Hey everyone, I want to talk about how I failed one of my interviews for a Devops Engineer opportunity.
The Prep
I tried really hard for this opportunity, studying 6 hours a day, breaking down everything, the take home project, and getting advice from my cousin, a Sr Software Engineer, and I want to talk about it.
What I Did Right
What I did right was ask for help, as soon as there was a ton of cloud infrastructure, a lot of jargon, etc, I knew it was time to talk to someone who conducted interviews, being where I was. I had claude code build the project, and break down what the interviewer may ask me and what I should know about the project. I figured out what the company wanted, predicted most of the questions, and built a flawless app.
What Went Wrong
What went wrong was I was so reactive in thinking of the interview as a test. It’s a conversation, can this person communicate his thoughts clearly? Would I enjoy working with him, listening to him? Is he competent, would he work well with this company and the potential people he would work with?
I should’ve practiced the STAR method and conducted many many Mock Interviews before this interview. That would’ve substantially bolstered my odds at being able to explain the project in depth and have the interviewer think wow, he is pretty competent, and I like how he’s talking to me like I’m five.
A Familiar Feeling
I was very hard on myself with this loss since it is a really tough market right now, and I did something similar in the past for an internship role I did not pass. What I improved on this time is that I asked for help, but I think I should’ve gotten more help since that person has not been in my shoes for a very long time.
The internship interview I failed at about 3 years ago didn’t go well because I caged myself in a room, tried to build a take home assessment without help from friends, or google for that matter, and I failed the first round, this time, I got to the second round and wasn’t able to explain the project well enough.
Run Your Own Race
Now mark my words, I have plenty of time and feel that with a good plan, enough time and dedication, you can accomplish roughly anything in this world. Elon Musk built SpaceX 15 years ago. Don’t try to compare yourself with others and go on your own path and try and do your best. For example, my cousin hit a picture perfect career, but if I compare him to my grand uncle who became a millionaire in his 20s, my cousin would feel sad.
Anyways, just reflecting on life lessons, and documenting my coding journey and thoughts.