I Asked LinkedIn Software Engineers How To Get Hired

LinkedIn reached out to me I did not apply it's not really leode style being able to speak to those and create a story around those are really really powerful you have to write like three essays senior staff Sofer engine nice how long have you been here uh almost 10 years oh wow okay not as easy especially if you're a foreigner it is a really good opportunity just because it's so hard to get your foot in the door I don't think we even have new grad uh positions hey what's up today I'm at LinkedIn headquarters asking software Engineers how to get hired and if AI is going to take our jobs all right I'm here with mamadu Madu nice to meet you where do you work what's your title uh I work at LinkedIn I'm a site reliability engineer okay nice how long have you been here almost two years two years in July yeah uh Amed ahed yeah yeah okay nice to meet you so I'm a software engineer um I work with under INF infrastructure security infrastructure uh under the cryptography team okay um been here now for 8 n months-ish uh interned twice once with the same team and once with another team under privacy engineering what's your name Grant I work here at LinkedIn in B4 my title is software engineer okay cool and then you mentioned that you're non-traditional how so yeah so I came through a Premed background I didn't get an undergrad in CS Zack uh I work at LinkedIn and I'm a senior staff software engineer senior staff software engineer nice how long have you been here uh almost 10 years oh wow okay so everyone's been saying the market is crazy hiring freeze layoffs I guess it's been a while since you recruiting but how how's it been um honestly when I was applying it it was probably it was in 2021 so I think it was like Peak like apply everywhere everyone switching jobs so I was probably probably at the very tail end of that okay um and I think unfortunately like a little after that that's what I started noticing the hiring phases and the like and and everything becoming more difficult so I think I literally just dodged that entire bullet it was pretty fortunate I gu okay nice I'm sure you're happy at your job but how has it been if you've been trying to look for something if you have friends who have been looking the grind has gotten even harder harder I've seen other people in my previous boot camp who are like working quite hard and they're like A1 coders and A1 programmers they know their stuff so it's definitely not as easy especially if you're a foreigner too that makes it even even more difficult yeah um I myself hav't been looking too hard probably need to just like at least like you know keep my interview skills up so I'll probably start to work on that more maybe do some more lead coding just just just to get myself make sure I'm ready just in case anything God forbid anything happens so actually what's funny is uh LinkedIn reached out to me I did not apply uh what happened was is I was finishing my engering year I did a research internship in postquantum cryptography wow and uh uh it was was kind of cool and then what happened was is I got reached out by an uh by a recruiter like oh you worked in crypto like cool stuff uh we're looking for interns apply and and I can give you a screening right away and that's what happened and I ended up joining LinkedIn okay um that was 2021 summer and then Shopify after and then another company and then back so it's a bit different for application um you have to write like three essays It's Kind like a college essay maybe the last time you ever wrote an essay right yeah I know it's it's it's definitely interesting um they look at things like unique perspective grit I mean they're trying to look at that non-traditional okay background so that's the first uh wave and then they have a technical assessment which is it's not really Le code style it's like you have to do a uh take-home assignment and then you submit it and then in the technical interview you go over your submission and then they ask you to implement some new stuff okay so it's not really uh dat structures alos it's more just like General problem solving and some you do have to be able to code um but you don't have to know uh the same amount as you do for like the Le code question got it and you've been in the program how long now so I joined June 2022 and then I got promoted out uh in April last mon full software engineer recent so I was in the program for year and nine months now I'm full software engineer but you do know if you ever wanted to change jobs no more essays it's going to be yeah we'll see we'll see I I was actually pretty good at leak code I felt like like I think I just when I switched I studied a lot of elak code so I felt like my leite code ability was way above my actual engineering ability meanwhile I feel like a lot of Engineers feel like their engineering ability is above their leak code sure but just because like right when I started learning coding I just kind of learned through leak code it's the age of AI everyone's kind of scared of it have you been using it at your job do you think it's coming for yours I don't think it's coming for my job at this point I do think it's capable of a lot of things but I also think it's you know capable of hallucinating and we to kind of set up the AI yourself so even if AI is coming for our jobs there'll be more jobs to work work with AI um and I also think that any company especially any tech company but I think honestly most companies if you have a lot of documentation you're not using AI in some form to make the documentation easily reachable easily searchable you are kind of just shooting yourself in the focus companies that are doing that are going to be ahead because they'll be able to learn faster and um move faster you just heard from mamadu who comes from a boot camp background if you're yourself are looking to get started or up level in Tech check out corsera a global platform committed to democratizing education with over 275 esteemed universities and corporate Partners corsera offers a diverse array of online learning opportunities from courses to certificates and degree programs all designed to be flexible affordable and job relevant today the platform serves over 113 million Learners worldwide and I'm excited to share an amazing resource for all of you interested in the front end the meta frontend developer professional certificate is a comprehensive ninecore series that requires no prior experience working about 6 hours a week for 6 to 7 months you'll learn how to create respons websites cuttingedge Frameworks like react and practice for coding interviews so when the time comes you can get that dream job and by the end of it you'll have an official certificate you can show off on your resume or LinkedIn sign up for the meta frontend developer professional certificate today using my special link in the description now let's get back to some more interviews honestly big fan of chat gbt and we also have an internal tool here love it yeah um one thing though if AI takes over I really don't care I'll just I'll just live somewhere in the valley um with my own chickens uh living off the land honestly that's a plan being fully honest with you yeah um I don't mind losing my job um if I make it out like just 10 I don't mind losing my job in 10 years 10 years so as long is the timeline is 10 years the timeline yeah then I'll just live in the woods in the cabin just have a couple of kids uh and yeah hey is it coming for our job do you use it at work are you scared of it no okay well why is that nothing scares me maybe that that's what it takes to become a s was part of you like maybe I should see what else is out there so actually I apply to two other places uh apple and uh Nvidia going through the process and then just realize that honestly LinkedIn is the place for me yeah um what made you say that the team honestly my team is amazing just shout out to my team okay to be honest with you team is Amazing Project is amazing everything around and the culture here is amazing honestly like it's uncomparable like I do regret not taking the Nvidia offer for the stock but other than that you know what Microsoft is stable so yeah that's true I do pretty well honestly like open a and stuff it's hard for computer scientists to get a job these days how is it for not even in the industry yeah it uh it's definitely tough and yeah it's tough all around um but they Linkin has been really good about trying to keep this uh pipeline open um it's not that many people it's probably we hire I think maybe like 20 to 30 a year oh wow it it varies um but it is a really good opportunity just because it's so hard to get your foot in the door as non-traditional and yeah so I'm really happy that they continue to invest in this uh like other pipeline hiring pipeline do you have any advice for someone who's coming in from a non-traditional background even traditional and how to break into big Tech in this market I would say yeah definitely search for apprenticeships okay and uh just keep on grinding it kind of is a numbers game and the more you grind the more you learn um do some personal projects cuz a lot of it is just solving basically got to past interview right right and a lot of the interv is like have you uh had a problem with this or explain to me how you solve the problem when you have these engineering projects that you doing yourself on your own then you're able to like speak to the problems you solve because I imagine there was one time I don't know you couldn't log into your service or or not even that but you get to create a login service or or something along that nature there are a lot of problems you solve in those projects so being able to speak to those and create a story around those are really really powerful so internships are the way to go like I don't think we even have new grad uh positions without uh internship so internships are the way to go start early like start really really early and don't worry about your first internship cuz my first interest was like an unpaid research assistant like you I I don't recommend doing unpaid stuff but you know what like got me here honestly so like I don't know if I recommend it or don't recommend it but just like see what you learn from it what you get from it and uh and doesn't matter like honestly a lot of people focus on their first internship like oh like I should get into big Tech get what you can do and then uh start applying and go big after that but yeah okay obviously I was successful through leaning into it so I'm kind of biased um but yeah look for these opportunities for non-traditional there's a lot of um other apprentiship programs around like at other companies um yeah and I think companies are interested in like investing in that non-traditional pipeline so you don't lean into I think it gives you um cuz you can apply to both if you're non-traditional so I I would say I would say lean into that and look for those opportuni I could share one success story recently so uh open source contributions so actually so I work on a platform here at LinkedIn called Venice we open sourced Venice a little over a year ago and uh recently we hired one of our open source contributors and they were uh fairly new to the industry they'd only been working think about a year um get out there contribute meet people um folks are usually really eager to take your contributions and to work with you and that can segue into a job okay sweet and I guess not many people have been at one place for this long so I guess when you started you were probably just software engineer sweet when I joined sweet and you progressed up the ranks any advice of how to navigate that at a big tech company I guess like my best advice would be be aware of your surroundings you know look at your boss decide if your boss can get you promoted decide if your boss is giving you work that can get you promoted yeah understand uh the opportunities that are in your team right if you're working on a dead end project well it's probably not great for that and then this is just for fun you were Premed thinking about medical school now you're a software engineer do you regret your decision no no I I'm super happy like I like I'll be honest like any place that pays me just sit in front of a computer all day like I'm I'm so happy so uh yeah happy all around cool well I wish you the best thanks so much thanks man Cheers Cheers so I don't think I've ever actually met a senior staff engineer what is your average day in life look like like I'm sure your work has changed over the years what what do you do now uh hasn't changed too too much uh maybe more meetings than it before but otherwise you know it's coding it's teams it's seeking alignment it's stuff like that cool have you ever considered going to management oh no I I've been offered but I definitely not I want a career engineer okay cool there's a special link in the description of limited time so do check that out cheers

Channel: Namanh Kapur

Views: 59,770

Keywords: computer science, software engineering, software engineer, computer science major, computer science student, computer science degree, interns, internship, coding, programming, software development, shan rizwan, guessing jobs in nyc, pirate king, power couple, jason goodison, joma tech, python, faang, namanh kapur, tech, startup, san francisco, uc berkeley, citadel, microsoft, meta, code, how to learn to code, interview, google, googlers, google jobs, life at google, programmer, coder, linkedin

Id: o3i-Dt-gcyw

Length: 10min 49sec (649 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 04 2024