Good Jobs #80: Practice makes perfect

Engineering, product, design, sales, and customer service jobs at Linear, Calendly, Zennify, Drake Cooper, Zapier, Flexibits, and more

Jan 20, 2023

basketball on basketball ring — Photo by Patrick Fore

A few years ago, a dream job landed in my lap.

Better pay. Equity. More responsibility. Fully remote. I wasn’t even looking. Their recruiter reached out to me. I was ecstatic…

…but I hadn’t interviewed in 3 or 4 years.

The recruiter scheduled some time with their design leader and another member of the team. They asked me to show off a couple of portfolio pieces. Easy!

A few days before the interview, I put together a slide deck of my work. It was all fancy looking. Nice animations. Crispy graphics. I was excited to present it.

Then it came time for the interview.

I was a bumbling, fumbling, nervous wreck (even more so than usual). My story was disjointed. I kept having to back up and re-establish what I was talking about. I could feel how bad I was doing in the moment. 😫

To make matters worse, about 40 minutes into the hour long call, the power went out at my house. It (thankfully) came back on just minutes later. I re-joined the Zoom, but nobody was there. I emailed the recruiter, who replied quickly with a “Thank you for your time,” and that they wouldn’t be continuing the interview. Truly fucking brutal and, in retrospect, a red flag.

I bring up this wildly embarrassing story to say: Practice interviewing

Interviewing is a muscle. It gets stronger through repetition. Practicing lets you learn what works and what doesn't so you don’t have to figure that out during an interview for the job you really want.

There are a bunch of ways to practice. My partner does a mock interview with a close friend or past colleague. I personally need it to be as close to real as possible, so I’ll pursue job opportunities that I’m on the fence about and practice that way. I’ve heard people record themselves and rewatch it. Whatever works for you.

For me, after just a couple of practice rounds, I’m able to give my spiel confidently, without notes, and at a natural, calm pace other humans can understand. I’d actually consider myself ~~pretty good~~ decent at interviewing. I might even like it… well, that’s going a bit too far.

Onward,

Loren

P.S. SheTech is happening January 31st at College of Idaho. Introduce STEM careers to local high school students. The organizers are looking for volunteers. I’ll see you there!

DEV

Senior Backend Engineer at Consensus

Remote | Full-time

Senior Full Stack Engineer, Python at Calendly

Remote | Full-time

Software Engineer at Linear

Remote | Full-time

Software Engineer at Flexibits

Remote | Full-time

Junior Full-Stack Engineer at Forerunner

Remote | Full-time

Still hiring: Software Engineer at Highwire

Boise | Full-time

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