I have 9+ years of experience. Got impacted by layoff in Jan and since then I have interviewed at the following companies. I just don’t see an end to this. I am depressed and burnt out. I can’t even look at my monitor screen. I often get dreams that I am reduced to working at a grocery store or gas station. Since the age of 17 all I have known is computer science. In the last company I was pip’d in 3 months and this one (not Qualtrics) layedoff in 14 months. All I want is stability. Can’t join government jobs because not a citizen. I need help. I don’t know where I am going wrong (ok yes mostly system design but I cannot focus now I am tired) I just need some advice on how to navigate this. January: TCG Player (2 onsites with 2 different teams) Atlassian (offer but no head count) February: Rippling (rejected at phone screen) Informatica (rejected at phone screen) Intuit (rejected after onsite) Datavant (rejected at phone screen) Hubspot (rejected at onsite) NVIDIA (rejected at onsite) Walmart (rejected at phone screen) Bloomberg (rejected at phone screen) Weights and biases (rejected at phone screen) Sprinter health (rejected at phone screen) Apple (3 onsites rejected by all) eHealth (rejected at phone screen) Oracle (offer but down leveled to SD2) Lacework (rejected after onsite) Verkada (passed phone screen rejected by manager for fit) March: Prosper (rejected at phone screen) Airbnb (rejected at second phone screen) Reddit (rejected at phone screen) Aledade (rejected at manager fit) April: Geico (rejected at phone screen) Gusto (ghosted) Apollo Graph QL (rejected at phone screen) Palo alto networks (ghosted after successful phone screen) Sigma computing (rejected after phone screen) Citizen (rejected after onsite) DISCO (rejected after phone screen) #layoff #burnout #mentalhealth
I'm seeing lots of rejected at phone screens. Maybe it's a sign you need to LC more before trying again Do paid mocks to get feedback for system design Im at 8-9 yoe and in the same boat but I only started a month ago Edit: It also looks like you didn't take any time off to prepare and interviewed in Jan right after layoffs. Take a step back to fill in any gaps and try again
A lot of the phone screens were also system design. Since I am at staff level they mostly ask this as first round these days. You are right. I do need to take a step back. But then I get FOMO and start applying and I apply like crazy, 50 applications per company (I probably apply to even janitor positions) but I have limitations because of manual application, so I only do 1-5 companies a day. Spend 4-5 hours on applications alone. What if I stop applying and the jobs get over and I don’t get a job ? I have this as my constant fear. You are right I haven’t spent time studying. But right now I am burnt out. I need a break. But FOMO won’t let me sleep.
There's no point interviewing if you're just going to fail though. Take a break. There will always be jobs. You need to focus on passing now
Wow you got a lot of callback at least, most I got were email automatically rejection
Right. So I think OP needs to spend more time on prep There are many resources out there
dont get obsessed. with 9 yoe you have enough savings. take 2 months and prepare holistically. if you wanna take an easy route - go for a contract job. how did you get so many calls - just by applying?
How’d you get so many interviews? Is your resume super long with all the tasks listed or brief and one paged?
One page. I just applied and in some cases recruiters reached out.
You’ve an impressive list of interviews complete. Great job on getting calls. May I ask how are you applying ? Asking this because I’m not getting enough to interview calls.
I accepted a contract job for mental peace and visa reasons. You can do the same and keep interviewing in parallel with some breaks. Remember your health is the most important thing.
That’s really true. My mental health is down in drains. Constant fear. I can’t stop thinking negative. I’ll probably do that next.
You have given lot of interviews what's your feedback ? What do you think .. what could be done better ?
Buddy it's normal to take 6 months to land something in this market. Give yourself time and prep for a month before you interview again.
True. Thank you for reassuring comment 🫶🏼
Reddit rejected at phone screen? Damn, I have one coming up. Are they that bad?
The interviewer was horrible. I even completed the problem. I had a bad feeling about this interviewer. They asked leetcode easy in my opinion.
I too have given such interviews where my mind thinks i should get a call back for next round but inner feelings says NO.. and i get rejection emails. Seems just answering lc problem is not enough these days.
Try giving mock interview and understand whats missing, message me if you need a mock
Do you charge for mocks ? If yes how much ? How many yrs of exp u have
Why not take the down leveled offer? Could keep on applying but at least would have some income
It’s OCI. I am sure they will still make me work 16 hours a day. (Blind reviews for OCI are horrible it makes me fear) It’s also an ego hit stepping down from staff to this.
Is OCI that bad? Since you seem to be at staff level, it might not be hard for you to do sd 2 level work while maintaining wlb. Also, Oracle is hiring a lot this year and I don't think they will do aggressive layoffs either. You might want to reconsider oracle since the market is so bad right now. Imho, get that oracle job and try again in an year or two when market gets better.