Know how long it's been since I started looking for jobs in the bay area? - About 10 months now.
How does that make me feel? - Frustrated and sometimes doubtful of my capabilities. And also a little confused - because I still don't know what I am not doing right - I usually breeze through the interview questions (most of them are open-ended questions anyways), I ask smart questions to my interviewers, show interest in the company/product and also give good product ideas to the team. When I hear back about a reject, I ask feedback from them every time - but I am given feedback only 10% of the time and even those do not point at my interview performance. In fact one of the recruiters at a company that "decided to go with another candidate" said, when I asked for feedback, that here was no specific feedback but that the hiring manager liked me a lot and said that he would definitely recommend me to other teams.
I dilute my rattled feelings by assuming that this economy has made it a hirer's world and people with much more experience than I are just falling into their nets left-right-and-center.
Anyway, I am the kind of person who has this need to come up with a "all-the-good-that-came-out-of-the-bad" story, just to assuage myself that the bad happens for a reason. It gives me the satisfying hope that my life is progressing for the better. So here's all the supposed-good that came out of the ongoing, relentless interviewing:-
1) I've talked to so many CEOs and CTOs and VPs of so many companies. It feels good! I guess its some sort of a cheap-thrill - it's like meeting a lot of averagely-popular celebrities - celebrities of the tech world as opposed to the entertainment industry :)
2) The lazy-bum that I am, I usually do not carve out enough time away from [work + silly-TV + eat + sleep] to read up about what is happening in the tech world and try out all the cool new products. Having to interview with various companies, forced upon me the need to read up about them and play around with their products. It's given me the drive to make it a routine to do that myself from now on, without needing that shove from upcoming interviews.
3) When we are in stable jobs, me and most others, do not venture out to see what else is out there. And we do not have the guts to question if our passions align with what we are currently doing with our lives. If it is only times like these that nudge us to think along those lines, then bring it on!
4) I am sooo looking forward to the time between my jobs to do the things that routine life hasn't afforded me in a long time - read, write, find organizations to volunteer for, be a temporary foster parent for animals in need, and find a better routine to settle down into...
So here's raising glasses to bad times that bring us fresh new experiences and insights! :)
2 comments:
Those are some great positives. Also, the fact that someone right on top like a CTO/VP took time to interview you rather than someone in the middle is a great sign about the sort of positions you are applying for.
One thing that I hear a lot recently is that its orders of magnitude harder to find for a job restricted to a location, since like you mention there's probably plenty of local qualified candidates.
Totally hear you on the feedback issue. Companies have to hold back on any specific feedback due to all sorts of legal reasons, but this just means you never get real answers. I've been through that..
BTW do you go tech meetups in Seattle or Bay Area? Sometimes its just a matter of being in the right place at right time..
[HS] Good idea about the tech meetups... will start going to those when I get a chance.
And btw, the CEO/VP interviews are only at startups :)... so not too much of a big deal lam
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