| I graduated quite a while ago with a CS degree, and am still searching for my first entry level position. I have been asked the most ridiculous questions in phone screens and on-sites. "What is your SAT score?" "Why did you choose your university over a better ranked one?" "Tell us about how you used connection strings." (is a CS grad really supposed to know this) "Do you volunteer teaching kids how to code on your off-time?" "How do you use this HTML API?" (stuff like micro workers) "How do you find about the latest tech?" (they weren't satisfied with just HN and Reddit) Some companies gave me comprehensive projects to spend two weeks or more to work on, in a dozen or so technologies I never encountered. With one company, I spent a week working on their project. They told me that since I had only 90% done, I didn't pass. Two weeks later, they call me back and ask me to complete the last 10%. It sounded like they were asking for free work. I finished it, then they lied about the expected salary. I wanted an X average salary for the area. They cut it down to X/2 with no benefits, a 6 month probationary period, and no perks. Another company wanted me to solve a challenging, practical problem. I spent a month figuring it out. Then there were two more parts to this prescreen. The next one wasn't too bad. For the last one, they wanted a written report. I wasn't smart enough to solve their impractical problem for the report. Don't forget this was only step one of the interview process. Sometimes company reject you due to a bad day. I interviewed with Walmart. The recruiter never set up an appointment, then decided to randomly call me in the morning. The person who referred me to the position said there were no hard requirements about knowing a technology. The recruiter on the phone questioned why I had C# projects instead of Java keywords like Spring listed on my resume. She kept yawning throughout the call. She thought I applied to the wrong job, then abruptly ended the call. Sometimes I would pass interviews, and told I made it to the next round. Months passed, no reply, not even a rejection. I'm still searching for a job. I'm honestly scared of all these job posts I see that require experience in a dozen different frameworks. It's getting harder every day. |
Don't worry about it too much, just focus on improving your interview skill and you'll get it. When I first graduated, it took me a year to figure out the hiring/interview process, failing everywhere. Then once I figured it out, I suddenly had plenty of offers. You'll do the same.