Applying for a Tech job in 2021

At the start of 2021, I decided to look for the next challenge in my career. I learnt a lot last decade; however, 70% of that time was spent exclusively at one company. It's time to move on and learn some new skills.

The aim of this post is to outline my experience applying for positions in Tech and what I liked/didn't like and what I learnt along the way. Company names, names of recruiters, job titles and anything else will be be omitted to keep it completely confidential.

Out of the number of applications I applied for, only one of them I applied for directly. The rest were through messages on LinkedIn (sliding into muh DM's). It's been a great way to find positions I wouldn't ordinarily see elsewhere.

A brief interview, followed by a take-home test and finally 1 or 2 technical interviews seems to be the norm these days. The initial interview is generally to understand your experience and if, at first glance, you'd be a good fit for the company. Once that's done, it's test time. I prefer take-home tests over these online assessments that are becoming more common nowadays. A test to complete on my own time is much more natural and akin to how I code in my day to day life.

Once the test has been smashed out, it's time for the technical interview stage(s). This is the meat of the whole process. This is where you dazzle the interviewers with your knowledge and explain in greater detail your experience and skillset. Some companies like you to walk through your code with them so they can better understand your thought process and logic. Apart from the actual code itself, this is my favourite part of the entire process. This is where I'm supposed to shine, and it's where I'm tasked with making the interviewers believe I'm right for the job.

Finally, after the interviews are done, the final stage in the whole process is a game I hate to play - the Waiting Game. I wouldn't consider myself impatient, but the time between the end of your interview until you find out if you were successful or not feels like an eternity, to me at least.

It's at this point in this short post that I'm excited to announce that I've accepted a position at Booking.com! It still feels surreal to say. Booking.com were one of the top picks in my list of places I wanted to work at and I'm super excited for what the future holds.

All said and done, applying for a job in Tech in 2021 has been an interesting experience. Mainly because we're all remote, so some of the formality of interviews in the past has disappeared.

One positive that's come out of the pandemic though, is that I believe us tecchies have proved we can work wherever we are in the world. It truly is a great time to be alive.