Tips for My Next Software Engineering Job Search

There are a bunch of things I learned from my last software job search that I don’t want to forget. I don’t think this list will apply perfectly to anyone else, but it may jog some contemplation?

Don’t apply if you don’t meet the qualifications

One of the most unexpected dreams I’ve had is this one where I interviewed Matt Damon for a job as a software engineer. I appreciate how realistic my brain made it. We did an entire interview. Matt Damon had no programming skills, and he did very poorly. It was painful and all parties felt bad.

Only recently did I come to find a real personal lesson in this cringemare. Just because Matt did badly in a software engineer interview doesn’t mean that he’s bad at acting or has no value. It’s just that he shouldn’t have applied for this particular job, and I shouldn’t make the same mistake.

In my last job search, friends and recruiters encouraged me to apply for jobs where I didn’t really meet the requirements. Companies themselves explicitly try to get underrepresented people to do this, too. However, they make it sound like there’s no downside, when actually there is significant.

There’s the time interviewing takes from your life, sure. But there’s also the cost of being demoralized. Being sad and unconfident for your next interview. What I realized is that I can’t not feel bad about myself if I don’t do well, even if it was just a Matt Damon situation. That’s just me, and I have to get real with it.

I remember the distinct feeling of finding a job description where I actually matched all the requirements, for the job I ended up taking.

Every job I apply for is on the scale between “Matt Damon applying for a software engineer job” and “Matt Damon going up for an astronaut role”. I want to be squarely on the latter side.

Apply while you have a job

The main issue with taking time off between a job and applying for a new one is that you forget a lot of things. No amount of brushing up on dusty memories that you’d shoved aside to enter “vacation mode” can get you close to that state where you have a crystal clear recollection of all the problems with a software architecture you just created.

Don’t apply to too many jobs

I was under the impression that you never hear back from 90% of the companies you apply to. Apparently this isn’t true if you’re a “senior” software engineer. You’ll hear back from all of them, if it may take a couple weeks.

Ask about the interview process first

This goes along with my general “don’t set yourself up for failure” theme. I flag badly during six hour interviews. My brain reverts to elementary school. Ask about their entire process up front in the first recruiter call. If they do five back-to-back interviews, ask if they can split it up over two days.

If I have to do a five-hour interview, I know I’m not going to do well, so why go through the demoralization?

Find out early on about diversity

As interesting as a job may sounds, I’m not sure I can go through being the only women on a large team, again, unless I had to. It makes a big difference in my general stress and confidence levels at work, and thus, a big difference in my life.

I thought it might be hard to find another diverse team in my last job search, so I didn’t screen that out at the very beginning, when I could have. There are enough companies out there that have prioritized diversity. Trust that to be true.

Also, if I’m being interviewed by an all-male panel, I feel even more put-on-the-spot than usual and won’t do as well, anyways. So, why bother?

Schedule interviews for when you’ll be in a good mood

Sometimes you can anticipate when you won’t be feeling as focused or confident, in advance. Don’t schedule the big interviews for that time.