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Getting Over my Fear of Technical Interviews
My Experiences as a college student in Tech
“The best of us sometimes eat our words.” — Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
If you prefer listening or viewing a talk about this same topic and content, here’s a link to my talk at AlterConf 2017.
By the age of 22, I had two degrees in Computer Science, four SWE internships, and 7 job offers for various tech roles including Software Engineer, Cognitive Software Engineer, Decision Scientist, and Information Risk Manager. Most of the companies that offered me a full time job had previously rejected me for an internship (just a few months before!).
None of this was easy. I had a love-hate relationship with Computer Science when I was first introduced to Programming and often times felt very directionless in this field. Experiences like being the only woman on a team or being younger than everybody else in Grad school didn’t help either. I was overwhelmed by all the smart, driven, older and experienced students I met in my Master’s program. I was confident in my ability to do well in academics but felt totally unprepared to face job interviews. I had a lot of self-doubt and was afraid that I didn’t have the required technical and algorithmic skills needed to score a position at a Tech company.
I got rejected by a lot of companies at first. I either didn’t get an interview at all or when I did, didn’t make it past the first few rounds. But here are some of my experiences that slowly helped me gain more confidence and get over my fear of technical interviews.
Stepping out of my comfort zone
Traveling miles away from my home country to go to a university half way across the world was incredibly challenging but it has helped me become stronger, more aware, and also more thankful. I was introduced to a lot more opportunities, met incredible people, and got to do research with amazing professors. There is so much to learn when you move to a new place, meet new people, and understand new cultures. I highly recommend this!
