10:00 PM
Got an early start today. I needed to code for an interview at 9:30 and use their SDK, so I made sure I had their SDK up and running with the base sample call to the API locked in so we could get to the meat of the APIs rather than mess with set-up. Also gave my preso again. So far, both the HM’s I’ve done my preso for ended up laughing and saying “nice” during this slide, where I’m just silent for 20-30 seconds.
For those with vision assistance devices that don’t read graphics, it’s a text heavy slide that says “Presentation Tip: Never put a really text heavy slide on the screen because people will spend their time reading it instead of listening to you. And if all you’re doing is reading the slide to them, that’s boring.”
Already have next week’s call with the CTO scheduled. That may be the final call, maybe the second to last call. Interviews with small startups aren’t as rigorous simply because they don’t have time to have half the staff spend a day interviewing you.
On the megacorp side, my second FAANG screen of the week (one with each). I know I did well with the last one… the HM pretty much told me so and I know for a fact he’s been asking some of my ex-coworkers about me, though to be fair…
…I asked one of his former reports about him first. It’s hard to run into someone in this profession I haven’t met before, don’t follow or get followed by on Twitter or LinkedIn, or don’t have at least 2-50 shared LinkedIn connections with. It’s basically a requirement of the job that you network. This second FAANG’s role is internal-facing, but being such a massive company, the developer community being served is going to be in the thousands.
Anyway (knocking wood), I thought we hit it off and I’ll find out if my read was right early next week.
Next week, looks like I’ll be finishing up with two start-ups, getting moving with two more who say they can be done in two weeks, giving a presentation on my winding and wandering career path to 5 classes of 9th graders (one class at a time) for a neighboring school district whose technology industry advisory council I was invited to join last month. And with all that booked, the week has plenty of room to get even more full.
This weekend, I’ll be working on more interview prep and my deck for the 9th graders… and trying to get some rest.