Failed in 9 tech interviews in the last 6 months, I just can't take it anymore, what should I do?originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.
Answerby Udayan Banerji, Software Engineer at Quora, on Quora:
Since I started interviewing in 2010, I have been rejected by almost 30 companies. I have been selected by 6.
I have interviewed at everyone's favorite tech company in Mountain View thrice, and failed. I have interviewed at a (the?) major social network thrice, and failed. I have interviewed at two major online retailers, another bygone internet company, a device manufacturer and a wireless modem company. I have failed in all of them.
It has generally been the same story. I would breeze through phone rounds, do well enough in on-site interviews that I would have a lot of hope, and then I'd get a friendly rejection e-mail.
The nice folks at Mountain View told me before the latest round that my performance in the past round was pretty good, and they wanted to reconsider me. Afterwards they told me that my performance was pretty good, but unfortunately they were moving forward with other candidates. But they would reconsider me.
I was at a point where my dream job continued to be a tease, and that was it.
My friends told me that I lacked confidence, and that was true. But how could I gain confidence? What if II am not good enough?
After I got married, my wife saw my plight and decided to mock interview me. Her feedback was that she could sense strongly that I didn't know what I was talking about. I protested, saying I knew! I knew exactly how to solve the problem. But she insisted.
That was not the "Aha!" moment, there was no "Aha!"moment. But there were incremental changes from that point on:
There is no shortage of amazing companies. It is quite possible to get into them. So don't lose hope. But no matter who rejects you, walk in to the next one better prepared. If it takes 10, 20 or 40 rejections, so be it. Every interview you lose will teach you something. Take notes after each, improve on those. Rejections are not personal, not in the tech world anyway. And eventually when you get the job you want, these 1-2 years of rejections won't matter. You won't even remember it.
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