Day 185 of writing every day.
Yesterday I mentioned getting a job offer on the get go just hours after a successful job interview where the company deliberated amongst themselves and agreed that they wanted me on board. As nice as having something readily available to me is, I’m serious about giving the other companies that have invited me to interview a look, and learning more about them and the industry. Most of all, I want to get a better grasp of how I’m being appraised as a potential hire.
I’ve already received rejections to more than half the jobs I applied to that were openly recruiting workers without any prior coding experience nor knowledge. Some disqualified me because of age, one disqualified me because their assessment test ruled me unworthy of an interview to assess my character face to face. So the companies offering to interview me for their open position must have something they’re looking for specifically and think I might be the person to fill that role. It could be because of language skills for translation or opening new opportunities to increase foreign engineers or services.
In all honesty, the difference between candidates who all have studied for a few months with the hopes of getting their foot in the door as a programmer in terms of skill can be quite negligible. Everyone goes through the same process of learning foundational languages to code and only with a lot more practice over the course of one to three years do engineers really start to show their true worth.
But with negligible differences in skill, that means needing to stand out and leave a good impression on the interviewer(s). To do that, I’ve been reviewing the job posting, looking up the company info on their website, and reviewing my own resume to make sure I have a solid grasp of everything that I might be asked and come up with ideas with what questions to ask.
Interviews begin with a well prepared self introduction, and I have to be focused so as to speak as clearly and deliberately as I can to be professional. I’m at full attention but not to the point of being tense and nervous, which while not as nerve-wracking, can be quite draining mentally. It can drag on with the companies giving an introduction about themselves and providing some information that’s supposed to be relevant to the position job seekers applied to. All the while I’m showing full attention and interest rather than sitting passively like the audience in a PowerPoint presentation.
Today was a bit exhausting as it went close to an hour and it was all very procedural. Being a big company this time, I was told the result of the interview would maybe take a week, so I’ll have to wait to find out. However, I’m also on the fence as this company seemed to consider the idea of night shifts or just shifts in general with two days off a week instead of weekends and holidays.
Tomorrow’s interview is the big one for me, as I was told very few had made it past the application screening out of the people my career advisor for the online school had referred. The company policies seemed fair in the info I read, but I still have to interview to really find out what the people are like, if it’s really a company I want to work for, and if they want me to work with them.
Thanks for reading!
One Chance Works 