I've applied to over 100 roles since November. Have gotten interviews with 7. I've passed all test cases, met design requirements, and have had good conversations with hiring managers. I've been rejected from 6 so far (that I've interviewed with). There's only one instance where I had clear signal that I missed on a technical aspect. I've been studying in all my free time and even some during my work hours, letting my work slip and most other aspects of my life in this sprint to escape. It's hard to maintain motivation at this point, but I'm super desperate to leave my situation at Amazon. Currently still in the process with TikTok (all interview rounds scheduled). What strategies have you found success in with dealing with repeated failures with no clear feedback? YOE 7 TC 250 Update: I got a verbal offer from TikTok only for them to let me know that their HC had been filled. Apparently I'll still get an offer pending 2024 HC. 🤞🏻
I know it's not failure until you give up... Just trying to maintain that mentality and push to improve what I think my weaknesses are.
Keep trying man, I know it’s tough but I was in a bit similar situation recently and now I’m pretty happy. Still haven’t signed anything officially. But cling on every positive experience and ride that endorphin wave as long as you can. Patience and perseverance is the name of the game, it’s exhausting for sure tho
I'm in the same boat. Interviews have been difficult.
@OP and @gobananas, You guys are need to lighten up. It's not you, it's the job market. Do not over prepare and burn yourself out or curse yourself for trying hard. Right time/market has just begun. Next 3 months market will pick up and every other company will be hiring and with the prep you guys did, you will easily crack anything. Be Patient for couple of more months but be ready(keep trying)! Past failures will enlighten the path for future success! Do not get Burnt out! Success = Patience + Perseverance! Never say die!
@weflihkb Thanks for the encouragement! 😊
Show confidence in the interview and be relax. Remember you just need one to work. Good luck.
Thanks. Honestly, I've barely been holding on hope for Apple at this point. The role is a really good fit and was my top choice from the start. But I'm slowly starting to face the reality that I may end up being at Amazon for much longer than I was expecting.
It is hard right now, dont take it personal. At least you are trying. I also want to prepare but too busy and cant manage to take time for study.
Yesterday was perhaps a bad day. Tomorrow is a new day. I know what I know, and I will work on what I don't know. Gather feedback to understand where you might be lacking and aggressively try to rectify it. There are multiple sources to get feedback. An interview loop with companies isn't the only one and I would argue is objectively the worst place to get feedback. Rest peacefully in the knowledge that you did the best you could at that moment of time. Chin up. Shoulders back. ONWARDS!
If you are not on visa why don’t you try something else. Network and meet people who are founders, people in startups.
Draft your resignation letter. Feels sooo good and anytime you’re down you can open it and improve it
Why do you want to leave Amazon? Let’s say you get selected with TickTock, how would that make you satisfied?
The cash pay would be much higher. My base is 158 at Amazon. Rest is RSUs. TC 240-250. I’m also the only SRE on a service team. All I do is ops and I don’t even have a SRE title. (SysDE) which makes it harder when applying for other SRE roles. TikTok also has really good benefits even compared to big tech. Sure the WLB and ops might not be great but I’m already used to that at Amazon. At least I’ll be paid better with better benefits. The hiring bar seems higher. Promotions seem easier. USDS apparently is not that bad. And I’ve been meaning to learn Chinese anyways.
Can I dm for Tinder referral?
Interviewing since November. Laid off since Jan 2023. Hope everything ends well.
How is the job market, do you know if it has reached the normalcy in terms of number of job opportunities (pre-2023 levels)
Out the 100 applications, realistically how well suited are you for the role, from a Hiring Managers perspective? I see hundreds of applications from candidates with several years of irrelevant experience, but they believe their skills are transferrable
What’s your prep strategy?
I'm SRE. Doing LC meds for common topics (BFS, DFS, 2P, heap, etc), top company questions, deep dive studying in K8s, Linux, and networking, took a system design course (NeetCode), reading specific subjects in DDIA, system design primer. Anki Notecard review for all the above topics aside from LC.
interesting, did not know SRE engineer has to know system design or algos for that matter . i thought you wrote terraform