burnt out from my first job a couple months ago and left with just a bit over 1yoe. this was really great to watch. not doomer twitter rhetoric, not pull yourself up by your bootstraps linkedin rhetoric. just go build stuff. thanks for this man.
Yea... that's exactly why I deleted my Twitter last week 😆 I'm all in on BlueSky now lol. The doomer on one side and bootstrap-pulling on the other side. I think it really did help to change my mindset of "ugh I need a job and I can code" to "well I genuinely like to build stuff so let me reconnect with that". And at the end of the day, you can build things that line up with job stuff out there. And for me, that just so happened to be incredibly helpful with my job search. Best of luck out there! Hit me up with a link here if/when you build something, would love to check it out.
@@markbacon78 twitter can be inspiring to see cool stuff ppl are building, but it also wears on me when I see a bunch of posts like “if you’re not grinding every waking second you’re trash and going to be a wage slave for the rest of your life. you need to quit your dumb job and move to SF to have any hope at achieving freedom” and then you click on their profile and their startup idea is a GPT wrapper with no users. Maybe that’s just my feed specifically 😅
The quality of RUclips is best for small creators.They tell you everything honestly without sugarcoating and watching them feels like talking to a friend.
I feel like "watching them feels like talking to a friend" is the vibe to shoot for, so I'm super glad it came across that way! Thanks for dropping a comment
Totally, but there is hundreds or thousands of great talents out there. Fighting each other with more or less skills, for limited positions. Is wild, but is what's happen right now.
Something I've quickly learned; people are rather helpful. I landed a job and felt *completely* out of my depth, but I had coworkers willing to sit down with me and work with me. I'm still there after a year. I think recruiters have become so desperate that your integration into their company culture matters more than any skillset; skills can be learned and improved, personality is a lot harder to "fix".
Teams are also so sick of losing/gaining people. It's also way more expensive to hire someone new than to train someone there, but I know some companies just... don't bother and try and filter people out *cough* amazon *cough*. I totally agree with the notion of skills and personality there!
What a great video. Most notably, you didn’t get down about the process and let it overtake you. Instead, you said okay, this is what I have to do - projects, system design, practice, etc. - and you did it. You interviewed, acknowledged where you went wrong instead of just blaming the process (which it is a process worth complaining about), learned from them, and got better for the next one! Always pivoting. Congrats on the offers, man! Very much deserved.
Super glad you connected with the message in that way! I never really thought of it as pivoting until now but I guess it kind of is. Especially the idea of just doing what I say I'll do. Such a simple mentality and attitude toward things, but not necessarily an easy one to act upon. On an unrelated note, extra thanks! Had to double check for a second haha, but the words mean a little extra coming from someone whose videos gave me a helpful push back in school to keep up the side projects 🍻 This video's reach surprises me once again
Thank you! I'm glad a lot of that comes through. I kinda failed to see it that way for a little while but I'm glad that's how it comes across. At the end of the day you gotta take agency. Thanks for dropping the comment!
Congratulations Mark! Seeing you progress through this chapter of life gave me motivation for leveling up my own path! Feedback in each stage is the key and I found that you can only get it if you put yourself out there which I was really afraid of. Can't know what you'll get if you don't shoot your shot!
Thanks so much for the feedback! It wasn't too scripted and I think that let the genuine thoughts really poke through a lot more clearly. I'm glad that came across!
dude, this video came up on my feed at a perfect time. this is gem of a video - so much valuable information and lessons compared to any big tech youtuber. thanks a lot for this man.
wow, it was motivating to hear your story! im still studying programming in college and ive been feeling lazy, but your story made me reconsider that minimum work is not gonna cut it anymore and i need to build my value cuz these jobs are very demanding
Everyone is doing the bare minimum at work. It's just that they know how to look and act busy. Be smart with your effort and Don't overwork yourself. Don't just blindly take workload after workload
I don't think everyone is doing the bare minimum. I think it can be very easy to do so, but the bare minimum is not how you learn or progress. While I have done the bare minimum before, that was a signal to me that I needed to find a different line of work or something I was more incentivized to work on. There's a balance of working hard and doing that bare minimum. I despise the work culture of just "looking and acting busy", and hopefully everyone is able to find a place that finds the balance of "i know this person can get their work done and they need some space between that". Though your last point is definitely correct. The down times and rest times are incredibly important and finding that balance is always important
Hopefully those couple of interviews have at least been informative in some sense. It's definitely draining, but worth the fight in the end. Keep it up 🔥 And thanks for dropping by the vid!
Congrats man! I'm happy the algorithm led me here. I'm about to go through the process of applying to jobs as I move some projects along. I tried using this year to make my own experience out of passion projects and any freelance opportunities. Thanks for outlining your journey and huge props to you!
Really inspiring to see how you were motivated to put in the work and level up! Also interesting you said you were overqualified for junior roles but mid positions were so vague and you had to bridge the skill gap. You should make a video about it, it's refreshing to see genuine content about this kind of stuff, so much of RUclips seems to be students who lucked into FANG, juniors with little experience making tutorials and some rare seniors... I think there is a missing middle problem
I'll try to touch on this in the follow up- thank you for the insight! The middle engineer is definitely a vague area because you're just discovering what you like / don't like, yet don't quite have your niche yet. Cheers!
This was a great video man. Thank you for the tips, transparency, and motivation to keep going. I do alot of "You're not there yet" thinking which ultimately isn't helpful. Similar to you, I dont want to work for a company that only cares about hard leetcode questions. I love your perspective of practicing data structures and algorithms to gain self confidence. Thanks again!
You are most welcome! I'm really glad that all resonated. I think "you're not there yet" has its pros and cons and at the end of the day it's best to toss things that don't work. Cheers, and best of luck with your search. Keep it up!
Subscribed! "Take agency for your life" - words of wisdom. Would definitely like to see how you made use of the tools at your disposal - job tracker sheet, obsidian with excalidraw plugin, and the tab for digital notes. I have a similar system and was curious.
Noted! I was always planning on following up with stats, but a handful of comments with various questions have been akin to this so I'll put this comment in my notes and cover tools too. Finding the Obsidian/Excalidraw combo definitely made my quality of life go up for system design studying. And I'm glad the note on agency resonates with you! Makes me happy to hear. Thanks for dropping by the video! (And bonus points for the adventure time pfp haha)
I am just so burnt out and I don't have that buffer you mention at end, and every tech jobs wants to go through hoops when that timeframes is not there to upskill in terms of affordability its just so hard, I loved that final part in the video you put in and I agree with that take agency, but god even a entry level jobs you can qualify for are just not being provided. For example there are so many more senior, and middle positions versus entry level positions or junior I could be wrong but that is really gist I get from reading job applications. Anyways thanks for putting that in the end because we all understand we need to upskill like we get it, but when you have a partner, kids, or no buffer it's just not realistic. I think that says something about the broader economy that tech jobs are just becoming so specialized that there are not going to be enough job opportunity for the average person anymore, and that in sense is scary because what is the average person suppose to do now for a job? with automation coming online for so many people
I think the industry as a whole just... has no concept of "junior level" roles anymore. And I'm glad you got that last part. People would tell me, "Man that's ridiculous! 5 in a row? A 6 hour day-long project?" and my response was always, "yep! but thankfully I've got no job and I've got no kids" or along those lines. I have the same issue with takehome interviews- those who can spend more time on them will usually do better. The system was made for a time when going through one of these processes was a guarantee, but the times are different and thus the process needs to. Hang in there, and sending you my best 🙏
Quite the journey, Mark. But the best part? --> Your attitude. You could have seriously gotten yourself in a rut and just degraded yourself or felt useless because you failed a few interviews - but you rose above. I swear, I believe this firmly that once you fail a challenging interview, you grow stronger if you choose to or, you remain the same and fail again. You chose to grow strong. Keep the upward trajectory. Good shit.
It's crazy to me that this is almost my exact story right now, but I'm around month 2. You forgot to add in the exhaustion haha. I've learned a lot though and am almost at an offer.
Let's gooo! I hope that end to the process smooths out for you. The exhaustion is definitely real but I guess I just brushed it aside as a regular aspect of life at one point. Highs and lows, highs and lows.
wow bro thanks a lot, you just clarify everything here thanks a lot, but for I'm feeling it is a long long way to be one those software engineering experts
Wow. This video doesnt' relate to my situation but you provide valuable advice. No one is immune to job cuts and such... would love to see more of your journey. You earned a subscriber :)
Awesome video and super insightful. I am trying to find a job in biotech since graduating with my masters and it's been rough. Just have to keep grinding and building stuff
This was amazing and I knew when you mention Exponet.. because I watch their videos I knew this guy knows his stuff.. Question what language and projects would you start with as a new beginner ( I’m coming from a marketing background), I am going to start in Python and go from there.. thank you would love more videos like this and just more tips if some come later on and I hope you get both offers❤
I'm super glad you enjoyed the video! I appreciate both comments. > what language and projects would you start with as a new beginner In general to start, I would recommend Python- so good call! Languages have different usages so it's worth keeping that in mind. In your other comment you mentioned fullstack engineering, so I would recommend creating a project around building a web app. Understanding the frontend and backend being different components, how to use both of them (have them communicate), etc. A great thing would be to find an API online and just build a website with it, like I did with the "Emergenchibe" page on my website with a shibe api I found online.
Yea, I hear that. I hit a real hard stop in August/September. Did some traveling and along that some interviews "on the road" which helped a bit. I think one of the big things was getting my head out of the "leetcode grindset" mentality and just reconnecting with what I wanted to do. For me that was building up this idea I had (Infinite Game) and doing some game development. I tailored infinite game to some job postings as I mentioned, but it made it so I was leveling up, doing something I wanted to do (the reason I'm a code monkey I guess), and also felt like to helped me with job skills. I'd recommend the same. If you find you want to get back there and answer that "what if", it's time to lock in. But if you've found something else and you're happy there, I say full send there and keep doing you. Thanks for dropping by the video! If you resume, good luck! You'll go back in knowing more.
@@markbacon78 Ya I prob should go back to the painful grind since i got no other choice sadly... Hows life after getting a job? Is it less stress and you like the work your doing?
Unfortunately, that was part of my mentality at one point- no other choice, really. And unemployment from the state only lasted so long. I got lucky with the timing that I've taken a job I'm genuinely adamant about, as opposed to one that is just show up, work, collect a check (but hey- if it gives YOE then hopefully it opens up doors). School could also be an option, but of course degrees aren't much guaranteed these days. I know UW CompLing program has an internship program so it could convert into a full time thing? Just a thought. As for life after getting a job- I signed the contract last Friday and don't start until after Thanksgiving... Not sure if I should wait until I start for the next video but we'll see xP I'm looking forward to it. Good people, cool company, great incentive behind what the team works on. I think I'll enjoy it, and all the questions about WLB seemed well answered. Great questions to ask as you go through interviews.
@@markbacon78 Thats good to hear, glad you made it. Tbh i dont think i want to be a code monkey but seems these days for u to get a job you gotta be super passionate about it or the employer will sniff it out easily lol
Admittedly, I do think it helped when I didn't have to fake the "oh hey this is a cool thing!" in interviews, e.g. consumer products versus random ecommerce.
I'm in a similar position and the idea of having to balance between building practical projects and doing interview prep (behavioral, technical, system design) can be daunting. Im curious on how you went about alotting time for all these things in your daily schedule
Definitely an individual balance you find over time! I was relying heavily on timeblocking my calendar. A more recent video has a tiny bit more insight, but I tried to shoot for at least 2 hours of algos + system design each day and 2 hours of infinite game. I also had a handful of other stuff going on so I probably hit this goal every other day?
Hey Mark, I absolutely love your resume template! It looks so clean and professional. If you could share it, that would be really helpful in my job search. Totally understand if you want to hide any critical information-dummy data works perfectly. Thanks in advance!
Hey! I'm glad you liked the template. I think I started with something from here-- thegoodocs.com/ However, I ultimately ended up making mine in Photoshop so unfortunately I don't have a template for it. Feel free to recreate from screenshots though!
Hey man, just wanna say thanks for this video. Similar situation. We just given a notice and our jobs is gonna end soon. Been applying and the market is really tough the recruiters are giving us lower pay than what we currently have for a higher responsibility. I respect you with the guts to say no. Seeing the market nowadays, its really hard not to become desperate even if you have a buffer. Glad I saw this video
You guys got notice?! Kidding- I'm really sorry to hear that. Notice or not, and whether you're ready to transition or not, having that ripped away from you is never a fun time. Jump into something fun and/or something you've had on the "some day" list. I took ~2 weeks before I sent my first application as my resume was finessing and would recommend taking that small break (though no harm in starting early) I think my decision to say no was largely based on the fact it was also a contract role + bad terms + low rate, and to be fully transparent I was rolling the dice with three other processes that were ongoing at the time (...thankfully one of them worked out). One thing I have learned, and maybe I'll follow up with this in the next video on this topic too, is that there's a different between a company that can't pay too much (e.g. startup) versus a company that won't pay what you're worth (e.g. an adtech job could probably afford way more). Don't forget to work with companies that will simply value you how they best can. It can be hard to not be desparate- and hey, at the end of the day, you can always say yes and hopefully keep interviewing to take another job. It's a heavy toll on time of course, but if the money's short it's always an option to try half assing both. Best of luck with your search, sorry again to hear about that. And happy that you resonated with the video!
Just to preface: I think this is a great video with a ton of excellent information, but I had one gripe. At 18:05 you say not to look up solutions until you have completed an algorithm problem. I think if one acknowledges that time and mental energy are finite resources, then for some problems you lose out on a lot of return on investment by sinking a ton into a problem without "giving up" and looking at the solution. Because of this, I think not looking up solutions should not be a hard and fast rule, but one should timebox their effort and not look at a solution without going at it for say ~30 minutes by yourself. To me I think there's a delicate balance between using time efficiently and working/growing your skills by grinding out a problem. If you can't do the problem in half an hour, you've already failed within an on-site context, and if you're spending over an hour on a problem where you might never reach a solution, you're wasting valuable prep time/energy. Open to discussion! Lmk what you think. Thanks for the video.
Glad you enjoyed the video! I like the thoughtful comment. In general, I agree with you, and I think there's definitely some nuance there. I think I was coming from a place of memorizing leetcode solutions and pulling those out in interviews. I thought I had touched on this in the video but maybe I cut it out; in general, I think it's worth just banging your head against the wall and if you're /really/ stuck- and I mean really stuck, like having tried your initial solutions and you can clearly define the problem / where you're doing wrong- then it's worth looking up /just the next step/. The time and effort, however, that I have put in on problems to understand the solution paid dividends in just understanding how I approach solving problems. In other words, for me it wasn't really about the solutions themselves but learning how I think. For example, once you get a solution, don't just look up the optimal. Look up maybe the strategy for it (e.g. "use a map") and give it a go yourself. Everyone has their own balance on how to work on and learn from these problems and in general I agree- there's no hard and fast rule and you shouldn't just bash your head on the wall. But if you're going to look up the solution, imo a) keep it to only one step at a time, b) really make sure you've exhausted your way of thinking
I got a job at a publically traded trucking company after 3 months. Their job postings cannot be filled by external hires because nobody has the experience they require, so they only promote internally. We essentially can't be fired because nobody can replace our experience. It's a great setup and everybody should be looking for jobs like these if they can
I hear a lot of tech companies do this as well. Kind of makes sense, especially given how expensive onboarding brand new hires can be. The real question is how to get your foot in the door on these kinds of jobs-- e.g. how did you end up getting a job if the company doesn't really do external hires? Or do you mean like 90% of the jobs are internal hires? I'm curious to hear more! It's a valuable insight.
Thanks, Mark! This is awesome! I was wondering, what does your daily schedule look like? I’m struggling to balance my time between job hunting, LeetCode (or studying algorithms, lol), and learning system design…
Glad to hear the video resonated so well! Daily schedule definitely varied, I tried to balance a lot of things so I prioritized focuses work over longer periods of work. I shot to wake up at 7 every morning to start and start working on something by 9 (as if i had a 9-5). Algorithms was less enjoyable for me so I usually tried to get an hour/hour and a half of that out of the way early. I think I averaged one system design Q every other day from hello interview, during that last two weeks at least. Tried to squeeze in time on Infinite Game as well, but had other things going on. Probably ended up being 4-5 hours of work on these things a day. Not that much tbh, but it was focused and I was focusing time elsewhere too. As for applying, I’d shoot off anywhere from 10-30 apps at a time, every few days. Sometimes w breaks in between if i was in final panels but then my optimism started to die so I just kept on applying. Best of luck w the search! If anything, the grind helps build confidence. Keep it up 🔥
Tu parles Français l'ami ? J'ai vu "French" as additional skills sur ton CV lol c'est cool! Je commence juste ta vidéo mais j'adore ta transparence et ton énergie, force à toi l'ami 💪😊
could i ask - what might be the best way to "get started" in swe? from reading a little of Alex Xu's "System Design Interview", this is the solution design / problem solving aspect what are the "languages" a beginner should look into?
The best "language" to start with is, in my opinion, Python. While not my favorite language, it has the least difficult learning curve + most practicality + massive wealth of resources to learn. When it comes to system design and algorithms... learn as you go. Could start with existing systems that you are familiar with (e.g. "how does netflix stream video" has a lot of articles online).
What were the unacceptable terms for the contracting company? A non-compete? A code ownership clause, meaning any code you produce, even for yourself belongs to them?
In effect, yes to all of the above. The low-pay was a bit of a pain but it would have been worth it since it was a short contract for a cool company. In short, the contract was disagreeable because: - Any inventions I previously started and continued working on would become theirs during my time - For any company I worked for through them, I would not be legally able to work for those companies for 2 years (this was the big one. If i wanted to work for a company after my 6mo contract, id have to wait 2 years, trapping me with that agency). - Incredibly unprofessional behavior in general; eg spoke with 7 different people throughout (interviews excluded), sometimes having the same conversation twice. Receiving the calls at very random hours. Did not want to be on a payroll if that was the kind of organization going on. They were nice, but as an org unorganized
A true classic, let's gooo! I hope it goes well. Also- did you find the Cowdino Arcade or this channel first? That's a rare thing to happen! (I run both, but it feels far too coincidental for that not to be known)
@@markbacon78 I know both from a few years ago -- I watched your The Witness series quite a while ago (which coincidentally got me into philter) A friend reminded me of this when we were talking, now I'm here haha. Glad I found this gem of a channel(s)
Awesome vid! thanks for covering your experience. Were you looking for in-person/hybrid jobs, or remote? Also, is it normal for companies to have system design interviews for L4/mid-level equivalent positions?
Glad it resonated! I was looking for any job that would take me haha. I was open to remote because I knew I worked well in a remote environment, and I was open to hybrid because I wouldn't mind an office twice a week or so. Could be a nice space for collaboration since the remote did take a small mental toll on me when I first moved to Seattle and didn't really have friends. Fully in-office wouldn't have been ideal but I wouldn't turn it down. I had a system design style interview in every final panel I had, so I guess so. I think what's nice about it is that system design is much easier to gauge "what a midlevel answer is" and "what a senior answer is". Hello Interview kind of talks about what those expectations would be.
@ Makes sense. Thanks for the response! I’m in a big tech job right now but the work is super stale so i’m thinking of prepping to switch for something more interesting. And will probably look for in-person because remote gets lonely haha. Considering moving to Seattle for it too bc I love Seattle and there’s more opportunities. So it was divine providence that brought your vid to me hahah. New sub!!
How do you balance applying for jobs, practicing for interviews, while also taking care of yourself like building projects that you like but also meet up with friends once in a while? I'm looking for either QA tester or Data analyst/entry jobs. My schedule is that I apply and prep for interviews every Monday and Friday, Tuesday to Thursday is for re-learning stuff. Weekends are for outings. But recently I feel like I want to make a game again, but i don't know where to fit that in my schedule. How do you deal with family expectations at home? At least you still made some money from youtube, no?
> How do you balance jobs, practicing, self-care, projects, and meeting with friends? In a way, I don't. The balance between these things is never even. Sometimes I would/will sacrifice some things for others. I injured my foot in September so I couldn't run nor do martial arts- this effectively gave me ~15 "extra" hours in the week to do other things. I have only recently made some really good friends in Seattle, but they... effectively saw less of me. I tried to shoot for the idea of doing everything, but if things ever got to be too much I would slow down and pivot. Sometimes if friends invited me out, I'd force myself to say yes. Interview studying was the most controllable thing in retrospect; I only spent like 1.5-2 hours tops of algorithms or system design a day. For my project, I would make sure I kept it fun so that I was invested in it while making it a challenge: using frameworks posted on job pages, challenging everything I do, etc. See my latest infinite game devlog for insight into that. That's what ended up working for me, but hopefully there are some good insights there. In terms of fitting stuff into the schedule, sometimes it's the kind of thing you need to try feeling out. For me, applying and preparing for interviews being on Monday and Friday wouldn't work because I don't like dedicating one day to a whole thing. I did smaller consistent efforts on most days. That way, if I wanted to switch from one thing to another, it could feel like I was taking a break from one. In terms of fitting that game into your schedule, can you combine it with re-learning? I think starting any new development project is good, and game programming can get super complicated in good ways. > Dealing with family expectations I'm fortunate that I don't have kids or a significant other or anything, and I'm pretty sure a part of the reason I don't is because of the time I put into other things. Trying to dial back on that again, but that's a whole other story. This is a challenge I hope to one day face but do not face now, so I don't think I can give a great answer. > Still made money from youtube? I think I averaged like 30-50 dollars a month for the last... year or two haha, even then it was maybe around 100 when the typing videos were super popular? I wanted to take RUclips more seriously and started to, but then eventually got a job and so the RUclips videos will kind of be that... thing I do if/when I can make/find time for 'em.
In the text of almost all job offers you can see that the capitalist Employer wants to pay only for the skills of the employee, however not for the wear and tear of the physical and moral strength of the person.
Pretty much. Given the environment, it's almost better to take the mentality of "taking a job" from an Employer as opposed to thinking of the Employer "giving a job" to someone who matches the skill set. Weird mentality but I think it helps. Thanks for the comment! I like the way you connected to the message.
What would you say were some of the biggest hurdles going from junior to mid? I am in a very similar position atm and am curious what they were for you. You sort of of addressed this in the video but curious if you have more thoughts
I think just experience, honestly. As a junior, you're sort of- by definition- gaining a breadth of knowledge everywhere before you know where you want to go deep in. For example, I might be a senior-level Minecraft plugin developer at this point and a mid-level backend engineer, but I'd be a junior data scientist for sure. Feeling /confident/ where you want to go deep is the hard part, because you have to find something that you enjoy while also having confidence that you'll be able to go deep on it at some point. Junior -> mid, in other words, doesn't mean you're leveling up /everywhere/, it just means you're leveling up where it matters to you for skill.
One thing worth thinking about is you go to school to get a high paid job. You graduate then realize getting job is not what it used to be decades ago. Now its more about jumping through thousand layers of hell and fire just to even get an interview. And when you finally got a job you realize that the company itself is horrible at any aspect even though the job is good It is sad that regular people fighting each other for one position and that position exist just to make someone rich… but we can't fight that mentality either just because “time is tough” and we have no choice but to fight each other. The job market itself is already the hunger games in reality but we just don't know it.
@@markbacon78 Prof Bloomberg was great. I took that course May 2024 so probably after you tutored. Either way I'm glad to see an NYU CS alum finding success! Huge inspiration
Question! How do you take notes? Writing on note paper or all digital ( I’m using one note from Microsoft.) and If I’m learning To be a Full stack should I learn UX and UI too?
> How do you take notes? When watching material, I don't really. The best thing that worked for me in school was to pay close attention, hand write (!) some sparse notes, and try and recap stuff at the end of class. Forced me to pay attention versus just thinking I could check my notes later. That habit still sticks around. > Should I learn UX and UI too? I've never formally learned either of these things, but I think having worked in XD/Figma a fair amount now, and Photoshop even more, you get a sense of what kind of thought goes into constructing visuals. I often think of my frontend work in terms of how things are designed too, e.g. positioning differnt elements.
Glad you enjoyed the vid! I made the resume from scratch in Photoshop. I think I started with one from here: gdoc.io/resume-templates/ and then just took my own direction with it
Is everybody in this field just okay with packing up and moving wherever the job is? It is impossible to stay in one area that is not a major tech hub and get hired, correct? Wish I knew that going into college
I moved to Seattle when my job was fully remote (within the US) out of choice because I didn't want to stay in New York, not really accounting for whether or not it is/was a tech hub. A lot of jobs I interviewed for were fully remote and/or remote within certain bounds of timezones so they're definitely out there. That being said, incorrect in terms of "impossible to stay in one area" If you want to work in big companies it might be a different story, but on the plus side you might have options of where to work from? Hopefully the RTO trend doesn't fully go back
Hey Mark, so I have a bachelor’s in MIS and no relevant industry experience and some sub par projects and literally nothing else. How would I land a job? P.S. can’t afford to study and pay for certs rn.
While I'd love to be able to answer your question, I don't think I can. I'm not fully qualified in that field nor do I have the same experiences as you. All I can really answer is what I did and how it helped me- which is effectively the contents of this entire video. Which boils down to: study what's relevant for interviews, find a project to work on and give yourself experience in a way, and apply for jobs that are applicable for your level (which sounds like junior?) Definitely check out the links in the description for the sites I used there. On another note, just in general don't do nothing in my opinion. Sub par projects? Can you update them to be not sub-par? Are there projects you want to work on that you can do during this time? I brought up my own projects in interviews and what I learned from them and it worked out. Not that all situations are the same but that's all I can recommend. Hope it helps! Control what you can control (your own projects, spending your time well when you have it) and stop trying to control what you cannot (the current state of the industry).
I'd hesitate to say say that 80k is really bad, but I do agree people can barely pay for rent. Where you choose to live can be a big part of it (I could be paying triple my rent for a smaller apartment in NYC). The system is pretty shot right now and I don't think it's gonna get better :(
Sometimes I just maximize the aesthetic of the resume because I figure it stands out from generic black and white ones. Idk though, resumes are a bit overhyped imo but of course important
I've had my trouble with recruiters in the past, sure, but calling them "untalented" is a bit much. Working with technical recruiters is always better than those without technical background, but their only job is to a) make sure what is on your CV/Resume is accurate, and b) that you can have a human conversation. Everyone after that is not a recruiter, unless you check in with them. And I've had some great recruiters, but every subsequent interview is with an engineer or something. That's... the least dumb part of the process at all, in my opinion. They're not untalented, they just might not have technical background. But it's not crucial for that part of the interview anyway.
their ability to toss your cv in a bin simply because they run it through keyword matcher and it didn’t score enough points is a bit much. Even for the ones who got past that filter, they eyeball through your cv and then ask you questions like how many years of experience do you have, which technologies do you have experience with, what’s your current title, etc - read the bloody cv! maybe there’s a mismatch of understanding what untalented means for me and you: i interpret it as someone who doesn’t have special abilities or predisposition to something. One might argue that i’m wrong and their soft skills is what they’re good at, but for me it’s basics: if an engineer doesn’t posses good enough soft skills he can be rejected, but it’s an additional requirement on top of his technical abilities. Also i didn’t mean just software engineering, i was speaking for any complicated enough field, like general engineering, medicine, law, etc. Recruiters might be ok for hiring cleaning managers or staff for mcdonald’s, but i was fortunate enough to be under a management of one senior engineer who sent me some cvs of obviously (to us) excellent candidates which were rejected. He did this because he found it very suspicious our hiring pipelines were that shallow, it was circa 2019 where the market was in a very good shape. That taught a valuable lesson. Fast forward 3 years later i did what once that engineer did: same outcome, some really great candidates got rejected! I asked my manager to make that recruiter to reach out to 4 of them, resulting in 1 successful hire! You don’t need to believe me, i’m not here to convince or brag, just merely sharing my experience of course 2 examples out of thousands and thousands isn’t representative, but… is it really? Speaking to all that recruiters (and hr people in general) they are so alike when it comes to hiring, almost like they were produced on some factory i may be unjustifiably biased but i’m convinced they just suck, not all of them but 90% do
What did your resume look like for your first job? Also if you didnt have a degree what would you say are must haves for a resume? Im self taught and have built a couple projects and it never feels like these projects are helping my resume.
Hey Mark so I've got a question I want to start in Tech but here's my problem I was a firefighter for 11 years and have an opportunity to join a technical rescue team that's pretty much locked in would going the technical rescue route be a better idea then trying to get an entry level tech job in 2024 because I've been heard just take the technical rescue job. I'd start school for tech in about a week
So, when I was choosing jobs or even now just picking between two offers, I asked a lot of people for input. And I think getting a lot of input is fine, but in my opinion you should never ask others what you "should" do. No one has the right answer, if there is one. That being said, I don't know what a "technical rescue team" is, but if it's upward movement + you've been doing this for 11 years, it sounds like that's something you have a lot of experience in, potentially enjoy, and are definitely good at. If you feel like your life is going to constantly be absent and you'll always regret not going to school for tech, then maybe tech is just a path you need to explore. This isn't a question I'll have an answer for, as it's your life, but I can definitely say that getting a job in tech right now is difficult. I'm just a midlevel engineer, and I imagine it's even more difficult for junior levels. If there's a way you can do school part-time maybe you can do both? But at the end of the day, it comes down to your own risk management. Not sure if this helps you, but hopefully you get something from it!
I'm a desktop support and hasn't look for a new job since 2015 since i'm still with my full time job. but back in those days, i used to look for new jobs at craigslist, career builder, monsters, indeed, and dice. Are those job boards no longer relevant for looking tech jobs in 2024? which jobs board do you recommend for ppl that has 20+ years of IT experience?
I have only heard of Indeed in that list, and it felt far down on the list for me. For IT, given it's in tech and SWE adjacent, it might be worth checking LinkedIn and Otta & Jobright (the two I mentioned in the vid, links in the description). The latter two I found were great at matching my experience to relevant experiences.
Not a single penny. Otta/WTTJ and Jobright were both free. When I said I got people to review my resume, it was just friends who were at the same level as me and some friends/past coworkers who gave me feedback. And me just tweaking it on my own. In my opinion, those are not services worth paying for (at least for me) and I value feedback from those who know me & the industry moreso than random consulting companies. The only thing I paid for in this entire process was for Algo Expert, and that was largely because I preferred the framework and service they provided regardless of finding some algo questions on leetcode. I was leaning to pay for something from Hello Interview but ultimately looks like I didn't need to.
All in all, it was a good first job but consulting wasn't for me. There was room for advancement, but as someone who wanted to code and build things, I didn't get put on an interesting project and left after 3 months. Worked with some super nice people though, and I think the org seemed pretty well structured. If you don't like your project, probably best to speak up and/or get on something you find interesting early on. If you're just looking for something to fill the 9-5 though, great work life balance and cool people!
Congrats man! I love your points and your advice. Kinda in the same boat but with being a new grad & more in the data sciences field. I wanted to know how grind heavy should I be given applying for entry level to jr level roles? I'm not aiming for fanng but still get discouraged on leetcode, sql, data and other questions. My biggest issues is that I can't even land an interview, so getting practice and comfortable is hard. Any tips or words of wisdom?
Yo! Thanks for dropping by, I'm glad you enjoyed the video. The grind in general is tough, and recognizing it as a challenge is a good thing. My path is my path, and yours will be yours, but I can try for some tips haha. In terms of getting discouraged, always ask yourself "why". If a problem is too hard, try an easier problem. If you don't know about the data structure something is talking about, look up some conceptual videos. For me, it's taken several visits to basic material in order to really drill things in (I still struggle to understand Kadane's Algorithm on an intuitive level, but it has made more sense the 4th time than the 1st!) Junior level roles are also an incredibly tough place to be in, and I empathize with that a lot. As you mentioned you're in data science, are there any projects you're working on? I never did any internships in college, but at the end of the day could still talk about what I worked on because of the projects I created (different web apps + a Minecraft server, in my case). I think in the last 6 and a half months of failures, the biggest thing for me was getting to work on my own creation. If no one was hiring me, I figured I'd just start building something out myself. It's a great practical way to develop skills. I guess the point I'm trying to make there is that one can only grind for interviews so much; experience matters, and personal projects are valid forms of experience. As for interview practice itself, I'd 100% recommend looking up " + mock interview" on RUclips or something. Every time a question comes up, practice answering it- talk to your pet, a friend/family member, or even a stuffed duck. Learning to speak and trust your first answer is important, and that's one way to practice. And as far as landing interviews, looking back on when I was applying out of college, I would double down in focusing what you apply to + hyper focus your resume. The reality I "woke up" to is that I was competing with senior level engineers for midlevel roles, and unfortunately you may be competing with midlevel engineers applying for junior roles. While your own personal experience can only go so far, the quality of where you apply is significant. In other words, I saw my success rate go up when I started uses Otta/Jobright because they were giving me jobs that fit my level, not just random jobs on LinkedIn or Indeed. Jobright also has this free (or it was when I used it) resume analyzer that... I think helped? I can't quite give a standard answer of whether or not it helped lol but it gave me more confidence getting my resume out there. That was a lot, but in summary: - Challenge is hard, but good. If it was easy, everyone would do it. - When getting discouraged, ask "why". Change your perspective, change how you tackle things. - Junior roles are tough. Giving yourself experience by working on a project (e.g. something with Kaggle datasets for a data scientist) will pay dividends imo - Practice your answers to common interview questions by "interacting" with videos - Tailor your resume, make 2 or more if it comes to it, with terms closely relating to jobs - Focus your job search on roles for you. Spending the extra time to find postings that are more tailored to you is worth it over shotgunning to everything you find (which also isn't a bad approach I guess) That was a lot of word babble, but hopefully something in there is helpful! At the end of the day, keep up the good work and I wish you the best on the path forward 🔥
@markbacon78 thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you, your video, and you comment tons. Wishing you the best and will be implementing these tips. I have about 1 and half years of internship and applicable experience but still struggle landing interviews even after tailor resumes etc. As you said, I may be competing with mid level, I'll work on playing the numbers game and keep my head up.
There are companies that don't do the dog and pony show of the leetcode + sysdesign but they will just not be pure tech companies. I think the underlying caveat to all this is "if you're looking for a top tier tech job, here's how you'd prepare". I think government, utilities, IT departments, banks etc are all solid employment opportunities and all have way lower interviewing bars. Even within tech there are companies with a lower bar. Lastly, not every coding job is SWE titled! Anyone who's reading this: DevOps, site reliability, infrastructure engineer, system engineer, heck even network engineering nowadays all require writing software to some degree without being as ridiculous to pass an interview for. But that diverges pretty far from the video and Mark's ultimate goals 🙂
Haha- I'm honored, but no not really. You're free to email me some questions (email in my "About" tag on the channel page) and I'll do my best to answer!
Okay, not gonna lie-the job hunt really took a toll on my mental health… (2024 graduate ). But watching your journey, I can totally relate! I might not be at the finish line just yet, but I'm inching my way there. Will definitely UPDATE soon 🫡. Oh, and you've got yourself a new subscriber!
Right there with you 🫂 Taking breaks is okay, don't forget that! I like the mentality. Definitely update me (and tag so I get a notif!) on how it goes. I'm glad you resonated with the video, and best of luck with your search 🔥 Keep on keepin' on
In my opinion, yes- but indirectly. - The resume resources absolutely, very tech oriented. - Algorithmic coding is key for game dev. It's incredibly important to be optimal when doing various operations, esp. graph kind of stuff - System design not exactly, but in my experience game development has been designing a serious of systems that ultimately interact with one another. If you're building up multiplayer game infrastructure, the parallel is a lot clearer. If you're just working on game dev, you could use the framework of system design and slightly alter it (e.g. design an inventory system for Minecraft)
I don't envy you. Those interviews are pure garbage. Looking at MANGA (FAANG), trash. Might as well be taking a test "Did you study every question on leetcode?" "Did you remember the 10,000 things, that realistically no one would remember" "Did you pay a tutor to help you study" What kind of none-sensical bullshit is this? This is the reality of being a Software Engineer. It was foretold long before these events. Sucks that folks such as yourself are losing more and more options and are having to deal with this. Good you're opening up your skillsets, I'd recommend focusing on automation as well. That is the future for just about everything. I work the field and can tell you we've essentially "worked" out employees of their positions due to automation doing what they would've done, not only faster, but with much more accuracy.
In my honest opinions, I think you should work on this mentality. Having a strong understanding of DSA is important to being a good engineer. Do you know the advantages of using a map over a list? Sure. But how about the disadvantages? Are you able to evaluate, in a given scenario, when implementing a graph will be crucial to features you are implementing? All of these DS and As exist for a reason, and a very good reason. From that perspective, it's incredibly important to get a good handle on them. As to /leetcoding/ and algorithmic questions, yea, idk why those are still the norm for filtering out software developers in interviews. They demonstrate when someone can apply DS&As, but it's gotten to something like the SATs (in the US) where those who perform best are simply those who have studied them. Not necessarily those who know when to use them. You may not like them, but they are important (and quite cool once you start using them in your own things). But as filters for job interviews, yea pretty nonsensical when done during leetcoding. I sure how an average software engineer knows advantages to using sets, lists, and maps though. And if you're hiring a senior for a platform with millions of users and/or requests, they better know their datastructures and distributed systems theory.
You pretty often say that interview was a failure (on your side) but i'll tell differently - 90 % of interviews are failure. youre recruited like your project will be going to Mars planet while in reality the project is like going to the grocery store and buying Mars cookies xd interview should be matching the quality of projects company has to offer.
As far as "interview should be matching the quality of projects company has to offer", I totally agree. Some interview processes were better than others. I might be misunderstanding? But a failure, in this case, is simply "not an offer" / "getting rejected". And from those I tried to learn as much as I could. Sure, interviews might be this leetcode hard questions as if the project is some big thing when in reality it isn't. But at the end of the day, you still have to do these interviews to get the job. My studying for it made me a better engineer imo, even if I don't use those skills. Just gotta play the game and make the system work for you, not hope that easier interviews are going to come along (in my experience, they won't).
Ty! And maybe a long shot but indeed I have ahaha ♟️ Injured my foot so I was out for a few weeks but back as of last saturday; lmk when you see me! Small world 🔥
@@markbacon78 No way! Very small world indeed. I was only there for a week last year on a short trip. I think you even tried to hook me up with a job referral at the time. Def would like to go back sometime.
![*Next-door 10x Software Engineer* [FULL]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kKAue9DiHc0/mqdefault.jpg)
burnt out from my first job a couple months ago and left with just a bit over 1yoe. this was really great to watch. not doomer twitter rhetoric, not pull yourself up by your bootstraps linkedin rhetoric. just go build stuff. thanks for this man.
Yea... that's exactly why I deleted my Twitter last week 😆 I'm all in on BlueSky now lol. The doomer on one side and bootstrap-pulling on the other side. I think it really did help to change my mindset of "ugh I need a job and I can code" to "well I genuinely like to build stuff so let me reconnect with that". And at the end of the day, you can build things that line up with job stuff out there. And for me, that just so happened to be incredibly helpful with my job search.
Best of luck out there! Hit me up with a link here if/when you build something, would love to check it out.
@@markbacon78 twitter can be inspiring to see cool stuff ppl are building, but it also wears on me when I see a bunch of posts like “if you’re not grinding every waking second you’re trash and going to be a wage slave for the rest of your life. you need to quit your dumb job and move to SF to have any hope at achieving freedom” and then you click on their profile and their startup idea is a GPT wrapper with no users.
Maybe that’s just my feed specifically 😅
small creators are truly a gem, youll never find a big tech youtuber make a video with even half the value this one has
That makes me very happy to hear! Super glad it's got value, that's the goal. Thanks for dropping by!
Fact 💯
The quality of RUclips is best for small creators.They tell you everything honestly without sugarcoating and watching them feels like talking to a friend.
I feel like "watching them feels like talking to a friend" is the vibe to shoot for, so I'm super glad it came across that way! Thanks for dropping a comment
it shouldn't be this fucking hard to get a job AFTER 4 years of school.
For real :\
Totally, but there is hundreds or thousands of great talents out there.
Fighting each other with more or less skills, for limited positions. Is wild, but is what's happen right now.
More reasons to level up and become a cut above the rest! It's definitely rough out there.
Being Educated doesn't mean you have social skills/actually smart in the real world.
What do you do during those 4 years? Did you make friends? Get connected with your professors? Build cool projects? Having at least 3.2 GPA?
Bro got a job with experience being a Minecraft mod, certified in Archery and Typing speed of 170 wps. Now i now how to do it. Thanks men
Minecraft mod and plugin developer extraordinaire 😎
However you do do it, don't forget to always be you! Thanks for dropping by the video 🤝
Something I've quickly learned; people are rather helpful. I landed a job and felt *completely* out of my depth, but I had coworkers willing to sit down with me and work with me. I'm still there after a year.
I think recruiters have become so desperate that your integration into their company culture matters more than any skillset; skills can be learned and improved, personality is a lot harder to "fix".
Teams are also so sick of losing/gaining people. It's also way more expensive to hire someone new than to train someone there, but I know some companies just... don't bother and try and filter people out *cough* amazon *cough*. I totally agree with the notion of skills and personality there!
I love some raw, unscripted and honest job life updates from small creators
That's what I'm here for 😌 Thanks for dropping by!
Awesome video thanks for sharing!
That's a familiar name! Thanks for dropping by the video, much appreciated. The reach of this video has been surprising me each day...
What a great video. Most notably, you didn’t get down about the process and let it overtake you. Instead, you said okay, this is what I have to do - projects, system design, practice, etc. - and you did it. You interviewed, acknowledged where you went wrong instead of just blaming the process (which it is a process worth complaining about), learned from them, and got better for the next one! Always pivoting. Congrats on the offers, man! Very much deserved.
Super glad you connected with the message in that way! I never really thought of it as pivoting until now but I guess it kind of is. Especially the idea of just doing what I say I'll do. Such a simple mentality and attitude toward things, but not necessarily an easy one to act upon.
On an unrelated note, extra thanks! Had to double check for a second haha, but the words mean a little extra coming from someone whose videos gave me a helpful push back in school to keep up the side projects 🍻 This video's reach surprises me once again
Talk about mindset, determination, and sheer effort. gg man, this is dope. Excited for you!
Thank you! I'm glad a lot of that comes through. I kinda failed to see it that way for a little while but I'm glad that's how it comes across. At the end of the day you gotta take agency. Thanks for dropping the comment!
Congratulations Mark! Seeing you progress through this chapter of life gave me motivation for leveling up my own path!
Feedback in each stage is the key and I found that you can only get it if you put yourself out there which I was really afraid of. Can't know what you'll get if you don't shoot your shot!
Thank you g! We grow together 🔥
Absolutely superb video from start to end, love how genuine everything felt throughout.
Thanks so much for the feedback! It wasn't too scripted and I think that let the genuine thoughts really poke through a lot more clearly. I'm glad that came across!
dude, this video came up on my feed at a perfect time. this is gem of a video - so much valuable information and lessons compared to any big tech youtuber.
thanks a lot for this man.
I'm super glad it resonates with you in that way! I appreciate you dropping a comment.
Keep up this nice work, You're an honest dude, and very transparent, more than pretty much any other youtuber, I' love that
That's the aim of the game- glad the transparency is appreciated!
your humility is golden. Thanks for sharing
Best video i watched to motivate me, thanks Mark. Keep going brother
Thanks for dropping the comment! I'm super glad it motivated you
wow, it was motivating to hear your story! im still studying programming in college and ive been feeling lazy, but your story made me reconsider that minimum work is not gonna cut it anymore and i need to build my value cuz these jobs are very demanding
Super happy the video resonated! Definitely a time when minimal work won't get us where we want to be. Keep on keepin' on!
Everyone is doing the bare minimum at work. It's just that they know how to look and act busy.
Be smart with your effort and Don't overwork yourself. Don't just blindly take workload after workload
I don't think everyone is doing the bare minimum. I think it can be very easy to do so, but the bare minimum is not how you learn or progress. While I have done the bare minimum before, that was a signal to me that I needed to find a different line of work or something I was more incentivized to work on.
There's a balance of working hard and doing that bare minimum. I despise the work culture of just "looking and acting busy", and hopefully everyone is able to find a place that finds the balance of "i know this person can get their work done and they need some space between that".
Though your last point is definitely correct. The down times and rest times are incredibly important and finding that balance is always important
I appreciate,how you takes the time to reply to every comments. Keep it up man .
My favorite part of this whole endeavor! Thanks for dropping by the vid
Appreciate the value from this video- haven’t seen one of these in a good minute
I'm glad that you enjoyed and it resonated with you! :D Thanks for leaving a comment.
Kudos, I''ve been out for 8months+ couple interviews but nothing, I'll stop fighting the process and happily do it
Hopefully those couple of interviews have at least been informative in some sense. It's definitely draining, but worth the fight in the end. Keep it up 🔥 And thanks for dropping by the vid!
you're so real for this. i'm in a similar situation
Glad it resonates- thanks for dropping by!
Thanks for the inspo. Congrats! 🎉
I’m glad it resonated! Thanks for dropping a comment 🔥
the middle in anything always sucks
Hey man, keep up the good work. Thank you
Thanks for dropping by!
Congrats man! I'm happy the algorithm led me here. I'm about to go through the process of applying to jobs as I move some projects along. I tried using this year to make my own experience out of passion projects and any freelance opportunities. Thanks for outlining your journey and huge props to you!
Ey that's awesome, super glad you found your way here too. I'm a big projects guy and building that experience on your own. Thanks for dropping by! :D
I really enjoyed your video, it perfectly matches my current situation
Super glad you enjoyed! Thanks!
Thanks for sharing!!! It really helps. I mean it ❤
I'm so glad it resonated!
Really inspiring to see how you were motivated to put in the work and level up!
Also interesting you said you were overqualified for junior roles but mid positions were so vague and you had to bridge the skill gap. You should make a video about it, it's refreshing to see genuine content about this kind of stuff, so much of RUclips seems to be students who lucked into FANG, juniors with little experience making tutorials and some rare seniors... I think there is a missing middle problem
I'll try to touch on this in the follow up- thank you for the insight! The middle engineer is definitely a vague area because you're just discovering what you like / don't like, yet don't quite have your niche yet.
Cheers!
Congrats man! Leveling up. Keep doing it.
Thanks g! 🙏
This was a great video man. Thank you for the tips, transparency, and motivation to keep going. I do alot of "You're not there yet" thinking which ultimately isn't helpful. Similar to you, I dont want to work for a company that only cares about hard leetcode questions. I love your perspective of practicing data structures and algorithms to gain self confidence. Thanks again!
You are most welcome! I'm really glad that all resonated. I think "you're not there yet" has its pros and cons and at the end of the day it's best to toss things that don't work.
Cheers, and best of luck with your search. Keep it up!
Subscribed! "Take agency for your life" - words of wisdom. Would definitely like to see how you made use of the tools at your disposal - job tracker sheet, obsidian with excalidraw plugin, and the tab for digital notes. I have a similar system and was curious.
Noted! I was always planning on following up with stats, but a handful of comments with various questions have been akin to this so I'll put this comment in my notes and cover tools too. Finding the Obsidian/Excalidraw combo definitely made my quality of life go up for system design studying.
And I'm glad the note on agency resonates with you! Makes me happy to hear. Thanks for dropping by the video! (And bonus points for the adventure time pfp haha)
@markbacon78 hahaha... thanks. Adventure time is one of my favourite shows. Will eagerly wait for the next video ✌️
100 agree with you projects and keep going steady upward and do better that you did at the lower level
All about consistent growth. Thanks for dropping by!
I am just so burnt out and I don't have that buffer you mention at end, and every tech jobs wants to go through hoops when that timeframes is not there to upskill in terms of affordability its just so hard, I loved that final part in the video you put in and I agree with that take agency, but god even a entry level jobs you can qualify for are just not being provided. For example there are so many more senior, and middle positions versus entry level positions or junior I could be wrong but that is really gist I get from reading job applications.
Anyways thanks for putting that in the end because we all understand we need to upskill like we get it, but when you have a partner, kids, or no buffer it's just not realistic. I think that says something about the broader economy that tech jobs are just becoming so specialized that there are not going to be enough job opportunity for the average person anymore, and that in sense is scary because what is the average person suppose to do now for a job? with automation coming online for so many people
I think the industry as a whole just... has no concept of "junior level" roles anymore.
And I'm glad you got that last part. People would tell me, "Man that's ridiculous! 5 in a row? A 6 hour day-long project?" and my response was always, "yep! but thankfully I've got no job and I've got no kids" or along those lines. I have the same issue with takehome interviews- those who can spend more time on them will usually do better. The system was made for a time when going through one of these processes was a guarantee, but the times are different and thus the process needs to.
Hang in there, and sending you my best 🙏
goated video, we gon make it alright!
🤞
Your resume looks pretty good for 2 yrs of experience. I like the format.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and these resources, especially WTTJ!
You are so welcome! I think WTTJ definitely helped me have a smaller target when applying. Best of luck!
Congrats Mark! Your videos are really inspiring and informative! Thanks for the great work and wish you the best!
Cheers!
I’m super glad you’ve gotten something from them, and thanks! 🙏
Love from India ❤ Thank you for the video. It gives me positive energy ⚡😊 keep going
Hi Naman, where do you work?
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for dropping a comment :)
omg it took me so long to realise this is a small youtuber def subbing. this was a great video
A compliment of the ages! Ty so much haha- much appreciated, and welcome to the club
Quite the journey, Mark.
But the best part? --> Your attitude.
You could have seriously gotten yourself in a rut and just degraded yourself or felt useless because you failed a few interviews - but you rose above.
I swear, I believe this firmly that once you fail a challenging interview, you grow stronger if you choose to or, you remain the same and fail again.
You chose to grow strong.
Keep the upward trajectory.
Good shit.
Thank you brother! At the start it was definitely demoralizing but sometimes you gotta fall a long way down to climb back up again 🫡
It's crazy to me that this is almost my exact story right now, but I'm around month 2. You forgot to add in the exhaustion haha. I've learned a lot though and am almost at an offer.
Let's gooo! I hope that end to the process smooths out for you. The exhaustion is definitely real but I guess I just brushed it aside as a regular aspect of life at one point. Highs and lows, highs and lows.
wow bro thanks a lot, you just clarify everything here thanks a lot, but for I'm feeling it is a long long way to be one those software engineering experts
I'm glad I could help!
Becoming an expert is certainly a lifelong endeavor, gotta love the journey :)
Wow. This video doesnt' relate to my situation but you provide valuable advice. No one is immune to job cuts and such... would love to see more of your journey. You earned a subscriber :)
I appreciate the comment! More on the journey is for sure to come 🔥
Congratulations !!!
Thanks! :D
Awesome video and super insightful. I am trying to find a job in biotech since graduating with my masters and it's been rough. Just have to keep grinding and building stuff
Glad the video helped! Building stuff and hopefully getting visibility is the goal. Best of luck with your search and congrats on the masters!
This was amazing and I knew when you mention Exponet.. because I watch their videos I knew this guy knows his stuff.. Question what language and projects would you start with as a new beginner ( I’m coming from a marketing background), I am going to start in Python and go from there.. thank you would love more videos like this and just more tips if some come later on and I hope you get both offers❤
I'm super glad you enjoyed the video! I appreciate both comments.
> what language and projects would you start with as a new beginner
In general to start, I would recommend Python- so good call! Languages have different usages so it's worth keeping that in mind. In your other comment you mentioned fullstack engineering, so I would recommend creating a project around building a web app. Understanding the frontend and backend being different components, how to use both of them (have them communicate), etc. A great thing would be to find an API online and just build a website with it, like I did with the "Emergenchibe" page on my website with a shibe api I found online.
damn yo i gave up the whole process was so draining. I don't know if I even wanted to through all that hell again.
Yea, I hear that. I hit a real hard stop in August/September. Did some traveling and along that some interviews "on the road" which helped a bit. I think one of the big things was getting my head out of the "leetcode grindset" mentality and just reconnecting with what I wanted to do. For me that was building up this idea I had (Infinite Game) and doing some game development. I tailored infinite game to some job postings as I mentioned, but it made it so I was leveling up, doing something I wanted to do (the reason I'm a code monkey I guess), and also felt like to helped me with job skills.
I'd recommend the same. If you find you want to get back there and answer that "what if", it's time to lock in. But if you've found something else and you're happy there, I say full send there and keep doing you.
Thanks for dropping by the video! If you resume, good luck! You'll go back in knowing more.
@@markbacon78 Ya I prob should go back to the painful grind since i got no other choice sadly... Hows life after getting a job? Is it less stress and you like the work your doing?
Unfortunately, that was part of my mentality at one point- no other choice, really. And unemployment from the state only lasted so long. I got lucky with the timing that I've taken a job I'm genuinely adamant about, as opposed to one that is just show up, work, collect a check (but hey- if it gives YOE then hopefully it opens up doors). School could also be an option, but of course degrees aren't much guaranteed these days. I know UW CompLing program has an internship program so it could convert into a full time thing? Just a thought.
As for life after getting a job- I signed the contract last Friday and don't start until after Thanksgiving... Not sure if I should wait until I start for the next video but we'll see xP I'm looking forward to it. Good people, cool company, great incentive behind what the team works on. I think I'll enjoy it, and all the questions about WLB seemed well answered. Great questions to ask as you go through interviews.
@@markbacon78 Thats good to hear, glad you made it. Tbh i dont think i want to be a code monkey but seems these days for u to get a job you gotta be super passionate about it or the employer will sniff it out easily lol
Admittedly, I do think it helped when I didn't have to fake the "oh hey this is a cool thing!" in interviews, e.g. consumer products versus random ecommerce.
I'm in a similar position and the idea of having to balance between building practical projects and doing interview prep (behavioral, technical, system design) can be daunting. Im curious on how you went about alotting time for all these things in your daily schedule
Definitely an individual balance you find over time! I was relying heavily on timeblocking my calendar. A more recent video has a tiny bit more insight, but I tried to shoot for at least 2 hours of algos + system design each day and 2 hours of infinite game. I also had a handful of other stuff going on so I probably hit this goal every other day?
Great video mate
Thanks! I appreciate you dropping a comment
Hey Mark, I absolutely love your resume template! It looks so clean and professional. If you could share it, that would be really helpful in my job search. Totally understand if you want to hide any critical information-dummy data works perfectly. Thanks in advance!
Hey! I'm glad you liked the template. I think I started with something from here-- thegoodocs.com/
However, I ultimately ended up making mine in Photoshop so unfortunately I don't have a template for it. Feel free to recreate from screenshots though!
Keep these vids coming
I'll do my best 🫡
Hey man, just wanna say thanks for this video. Similar situation. We just given a notice and our jobs is gonna end soon. Been applying and the market is really tough the recruiters are giving us lower pay than what we currently have for a higher responsibility. I respect you with the guts to say no. Seeing the market nowadays, its really hard not to become desperate even if you have a buffer. Glad I saw this video
You guys got notice?!
Kidding- I'm really sorry to hear that. Notice or not, and whether you're ready to transition or not, having that ripped away from you is never a fun time.
Jump into something fun and/or something you've had on the "some day" list. I took ~2 weeks before I sent my first application as my resume was finessing and would recommend taking that small break (though no harm in starting early)
I think my decision to say no was largely based on the fact it was also a contract role + bad terms + low rate, and to be fully transparent I was rolling the dice with three other processes that were ongoing at the time (...thankfully one of them worked out).
One thing I have learned, and maybe I'll follow up with this in the next video on this topic too, is that there's a different between a company that can't pay too much (e.g. startup) versus a company that won't pay what you're worth (e.g. an adtech job could probably afford way more). Don't forget to work with companies that will simply value you how they best can. It can be hard to not be desparate- and hey, at the end of the day, you can always say yes and hopefully keep interviewing to take another job. It's a heavy toll on time of course, but if the money's short it's always an option to try half assing both.
Best of luck with your search, sorry again to hear about that. And happy that you resonated with the video!
Congrats brother
Ty!
thanks for the video!
You are most welcome, thanks for the comment! :D
good video, well structured
Much appreciated! :D
Just to preface: I think this is a great video with a ton of excellent information, but I had one gripe.
At 18:05 you say not to look up solutions until you have completed an algorithm problem. I think if one acknowledges that time and mental energy are finite resources, then for some problems you lose out on a lot of return on investment by sinking a ton into a problem without "giving up" and looking at the solution. Because of this, I think not looking up solutions should not be a hard and fast rule, but one should timebox their effort and not look at a solution without going at it for say ~30 minutes by yourself.
To me I think there's a delicate balance between using time efficiently and working/growing your skills by grinding out a problem. If you can't do the problem in half an hour, you've already failed within an on-site context, and if you're spending over an hour on a problem where you might never reach a solution, you're wasting valuable prep time/energy.
Open to discussion! Lmk what you think. Thanks for the video.
Glad you enjoyed the video! I like the thoughtful comment.
In general, I agree with you, and I think there's definitely some nuance there. I think I was coming from a place of memorizing leetcode solutions and pulling those out in interviews. I thought I had touched on this in the video but maybe I cut it out; in general, I think it's worth just banging your head against the wall and if you're /really/ stuck- and I mean really stuck, like having tried your initial solutions and you can clearly define the problem / where you're doing wrong- then it's worth looking up /just the next step/. The time and effort, however, that I have put in on problems to understand the solution paid dividends in just understanding how I approach solving problems.
In other words, for me it wasn't really about the solutions themselves but learning how I think. For example, once you get a solution, don't just look up the optimal. Look up maybe the strategy for it (e.g. "use a map") and give it a go yourself.
Everyone has their own balance on how to work on and learn from these problems and in general I agree- there's no hard and fast rule and you shouldn't just bash your head on the wall. But if you're going to look up the solution, imo a) keep it to only one step at a time, b) really make sure you've exhausted your way of thinking
7 months to graduation, im locking in
7 months for the rest of your life. Full send 🫡
I got a job at a publically traded trucking company after 3 months. Their job postings cannot be filled by external hires because nobody has the experience they require, so they only promote internally. We essentially can't be fired because nobody can replace our experience. It's a great setup and everybody should be looking for jobs like these if they can
I hear a lot of tech companies do this as well. Kind of makes sense, especially given how expensive onboarding brand new hires can be. The real question is how to get your foot in the door on these kinds of jobs-- e.g. how did you end up getting a job if the company doesn't really do external hires? Or do you mean like 90% of the jobs are internal hires?
I'm curious to hear more! It's a valuable insight.
this one video made me subscribe him. Extremely great mindset. keep it up!!
Super glad you enjoyed- welcome! :D
Gained a subscriber, my good friend
Glad you enjoyed the video, thanks for stopping by!
Great videos dam small channel with great stash of videos
Thanks so much for stopping by! :D
Thanks, Mark! This is awesome! I was wondering, what does your daily schedule look like? I’m struggling to balance my time between job hunting, LeetCode (or studying algorithms, lol), and learning system design…
Glad to hear the video resonated so well!
Daily schedule definitely varied, I tried to balance a lot of things so I prioritized focuses work over longer periods of work.
I shot to wake up at 7 every morning to start and start working on something by 9 (as if i had a 9-5). Algorithms was less enjoyable for me so I usually tried to get an hour/hour and a half of that out of the way early. I think I averaged one system design Q every other day from hello interview, during that last two weeks at least. Tried to squeeze in time on Infinite Game as well, but had other things going on.
Probably ended up being 4-5 hours of work on these things a day. Not that much tbh, but it was focused and I was focusing time elsewhere too.
As for applying, I’d shoot off anywhere from 10-30 apps at a time, every few days. Sometimes w breaks in between if i was in final panels but then my optimism started to die so I just kept on applying.
Best of luck w the search! If anything, the grind helps build confidence. Keep it up 🔥
Tu parles Français l'ami ?
J'ai vu "French" as additional skills sur ton CV lol c'est cool! Je commence juste ta vidéo mais j'adore ta transparence et ton énergie, force à toi l'ami 💪😊
Oui! J'étudié pour une semestre a Paris et a mon lycée. Merci d'avoir écrit un commentaire! 💪
Love u mark -Zak from MC
Bros supporting bros
could i ask - what might be the best way to "get started" in swe?
from reading a little of Alex Xu's "System Design Interview", this is the solution design / problem solving aspect
what are the "languages" a beginner should look into?
The best "language" to start with is, in my opinion, Python. While not my favorite language, it has the least difficult learning curve + most practicality + massive wealth of resources to learn.
When it comes to system design and algorithms... learn as you go. Could start with existing systems that you are familiar with (e.g. "how does netflix stream video" has a lot of articles online).
@@markbacon78 great insights
Thanks for all you do Mark
All the very best for your path forward
What were the unacceptable terms for the contracting company? A non-compete? A code ownership clause, meaning any code you produce, even for yourself belongs to them?
In effect, yes to all of the above. The low-pay was a bit of a pain but it would have been worth it since it was a short contract for a cool company. In short, the contract was disagreeable because:
- Any inventions I previously started and continued working on would become theirs during my time
- For any company I worked for through them, I would not be legally able to work for those companies for 2 years (this was the big one. If i wanted to work for a company after my 6mo contract, id have to wait 2 years, trapping me with that agency).
- Incredibly unprofessional behavior in general; eg spoke with 7 different people throughout (interviews excluded), sometimes having the same conversation twice. Receiving the calls at very random hours. Did not want to be on a payroll if that was the kind of organization going on. They were nice, but as an org unorganized
This has inspired me to rewrite my CV in LaTeX -- just for fun (hopefully)
A true classic, let's gooo! I hope it goes well.
Also- did you find the Cowdino Arcade or this channel first? That's a rare thing to happen! (I run both, but it feels far too coincidental for that not to be known)
@@markbacon78 I know both from a few years ago -- I watched your The Witness series quite a while ago (which coincidentally got me into philter)
A friend reminded me of this when we were talking, now I'm here haha. Glad I found this gem of a channel(s)
Awesome vid! thanks for covering your experience. Were you looking for in-person/hybrid jobs, or remote? Also, is it normal for companies to have system design interviews for L4/mid-level equivalent positions?
Glad it resonated!
I was looking for any job that would take me haha. I was open to remote because I knew I worked well in a remote environment, and I was open to hybrid because I wouldn't mind an office twice a week or so. Could be a nice space for collaboration since the remote did take a small mental toll on me when I first moved to Seattle and didn't really have friends. Fully in-office wouldn't have been ideal but I wouldn't turn it down.
I had a system design style interview in every final panel I had, so I guess so. I think what's nice about it is that system design is much easier to gauge "what a midlevel answer is" and "what a senior answer is". Hello Interview kind of talks about what those expectations would be.
@ Makes sense. Thanks for the response! I’m in a big tech job right now but the work is super stale so i’m thinking of prepping to switch for something more interesting.
And will probably look for in-person because remote gets lonely haha. Considering moving to Seattle for it too bc I love Seattle and there’s more opportunities. So it was divine providence that brought your vid to me hahah. New sub!!
Haha that's good to hear! Best of luck with your search 🔥
ling ftw gl with the offers subscribed
Ty ty! Ling for the win indeed 🔥
How do you balance applying for jobs, practicing for interviews, while also taking care of yourself like building projects that you like but also meet up with friends once in a while? I'm looking for either QA tester or Data analyst/entry jobs. My schedule is that I apply and prep for interviews every Monday and Friday, Tuesday to Thursday is for re-learning stuff. Weekends are for outings. But recently I feel like I want to make a game again, but i don't know where to fit that in my schedule.
How do you deal with family expectations at home? At least you still made some money from youtube, no?
> How do you balance jobs, practicing, self-care, projects, and meeting with friends?
In a way, I don't. The balance between these things is never even. Sometimes I would/will sacrifice some things for others. I injured my foot in September so I couldn't run nor do martial arts- this effectively gave me ~15 "extra" hours in the week to do other things. I have only recently made some really good friends in Seattle, but they... effectively saw less of me. I tried to shoot for the idea of doing everything, but if things ever got to be too much I would slow down and pivot. Sometimes if friends invited me out, I'd force myself to say yes. Interview studying was the most controllable thing in retrospect; I only spent like 1.5-2 hours tops of algorithms or system design a day. For my project, I would make sure I kept it fun so that I was invested in it while making it a challenge: using frameworks posted on job pages, challenging everything I do, etc. See my latest infinite game devlog for insight into that.
That's what ended up working for me, but hopefully there are some good insights there.
In terms of fitting stuff into the schedule, sometimes it's the kind of thing you need to try feeling out. For me, applying and preparing for interviews being on Monday and Friday wouldn't work because I don't like dedicating one day to a whole thing. I did smaller consistent efforts on most days. That way, if I wanted to switch from one thing to another, it could feel like I was taking a break from one. In terms of fitting that game into your schedule, can you combine it with re-learning? I think starting any new development project is good, and game programming can get super complicated in good ways.
> Dealing with family expectations
I'm fortunate that I don't have kids or a significant other or anything, and I'm pretty sure a part of the reason I don't is because of the time I put into other things. Trying to dial back on that again, but that's a whole other story. This is a challenge I hope to one day face but do not face now, so I don't think I can give a great answer.
> Still made money from youtube?
I think I averaged like 30-50 dollars a month for the last... year or two haha, even then it was maybe around 100 when the typing videos were super popular? I wanted to take RUclips more seriously and started to, but then eventually got a job and so the RUclips videos will kind of be that... thing I do if/when I can make/find time for 'em.
In the text of almost all job offers you can see that the capitalist Employer wants to pay only for the skills of the employee, however not for the wear and tear of the physical and moral strength of the person.
Pretty much. Given the environment, it's almost better to take the mentality of "taking a job" from an Employer as opposed to thinking of the Employer "giving a job" to someone who matches the skill set. Weird mentality but I think it helps. Thanks for the comment! I like the way you connected to the message.
Okay, ian!
What would you say were some of the biggest hurdles going from junior to mid? I am in a very similar position atm and am curious what they were for you. You sort of of addressed this in the video but curious if you have more thoughts
I think just experience, honestly. As a junior, you're sort of- by definition- gaining a breadth of knowledge everywhere before you know where you want to go deep in. For example, I might be a senior-level Minecraft plugin developer at this point and a mid-level backend engineer, but I'd be a junior data scientist for sure.
Feeling /confident/ where you want to go deep is the hard part, because you have to find something that you enjoy while also having confidence that you'll be able to go deep on it at some point. Junior -> mid, in other words, doesn't mean you're leveling up /everywhere/, it just means you're leveling up where it matters to you for skill.
One thing worth thinking about is you go to school to get a high paid job. You graduate then realize getting job is not what it used to be decades ago. Now its more about jumping through thousand layers of hell and fire just to even get an interview. And when you finally got a job you realize that the company itself is horrible at any aspect even though the job is good
It is sad that regular people fighting each other for one position and that position exist just to make someone rich… but we can't fight that mentality either just because “time is tough” and we have no choice but to fight each other.
The job market itself is already the hunger games in reality but we just don't know it.
Did you take Professor Bloomberg's Agile/Devops Software Engineering course?!
Yea 😆 And I tutored for it the year after. That's wild
@@markbacon78 Prof Bloomberg was great. I took that course May 2024 so probably after you tutored. Either way I'm glad to see an NYU CS alum finding success! Huge inspiration
Question! How do you take notes? Writing on note paper or all digital ( I’m using one note from Microsoft.) and If I’m learning To be a Full stack should I learn UX and UI too?
> How do you take notes?
When watching material, I don't really. The best thing that worked for me in school was to pay close attention, hand write (!) some sparse notes, and try and recap stuff at the end of class. Forced me to pay attention versus just thinking I could check my notes later. That habit still sticks around.
> Should I learn UX and UI too?
I've never formally learned either of these things, but I think having worked in XD/Figma a fair amount now, and Photoshop even more, you get a sense of what kind of thought goes into constructing visuals. I often think of my frontend work in terms of how things are designed too, e.g. positioning differnt elements.
thank you so much for this, is it possible to share where we can get the templates for the resume?
Glad you enjoyed the vid!
I made the resume from scratch in Photoshop. I think I started with one from here: gdoc.io/resume-templates/ and then just took my own direction with it
Is everybody in this field just okay with packing up and moving wherever the job is? It is impossible to stay in one area that is not a major tech hub and get hired, correct? Wish I knew that going into college
I moved to Seattle when my job was fully remote (within the US) out of choice because I didn't want to stay in New York, not really accounting for whether or not it is/was a tech hub. A lot of jobs I interviewed for were fully remote and/or remote within certain bounds of timezones so they're definitely out there. That being said, incorrect in terms of "impossible to stay in one area"
If you want to work in big companies it might be a different story, but on the plus side you might have options of where to work from? Hopefully the RTO trend doesn't fully go back
Hey Mark, so I have a bachelor’s in MIS and no relevant industry experience and some sub par projects and literally nothing else. How would I land a job? P.S. can’t afford to study and pay for certs rn.
While I'd love to be able to answer your question, I don't think I can. I'm not fully qualified in that field nor do I have the same experiences as you. All I can really answer is what I did and how it helped me- which is effectively the contents of this entire video. Which boils down to: study what's relevant for interviews, find a project to work on and give yourself experience in a way, and apply for jobs that are applicable for your level (which sounds like junior?) Definitely check out the links in the description for the sites I used there.
On another note, just in general don't do nothing in my opinion. Sub par projects? Can you update them to be not sub-par? Are there projects you want to work on that you can do during this time? I brought up my own projects in interviews and what I learned from them and it worked out. Not that all situations are the same but that's all I can recommend. Hope it helps!
Control what you can control (your own projects, spending your time well when you have it) and stop trying to control what you cannot (the current state of the industry).
Rly bad pay. Giving 80k for a first yr role doesnt even cut it , people can barely pay for rent
Even 2nd yr role is not much pay increase
I'd hesitate to say say that 80k is really bad, but I do agree people can barely pay for rent. Where you choose to live can be a big part of it (I could be paying triple my rent for a smaller apartment in NYC). The system is pretty shot right now and I don't think it's gonna get better :(
Ok kids. Now you know. You want a tech job ? Your put your name on the top of your CV; the catch ? It should be title case 🤫
Sometimes I just maximize the aesthetic of the resume because I figure it stands out from generic black and white ones. Idk though, resumes are a bit overhyped imo but of course important
I have rarely gotten a feedback from a recruiter :(
It's a rare occurrence, but makes a world of different when you do. Keep on keepin' on! Always good to self reflect too
the problem is untalented people called HRs or recruiters are deciding who got a talent or not, by definition it’s dumb and insane
I've had my trouble with recruiters in the past, sure, but calling them "untalented" is a bit much. Working with technical recruiters is always better than those without technical background, but their only job is to a) make sure what is on your CV/Resume is accurate, and b) that you can have a human conversation. Everyone after that is not a recruiter, unless you check in with them. And I've had some great recruiters, but every subsequent interview is with an engineer or something.
That's... the least dumb part of the process at all, in my opinion. They're not untalented, they just might not have technical background. But it's not crucial for that part of the interview anyway.
their ability to toss your cv in a bin simply because they run it through keyword matcher and it didn’t score enough points is a bit much. Even for the ones who got past that filter, they eyeball through your cv and then ask you questions like how many years of experience do you have, which technologies do you have experience with, what’s your current title, etc - read the bloody cv!
maybe there’s a mismatch of understanding what untalented means for me and you: i interpret it as someone who doesn’t have special abilities or predisposition to something. One might argue that i’m wrong and their soft skills is what they’re good at, but for me it’s basics: if an engineer doesn’t posses good enough soft skills he can be rejected, but it’s an additional requirement on top of his technical abilities. Also i didn’t mean just software engineering, i was speaking for any complicated enough field, like general engineering, medicine, law, etc. Recruiters might be ok for hiring cleaning managers or staff for mcdonald’s, but i was fortunate enough to be under a management of one senior engineer who sent me some cvs of obviously (to us) excellent candidates which were rejected. He did this because he found it very suspicious our hiring pipelines were that shallow, it was circa 2019 where the market was in a very good shape. That taught a valuable lesson. Fast forward 3 years later i did what once that engineer did: same outcome, some really great candidates got rejected! I asked my manager to make that recruiter to reach out to 4 of them, resulting in 1 successful hire! You don’t need to believe me, i’m not here to convince or brag, just merely sharing my experience
of course 2 examples out of thousands and thousands isn’t representative, but… is it really? Speaking to all that recruiters (and hr people in general) they are so alike when it comes to hiring, almost like they were produced on some factory
i may be unjustifiably biased but i’m convinced they just suck, not all of them but 90% do
What did your resume look like for your first job? Also if you didnt have a degree what would you say are must haves for a resume? Im self taught and have built a couple projects and it never feels like these projects are helping my resume.
Hey Mark so I've got a question I want to start in Tech but here's my problem I was a firefighter for 11 years and have an opportunity to join a technical rescue team that's pretty much locked in would going the technical rescue route be a better idea then trying to get an entry level tech job in 2024 because I've been heard just take the technical rescue job. I'd start school for tech in about a week
So, when I was choosing jobs or even now just picking between two offers, I asked a lot of people for input. And I think getting a lot of input is fine, but in my opinion you should never ask others what you "should" do. No one has the right answer, if there is one.
That being said, I don't know what a "technical rescue team" is, but if it's upward movement + you've been doing this for 11 years, it sounds like that's something you have a lot of experience in, potentially enjoy, and are definitely good at. If you feel like your life is going to constantly be absent and you'll always regret not going to school for tech, then maybe tech is just a path you need to explore.
This isn't a question I'll have an answer for, as it's your life, but I can definitely say that getting a job in tech right now is difficult. I'm just a midlevel engineer, and I imagine it's even more difficult for junior levels. If there's a way you can do school part-time maybe you can do both? But at the end of the day, it comes down to your own risk management. Not sure if this helps you, but hopefully you get something from it!
I'm a desktop support and hasn't look for a new job since 2015 since i'm still with my full time job. but back in those days, i used to look for new jobs at craigslist, career builder, monsters, indeed, and dice. Are those job boards no longer relevant for looking tech jobs in 2024? which jobs board do you recommend for ppl that has 20+ years of IT experience?
I have only heard of Indeed in that list, and it felt far down on the list for me. For IT, given it's in tech and SWE adjacent, it might be worth checking LinkedIn and Otta & Jobright (the two I mentioned in the vid, links in the description). The latter two I found were great at matching my experience to relevant experiences.
I am assuming you paid for those resume services to get the full effect ?
Not a single penny.
Otta/WTTJ and Jobright were both free. When I said I got people to review my resume, it was just friends who were at the same level as me and some friends/past coworkers who gave me feedback. And me just tweaking it on my own. In my opinion, those are not services worth paying for (at least for me) and I value feedback from those who know me & the industry moreso than random consulting companies.
The only thing I paid for in this entire process was for Algo Expert, and that was largely because I preferred the framework and service they provided regardless of finding some algo questions on leetcode. I was leaning to pay for something from Hello Interview but ultimately looks like I didn't need to.
Thank you Tech Harry Potter
You are... welcome... 🧐
Don't know why I thought truck was a dog for like 10 minutes
video is fire but we can't ignore the fact that the thumbnail is also going extremely hard
That’s what we like to hear 🍵🔥
Hey Mark, you worked at Perficient. How was that company? I am thinking of joining it.
All in all, it was a good first job but consulting wasn't for me. There was room for advancement, but as someone who wanted to code and build things, I didn't get put on an interesting project and left after 3 months. Worked with some super nice people though, and I think the org seemed pretty well structured. If you don't like your project, probably best to speak up and/or get on something you find interesting early on.
If you're just looking for something to fill the 9-5 though, great work life balance and cool people!
Congrats man! I love your points and your advice. Kinda in the same boat but with being a new grad & more in the data sciences field.
I wanted to know how grind heavy should I be given applying for entry level to jr level roles? I'm not aiming for fanng but still get discouraged on leetcode, sql, data and other questions.
My biggest issues is that I can't even land an interview, so getting practice and comfortable is hard. Any tips or words of wisdom?
Yo! Thanks for dropping by, I'm glad you enjoyed the video. The grind in general is tough, and recognizing it as a challenge is a good thing. My path is my path, and yours will be yours, but I can try for some tips haha.
In terms of getting discouraged, always ask yourself "why". If a problem is too hard, try an easier problem. If you don't know about the data structure something is talking about, look up some conceptual videos. For me, it's taken several visits to basic material in order to really drill things in (I still struggle to understand Kadane's Algorithm on an intuitive level, but it has made more sense the 4th time than the 1st!)
Junior level roles are also an incredibly tough place to be in, and I empathize with that a lot. As you mentioned you're in data science, are there any projects you're working on? I never did any internships in college, but at the end of the day could still talk about what I worked on because of the projects I created (different web apps + a Minecraft server, in my case). I think in the last 6 and a half months of failures, the biggest thing for me was getting to work on my own creation. If no one was hiring me, I figured I'd just start building something out myself. It's a great practical way to develop skills.
I guess the point I'm trying to make there is that one can only grind for interviews so much; experience matters, and personal projects are valid forms of experience.
As for interview practice itself, I'd 100% recommend looking up " + mock interview" on RUclips or something. Every time a question comes up, practice answering it- talk to your pet, a friend/family member, or even a stuffed duck. Learning to speak and trust your first answer is important, and that's one way to practice.
And as far as landing interviews, looking back on when I was applying out of college, I would double down in focusing what you apply to + hyper focus your resume. The reality I "woke up" to is that I was competing with senior level engineers for midlevel roles, and unfortunately you may be competing with midlevel engineers applying for junior roles. While your own personal experience can only go so far, the quality of where you apply is significant. In other words, I saw my success rate go up when I started uses Otta/Jobright because they were giving me jobs that fit my level, not just random jobs on LinkedIn or Indeed. Jobright also has this free (or it was when I used it) resume analyzer that... I think helped? I can't quite give a standard answer of whether or not it helped lol but it gave me more confidence getting my resume out there.
That was a lot, but in summary:
- Challenge is hard, but good. If it was easy, everyone would do it.
- When getting discouraged, ask "why". Change your perspective, change how you tackle things.
- Junior roles are tough. Giving yourself experience by working on a project (e.g. something with Kaggle datasets for a data scientist) will pay dividends imo
- Practice your answers to common interview questions by "interacting" with videos
- Tailor your resume, make 2 or more if it comes to it, with terms closely relating to jobs
- Focus your job search on roles for you. Spending the extra time to find postings that are more tailored to you is worth it over shotgunning to everything you find (which also isn't a bad approach I guess)
That was a lot of word babble, but hopefully something in there is helpful! At the end of the day, keep up the good work and I wish you the best on the path forward 🔥
@markbacon78 thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you, your video, and you comment tons. Wishing you the best and will be implementing these tips.
I have about 1 and half years of internship and applicable experience but still struggle landing interviews even after tailor resumes etc. As you said, I may be competing with mid level, I'll work on playing the numbers game and keep my head up.
Keeping your head up and eyes forward- that's what it's about at the end of the day 😄
There are companies that don't do the dog and pony show of the leetcode + sysdesign but they will just not be pure tech companies. I think the underlying caveat to all this is "if you're looking for a top tier tech job, here's how you'd prepare". I think government, utilities, IT departments, banks etc are all solid employment opportunities and all have way lower interviewing bars. Even within tech there are companies with a lower bar. Lastly, not every coding job is SWE titled! Anyone who's reading this: DevOps, site reliability, infrastructure engineer, system engineer, heck even network engineering nowadays all require writing software to some degree without being as ridiculous to pass an interview for. But that diverges pretty far from the video and Mark's ultimate goals 🙂
Great Video! Do you coach 1-1 ? Not joking.. I am serious. Need some practical advice in this domain. Can we connect somehow?
Haha- I'm honored, but no not really. You're free to email me some questions (email in my "About" tag on the channel page) and I'll do my best to answer!
Okay, not gonna lie-the job hunt really took a toll on my mental health… (2024 graduate ). But watching your journey, I can totally relate! I might not be at the finish line just yet, but I'm inching my way there. Will definitely UPDATE soon 🫡. Oh, and you've got yourself a new subscriber!
Right there with you 🫂 Taking breaks is okay, don't forget that! I like the mentality. Definitely update me (and tag so I get a notif!) on how it goes. I'm glad you resonated with the video, and best of luck with your search 🔥 Keep on keepin' on
You haven't seen nothing yet buddy...just wait until you will have to deal with unreasonable deadlines and difficult clients.
Eh that's every job at some point though. All about how you balance it.
Would these resources you provide be helpful for a game dev?
In my opinion, yes- but indirectly.
- The resume resources absolutely, very tech oriented.
- Algorithmic coding is key for game dev. It's incredibly important to be optimal when doing various operations, esp. graph kind of stuff
- System design not exactly, but in my experience game development has been designing a serious of systems that ultimately interact with one another. If you're building up multiplayer game infrastructure, the parallel is a lot clearer. If you're just working on game dev, you could use the framework of system design and slightly alter it (e.g. design an inventory system for Minecraft)
@ Well than I’m In school still learning a lot and I want to do a deep deep drive into the whole world of CS. What would you suggest?
I don't envy you. Those interviews are pure garbage. Looking at MANGA (FAANG), trash. Might as well be taking a test "Did you study every question on leetcode?" "Did you remember the 10,000 things, that realistically no one would remember" "Did you pay a tutor to help you study" What kind of none-sensical bullshit is this? This is the reality of being a Software Engineer. It was foretold long before these events. Sucks that folks such as yourself are losing more and more options and are having to deal with this. Good you're opening up your skillsets, I'd recommend focusing on automation as well. That is the future for just about everything. I work the field and can tell you we've essentially "worked" out employees of their positions due to automation doing what they would've done, not only faster, but with much more accuracy.
I don't like data structures and their algorithms, whoever thought these are a good indicator for filtering out good software developers, good job.
In my honest opinions, I think you should work on this mentality.
Having a strong understanding of DSA is important to being a good engineer. Do you know the advantages of using a map over a list? Sure. But how about the disadvantages? Are you able to evaluate, in a given scenario, when implementing a graph will be crucial to features you are implementing? All of these DS and As exist for a reason, and a very good reason. From that perspective, it's incredibly important to get a good handle on them.
As to /leetcoding/ and algorithmic questions, yea, idk why those are still the norm for filtering out software developers in interviews. They demonstrate when someone can apply DS&As, but it's gotten to something like the SATs (in the US) where those who perform best are simply those who have studied them. Not necessarily those who know when to use them.
You may not like them, but they are important (and quite cool once you start using them in your own things). But as filters for job interviews, yea pretty nonsensical when done during leetcoding. I sure how an average software engineer knows advantages to using sets, lists, and maps though. And if you're hiring a senior for a platform with millions of users and/or requests, they better know their datastructures and distributed systems theory.
You pretty often say that interview was a failure (on your side) but i'll tell differently - 90 % of interviews are failure. youre recruited like your project will be going to Mars planet while in reality the project is like going to the grocery store and buying Mars cookies xd interview should be matching the quality of projects company has to offer.
As far as "interview should be matching the quality of projects company has to offer", I totally agree. Some interview processes were better than others.
I might be misunderstanding? But a failure, in this case, is simply "not an offer" / "getting rejected". And from those I tried to learn as much as I could. Sure, interviews might be this leetcode hard questions as if the project is some big thing when in reality it isn't.
But at the end of the day, you still have to do these interviews to get the job. My studying for it made me a better engineer imo, even if I don't use those skills. Just gotta play the game and make the system work for you, not hope that easier interviews are going to come along (in my experience, they won't).
even NYU grad also struggle to get a job. bro wtf
Hmm this may be a long shot, but have you ever taken mma clases in a gym thats under a coffee shop? Also, congrats dude
Ty! And maybe a long shot but indeed I have ahaha ♟️ Injured my foot so I was out for a few weeks but back as of last saturday; lmk when you see me! Small world 🔥
@@markbacon78 No way! Very small world indeed. I was only there for a week last year on a short trip. I think you even tried to hook me up with a job referral at the time. Def would like to go back sometime.
Ah I do remember that! Good thing you didn't take the referral, eh 🥲 I hope you've been well