t wait until you need a referral to start building relationships
- Don’t wait until you are wanting to get promoted to grow your skills
- Don’t wait until you need mentorship to build connections
- Don’t wait until you want to sell something or ask someone to give you a favor to DM them out of the blue and ask them to do the world for you with zero relationship or context 😅
Be a genuine human. Build connections naturally. Look around for new opportunities to keep a fresh perspective even if you just stay plugged in deep for 5+ yrs at your current place.
Great post! I'd also add that it helps to know what your market value is, which can help negotiation during promo time at your current company.
Annnd, the major thing - if you practice correctly, eventually you will barely need to practice at all, thanks to Spaced Repetition. I made a video about that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rUp_QagAYQ (a little outdated - now Anki uses an ML-based scheduler that is even better)
Curious what was your prep like to get your current job? There seems to be a big difference with university and mid+ level. Some who started as a post-freshman intern didn't really have to do much LC at all.
Getting in to top tier tech for job hoppers can easily take months to sometimes over a year of prepping with a no-life lifestyle so it would be impractical to interview frequently, especially when the day job is already demanding. I went from 1 FAG to another and it took a combination of dedication and walking the tight rope over many months to quietly quit to allocate prep time without getting fired.
When I first interviewed for an entry-level position, I did ~100 medium Leetcode questions. The subsequent time (my current role) I did much less since I was decent still.
> Getting in to top tier tech for job hoppers can easily take months to sometimes over a year of prepping with a no-life lifestyle
With interviewing, you can spend an unlimited amount of time preparing. A year of preparation seems like overkill.
Also once you're practiced, subsequent rounds of interviews shouldn't need nearly as much time.
How do you reject offers and maintain a good relationship with the interviewer? "I was just looking around?" "I took another role" "I don't like X part of the offer?"
I'm usually just honest and polite. If the offer will never be better, then I thank them for their time and explain why I will be remaining in my current role. If worded correctly, that conversation shouldn't be offensive.
If the offer could be better, I explain what the gaps are. This gives them the opportunity to negotiate, otherwise no hard feelings.
Good article. I agree that as an engineer - even if you are completely satisfied with your current role - you should at least do one or two interviews a year to stay sharp.
What I think is missing from the article, however, is the advice to occasionally take on the opposite role as an interviewer.
Last year, I had the slightly schizophrenic situation of conducting tech interviews for my former employer at the same time as I was a candidate in interviews myself. I also conduct all the tech interviews for my new team, in which we have filled half a dozen new roles in recent months.
Exposing yourself to the candidate role from time to time definitely helps you to put yourself in the candidate's shoes as an interviewer.
Conversely, the interviewer role helps potential candidates not to put themselves under too much pressure. I know how an interviewer or hiring manager thinks, how the interviews are structured, what they prefer to ask about and what "pitch" I need to use to stand out from the crowd.
When I compare my own interviews with those at the beginning of my career and the nervousness I felt back then, it makes a huge difference. I was able to concentrate much more on the content than on the eventualities of the interview, with a fraction of the effort I used to put into it.
I remember hearing the idea that as a company, you have to ask for money to a bank when you don't need it. If you are losing money, nobody will give you money.
Now I realized we can apply the same with interviews. Ask for a job when you don't need it
Another benefit is it would help you keep your resume fresh, your networking skills fresh, continuing to look for interesting opportunities, etc.
I think the best advice I have heard and can give is never wait until you really need something to try and get it.
- Don’t wait until you need a referral to start building relationships
- Don’t wait until you are wanting to get promoted to grow your skills
- Don’t wait until you need mentorship to build connections
- Don’t wait until you want to sell something or ask someone to give you a favor to DM them out of the blue and ask them to do the world for you with zero relationship or context 😅
Be a genuine human. Build connections naturally. Look around for new opportunities to keep a fresh perspective even if you just stay plugged in deep for 5+ yrs at your current place.
"You can just spend 20 percet of the time that gives you 80 percent of benefit" - it can be hard to apply in practice :) but I get the gist.
Great post! I'd also add that it helps to know what your market value is, which can help negotiation during promo time at your current company.
Annnd, the major thing - if you practice correctly, eventually you will barely need to practice at all, thanks to Spaced Repetition. I made a video about that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rUp_QagAYQ (a little outdated - now Anki uses an ML-based scheduler that is even better)
+1 to both of these Alex. levels.fyi is a great resource to see market comparables on comp
Curious what was your prep like to get your current job? There seems to be a big difference with university and mid+ level. Some who started as a post-freshman intern didn't really have to do much LC at all.
Getting in to top tier tech for job hoppers can easily take months to sometimes over a year of prepping with a no-life lifestyle so it would be impractical to interview frequently, especially when the day job is already demanding. I went from 1 FAG to another and it took a combination of dedication and walking the tight rope over many months to quietly quit to allocate prep time without getting fired.
When I first interviewed for an entry-level position, I did ~100 medium Leetcode questions. The subsequent time (my current role) I did much less since I was decent still.
> Getting in to top tier tech for job hoppers can easily take months to sometimes over a year of prepping with a no-life lifestyle
With interviewing, you can spend an unlimited amount of time preparing. A year of preparation seems like overkill.
Also once you're practiced, subsequent rounds of interviews shouldn't need nearly as much time.
What do you mean by unlimited? Nights and weekends can be very limited when work picks up also.
Hard to know when you're fully ready so preparation can drag on for a while (many months)
The number of hours in a week is indeed limited
Nice one!
Where can I find the article about that IC8 you mentioned that grew his career unusually fast (IC3 → IC8 in 5 years)?
Haven't posted it yet. In the meantime, if you're looking for a career story to learn from you can read this past one: https://www.developing.dev/p/from-microsoft-intern-to-meta-staff
How do you reject offers and maintain a good relationship with the interviewer? "I was just looking around?" "I took another role" "I don't like X part of the offer?"
I'm usually just honest and polite. If the offer will never be better, then I thank them for their time and explain why I will be remaining in my current role. If worded correctly, that conversation shouldn't be offensive.
If the offer could be better, I explain what the gaps are. This gives them the opportunity to negotiate, otherwise no hard feelings.
Good article. I agree that as an engineer - even if you are completely satisfied with your current role - you should at least do one or two interviews a year to stay sharp.
What I think is missing from the article, however, is the advice to occasionally take on the opposite role as an interviewer.
Last year, I had the slightly schizophrenic situation of conducting tech interviews for my former employer at the same time as I was a candidate in interviews myself. I also conduct all the tech interviews for my new team, in which we have filled half a dozen new roles in recent months.
Exposing yourself to the candidate role from time to time definitely helps you to put yourself in the candidate's shoes as an interviewer.
Conversely, the interviewer role helps potential candidates not to put themselves under too much pressure. I know how an interviewer or hiring manager thinks, how the interviews are structured, what they prefer to ask about and what "pitch" I need to use to stand out from the crowd.
When I compare my own interviews with those at the beginning of my career and the nervousness I felt back then, it makes a huge difference. I was able to concentrate much more on the content than on the eventualities of the interview, with a fraction of the effort I used to put into it.
I remember hearing the idea that as a company, you have to ask for money to a bank when you don't need it. If you are losing money, nobody will give you money.
Now I realized we can apply the same with interviews. Ask for a job when you don't need it
Another potential** benefit is a counter offer
**Discretion advised