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I'm a PM at Google and former SWE, Twitter: @ninu Message me and let's talk further. We're always looking for strong SWE applicants. Happy holidays and remember to never give up! <3 for code. 'Tis the season to help others.
hahaha <3 thanks ninu, I'm not Google material, that is for the exceptionally chosen and talented.
I'm a PM at Google and former SWE, Twitter: @ninu Message me and let's talk further. We're always looking for strong SWE applicants. Happy holidays and remember to never give up! <3 for code. 'Tis the season to help others.
hahaha <3 thanks ninu, I'm not Google material, that is for the exceptionally chosen and talented.
You seem overly concerned about this. If a company wants to prevent themselves from hiring someone perfectly capable of doing the job (namely you), then they're probably foolish and you don't want to work there anyways.
On the other hand, it's possible you're mentally hung up on having a desired skill set that's seemingly forever out of reach. If that's the case, just resign yourself to the fact that software development requires perpetual learning in a field where the ground is always shifting beneath you.
Keep in mind that a typical senior developer is just someone who has enough experience to know how to learn fast and not fall victim to common pitfalls in the process.
I suggest finding a job at a nice place to work where you'll be doing something that you enjoy, then worry about the technology stack later. Good companies usually understand that both whiteboard-style interviews and formal degree requirements are bad. The best ones explicitly state that they don't care if you're inexperienced with their stack, so long as you have solid experience.
>I really feel like giving up.
If that means starting a company as some of the other comments suggest, don't. You're 24. Enjoy your youth while it lasts, don't piss it away doing a startup.
This takes a lot of pressure of since quality is not has strict in the Chinese market, and there is not that many people who have 10+ years experience in CS things. So if you show up with a "let-get-shit-done" attitude, or just a sense of quality, you will be well rewarded.
You can also work on scales that are normally only something for the best and brightest in SF etc. Making day to day task be more challenging and fun.
On the social side, its fun to be an expat, everyone and their grandmother wants to ask you questions and you get a extended family with other expats in no time. The social pressure from home goes away and you hang out with people from all walks of life, on the other side of the world we are all just guests.
China worked great for me, but there is other new crazy markets like Vietnam, Indonesia, Burma. Where a middle class are starting to use their smartphones more and more. All these countries needs localized versions of basic apps, or as in the case of China, niche version of basic apps.
I remember when I was stuck in traffic on the highway back home from work, before China, and thinking if this is it. A change of scenery was all I needed. If you do what you love and it still doesn't feel right, my bet is that you are in the wrong place.
Good luck.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
hahaha <3 thanks ninu, I'm not Google material, that is for the exceptionally chosen and talented.
Nonsense. Show us what you're made of and learn to build confidence in your abilities. You never will know unless you try! SWE interviews at Google are challenging, no question, but they're also where you can shine presuming there is a command over the basics (data structures, algorithms, etc). You've built multiple apps and coded in various programming languages correct? Post a link to your Github and let's check it…
If you don't know your Floyd Warshall from your Tarjan from your Manacher then you'll just fumble around thinking you got close unless you have the remarkable gift of being able to derive these from scratch in a whiteboard situation. Also I cannot stress enough how difficult - and entirely pointless - a whiteboarding interview is.
edit: I didn't mean this to come across pessimistic and critical. I just think it's important to serve a dose of reality regarding the standard expected (and hopefully some pointers towards the kind of algorithms theory you should be not only comfortable with but also able to reproduce on a whiteboard under pressure).
Lots of good advice already given out here. But I would like to add some of my own view points
About me : 23, ex-WalmartLabs, currently working on my own startup.
There are many ways to become a software developer, it all depends on what kind of role you're aiming for.
- Software Developer (SDE)
Typically the job offered to most young grads at the bigs cos (google/linkedin/walmart etc). They want to test your algorithm and programming skills. Check out [0], [1], [2] . It should take you 1-2 months to go over most of this stuff and several more to get really good. Start applying once you have a grasp of the basic principles, perfection only comes with practice.
If you're serious about such roles, I recommend spending at least 3-4 hours a day doing these problems.
- Technology specialist roles (IOS/Android/Node/Python/PHP etc)
These also require some programming knowledge. Use the above resources and at least do the basic Data Structure questions. Apart from that, showcase your projects, contribute to other libraries and/or roll out your own.
- Devops
Another cool field to get into. I am not well versed with the requirements myself but AFAIK, you need lesser DS and algo skills here and more tech domain knowledge.
- Freelance/Consulting
Just keep doing what you're doing right now. Find some consulting firm to market your skills for you. The monthly HN thread might be a good way to find leads/contacts. Can also consider bidding for projects on upwork/freelancer/others.
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All in all, only thing I can say is that there's no need to be disappointed. You will get a job. You just need to prepare with a proper plan.
0 - https://www.geeksforgeeks.org (Recommended at least basic linked list, trees, arrays, graphs and greedy algo questions)
1 - http://www.leetcode.com (Do all these questions)
2 - http://www.spoj.com (can also use topcoder for this. Use this to level up your skills and land the high paying jobs )
Hi! Lots of good advice already given out here. But I would like to add some of my own view points About me : 23, ex-WalmartLabs, currently working on my own startup. There are many ways to become a software developer, it all depends on what kind of role you're aiming for. - Software Developer (SDE) Typically the job offered to most young grads at the bigs cos (google/linkedin/walmart etc). They want to test your alg…
Be polite and friendly (lots of rejections happen because of bad attitude).
Would recommend reading Clean Code. Might help you improve the quality of the programs you write during interviews.
Are we in the same industry? 26 here, coding since 11, never got a degree. Decided to develop for a living, managed it within a couple of months - didn't even have a portfolio. The industry is crying out for developers, theres no reason why you wouldn't be able to get a job. Yeah the industry is fast moving but businesses aren't. If they choose to use a framework, them its going to be in their legacy code base for a…