Sometimes feel insecure when interviewing

Genesys
BallinB

Go to company page Genesys

BallinB
Feb 21 6 Comments

So I have an interview coming up on Friday. In some respects the company Im interviewing at is considered a unicorn. After vetting the engineers on LinkedIn, most of the engineers are strong engineers, the “went to an elite school, interned at FANG; now at FANG/unicorn” types. This was literally all the engineers. Most of my jobs have been at lower tier companies at least to the Blind standard, so I feel a lot of these people can run circles around me and most of them are new grads (I’m 29). I basically feel defeated before I even get to the interview knowing the caliber of engineers there. Any advice on How do I overcome these feelings?

comments

Want to comment? LOG IN or SIGN UP
TOP 6 Comments
  • Google
    YmnBz9

    Go to company page Google

    YmnBz9
    I have a GED, worked at best buy geek squad for 2 years, amazon warehouse for a year, amazon corp IT for 2 years, moved to AWS SWE, and L4 SWE at Google now.

    I suffered severe imposter syndrome for a while, but after working with elite school grads, I realized they're just good at LC and interviewing. any average programmer can work at FANG with zero difficulty, if not for LC interviews. From 5 diff teams I've been on at AWS and Google, intern projects are building dashboards, fixing low priority customer pipelines, or frontend UI updates. No elite school or "prestigious" internship will trump your full-time experience. repeat in your head that they are just kids with less experience than you.
    Feb 21 1
    • Genesys
      BallinB

      Go to company page Genesys

      BallinB
      OP
      “repeat in your head that they are just kids with less experience than you.” Yeah this is basically how I’ve been trying to frame it to myself. Appreciate it Google.
      Feb 21
  • Uber / Eng
    Press F

    Go to company page Uber Eng

    Press F
    If you’re asking about jitters, everyone gets them the first couple. Once you do enough of them, it becomes natural.
    Feb 21 1
    • Genesys
      BallinB

      Go to company page Genesys

      BallinB
      OP
      Naw, it’s more like if I were to interview for a senior position, how could I possibly be above some of these sharp youngins. I’d feel like an impostor and might actually be one tbh.
      Feb 21
  • have some confidence! they selected you for interviews!!!! you are doing something right 😀
    Feb 21 0
  • Amazon
    space!

    Go to company page Amazon

    space!
    Be humble and acknowledge some of these "kids" will be more knowledgeable and productive in certain areas than you. Recognize the opportunity to work with talented people and try to do your best in the interview, they will decide whether to hire or not.

    Try your best and show you want to be there, that's the most you can ask for
    Feb 21 0