I Used to Pray for What I Have Right Now
Took me long enough :)
As of October 1st 2024 I work on the backend team of this product at HubSpot. Oh, I also moved to San Francisco. I live in a little studio in West SOMA.
How I Got the Job
One interesting note is I knew no one at the company. I didn’t send a LinkedIn message to a recruiter or anything. Complete cold apply.
The interview process was more or less like any other. Started in early August, 3 hour OA, 30 minute behevioural, 2 hour leetcode + sys design. I thought I bombed the OA. But then I got the recruiter call which I prepared for like hell. I killed it and got told I’d be moving to next steps within like 30 minutes of finishing the interview.
The final round really spooked me since it was right after a 4 day camping trip where I wouldn’t have any time to study. I almost debated cancelling it but I know every time me and my friends take this trip it’s really transformative for me.
About a week after final round I got the good news.
How I Prepped
For leetcode + system design + behavioural prep just read the tech interview handbook. Made by the person behind Blind 75. Outside of the question list it has a bunch of resources that were super helpful. It’s just a matter of practice makes perfect.
One thing that I dragged myself through which I don’t recommend and will never do again in my life was basically beg for referrals on LinkedIn. I’d message engineering managers/sr swes who worked at companies that had postings in the past 24 hours and message at least 10 who worked at the company point blank asking for a referral.
Seriously demoralizing and soul sucking stuff. I had some template where I’d highlight why I was a good fit and at the end write something along the lines of “any chance I could get some feedback on my resume or possibly a referral?”
This sucks, maybe it works but seriously I don’t want to get an interview because some random person that I spammed gave in. I want the interview because someone I know sees me as good enough for the job.
I might even delete my LinkedIn profile. But for now I basically made it as empty as possible and I’ll check in on it like once a month.
What’s Next?
For so long this blog was about getting a job. I gave up because I was so depressed that nothing was changing week to week and wanted to have this blog be more about results. I guess this is a big result.
I want to talk about more technical content moving forward. Random projects, maybe some stuff from work. I’m excited to write about something in a while reflecting joining a new company and trying to become a productive member of a team.
I also basically know 0 people in this city. Have to do something about that. Maybe I’ll also talk about moving somewhere new and how to get situated after I figure that out.
How Does it Feel?
When I heard the news I just let out a big sigh. I don’t think I can say that I was excited, more so relieved. Seeing my family and friends be excited for me was got me going.
I don’t think I felt like super excited until I was at the office one day chasing this bug. I finally got it and fixed the issue and I damn near jumped out of my chair. Man it’s so good to be paid for something you love, especially after doing nothing really related to it for so long.
I mean yeah leetcode and system design but they aren’t “real.”
To sum it up I’m just happy to be here right now. Excited about the future of course, but even more happy about the present.
EDIT
I deleted all of my old posts, they were kind of super depressing and not really high effort. If you really want to read them go to the commit history of this repo