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by ccvannorman
2657 days ago
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Like others here I was in a similar boat. 36, 4 years at a failed startup followed on by 18 months of consulting/contracting. I can't stress this enough -- put the time in to coding interview prep. Don't hate the game, think of it like a fun challenge. You don't need to know every question out of the box but interviewers will pick up on your confidence, attitude, and willingness to play. I spent about 2 - 4 hours a day for a few weeks doing this and it paid off (5 offers from 7 interviews at tech firms.) It was difficult to get interviews at some firms (Google wouldn't return my calls) due to the resume. However, ones that do interview are usually impressed and interested in your startup history. Startups are hard! Good luck! |
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Seriously. So many people spend so much time hating on it and refusing to even get involved, but if you look at it rationally, it's by far the best return on investment you'll get for your time in your entire life.
Around 5 years ago I spent about 40 hours studying for the interviews for my current job. I got the job, and I'm now making $300k more per year than at my previous company, where I was pretty much capped out. So I'm now making $7.5k/yr more for each hour that I spent prepping for those interviews. Note, that's not $7.5k/hr, it's $7.5k/yr/hr, so the value only grows with tenure in this job vs if I'd stayed where I was.
It doesn't matter if it's not the best way to evaluate applicants or whatever, it's how things work, and you need to play the game to reap the rewards. Doesn't matter if you don't enjoy it; there's a colossal amount of money at stake. Force yourself to do it. Not everything in life is pleasant, and most unpleasant things in life don't even come with rewards. People who opt out on ideological grounds are cutting off their nose to spite their face, because they could be foregoing a better job paying a lot more money.