YoE - 2 Worked in Amazon for 2 years straight out of college with no prior industry experience except the internship. In my first year, I was sexually harassed by a senior SDE (who later moved to a different team) and mentally harassed by my manager who was best friends with this person. Both these people were on really good terms with everyone on the team including the skip. I tried to take it up with the HR but they were a little callous and indifferent. I tried switching to another team but I was informed by my manager that I had been put on a dev plan. So I quit when I couldn't take it anymore and slipped into depression for while. I resigned in Aug and have interviewed with a couple of companies. Mostly I am scared if I ever will be able to do better than Amazon. I have practised around 286 questions on leetcode and I am trying to apply for SDE II roles but I find my mind going numb during the interviews and refusing to function properly which also results in a very difficult communication at times. Any advice? Also a lot of people have said to me that a gap of more than 6 months in employment is seen as a huge red flag. Is it true and if it is how big of a red flag is it? Would getting the offer depend on it eventually even if you somehow do well in the interviews?
The fact you were able to get into Amazon is amazing. But how they treated you was absolutely deplorable. At the risk of sounding corny let that become the fire that burns under you to find your next opportunity. You'll do great. It's only a matter of time.
Firstly I'm very sorry to hear about your experiences. Nobody deserves to be treated like that. Secondly, you can absolutely succeed in a huge way in interviewing skills, jitters and getting a great job. My advice would be to get lots and lots of practice with feedback. Practicing on your own is not going to be enough of a comparable experience. The more repetitions you get in, the more you will trust yourself and not get hopped up in the interviews. Visualize yourself having successful interviews. Really, try this for 10 minutes: imagine as vividly as you can a very successful interview experience and build some "experience" to counter act the poor experiences you've had so far. Talk to a career coach and get professional help improving your job search strategy and interviewing skills. Spending a bit of time and money here will pay for itself thousands of times over. If your stress from your prior experiences is flooding over to interviews, talk to a therapist. Think of them as a mechanic of the mind who can give you techniques for creating a high performance mindset. Don't beat yourself up. This is normal and it can be like riding a bike: something nobody just gets perfectly the first time.
Anyone can do better than Amazon. Keep at it.
Fresh grads claiming harassment at their first workplace. This is getting so common. Any chance you are not perfect and actually didn’t do a very good job at Amazon? Do you just expect to do better than Amazon now?
I am not perfect. Nobody is. But I am not a liar.
If there was a real case of sexual harassment or any basis for a potential legal case, HR would have been all over it. The fact that they were indifferent signals that you might be exaggerating the situation. Anyways, six months without a job is a while. Have you applied at any smaller companies? Would you consider working at one or only aiming FAANG?
Do a bunch of mock interviews (15 or more), try interviewing.io and pramp.com The two I listed are free, there are also paid options out there. Do enough until you don't even care about failing or succeeding. You will find out what you are good and bad at since they give feedback. Good luck
I'll give them a try. Thanks
Practice is best to get over jitters. Interviewing with people on pramp and others is better than practicing on leetcode in terms of improving nervousness. Also, apply to more places, just for the practice.