Here’s a summary of all my interview experiences over the past year.
Overall, the results were quite satisfactory. I continuously applied for positions ranging from New Graduate (NG) to experienced roles, and ultimately received a satisfactory offer, successfully landing a job. I hope this experience will be helpful for future students coming to Ireland to study and find work.
Before diving into the specific details, let me introduce my background: I previously worked for several years at a major tech company in China, then came to DCU for my master’s degree, and was looking for Software Engineer related positions in Ireland.
Starting from October last year (shortly after enrollment), I began submitting resumes, mainly for NG positions and internship roles. I continued applying until February of the following year, during which time I only received one interview invitation from Google for an internship. Later, because the internship was quite busy, I paused my applications. After the exams ended (May), I concentrated on applying for a batch of positions and gradually received multiple interview opportunities. After going through the interview process, I finally received a formal offer. From this concentrated application period to receiving the offer, it took about one and a half months.
I kept records of every resume submission, with a total of at least 81 positions applied to.
Below are records of some positions where I received interview invitations:
Google Internship Position
Two rounds of video interviews:
- First round: One LeetCode medium-difficulty algorithm problem;
- Second round: One simple problem, but performed poorly, guessing that’s why I didn’t pass.
Apple Testing Position
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First round video interview: Testing SQL and some basic algorithms;
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Second round covered various topics, from resume discussion to testing theory, to Python’s requests package;
Overall felt my performance was average, guessing the reason for not passing might be slight inadequacy, as well as the position not matching well with my development background.
Apple Full Stack Position
Although I received an interview invitation, because the position was in Cork and I had already decided to develop in Dublin and rented a house, I directly declined this opportunity, feeling slightly regretful.
Meta SSE Position
It was during exam week, so I negotiated with the Recruiter to postpone for a month, but after that, they never contacted me again, which should be considered being ghosted. However, I don’t think it was my own issue, as I have friends who performed very well in interviews but still didn’t pass, possibly related to Meta’s HC (headcount) reduction this year.
Amazon SWE Position
First round interview content included:
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BQ (Behavioral Questions) section: Answers were acceptable;
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Technical section asked about OOP design rather than algorithm problems, but I was inadequately prepared and not familiar with OOP;
Additionally, Amazon mostly has Java positions, and I have limited interest in Java, so not passing was somewhat natural.
PTC SWE Position
At the beginning of the phone call, they clearly stated they don’t provide work visas. I mentioned I could start with a 1G status, making the situation slightly awkward. Although we still went through the process, it ultimately didn’t progress.
eBay SWE
The Recruiter had preliminary communication, asked some basic questions, but didn’t proceed to the next round. Presumably, they already had more suitable candidates.
Workday
Preliminary communication with the Recruiter went smoothly, entered the waiting process stage. The originally scheduled interview time was temporarily cancelled, then rescheduled. Because I was already waiting for Arista’s formal offer at that time, I actively stopped the process.
Arista
The Recruiter first contacted me when I was at the gym, the sound was too noisy, so we agreed to contact later. Afterwards, HR sent the time for the first interview.
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First interview: Due to technical issues, it couldn’t start smoothly, after rescheduling, completed two algorithm problems, passed;
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Second round: On-site interview, continued with two algorithm problems, the second problem was quite difficult, took an hour to complete, passed;
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Third round: Also an on-site interview, with more in-depth questions;
After passing the interviews, waited for headquarters approval for the formal offer, the entire process took about a month.
Experience Summary
- Both NG and experienced positions can be applied for, don’t self-limit because of being “overqualified”, it doesn’t actually have that much impact;
- Video interview pressure is greater than expected: Problems you can usually solve, you might not even perform well on simple problems during interviews;
- Systematic problem-solving practice: Recommend solving at least 100 LeetCode problems, 200 is a relatively safe level, beyond that depends on time and energy, pursuing cost-effectiveness;
- Don’t be afraid of rejection: Each rejection is a screening process, helping you find positions more suitable for yourself; summarize experiences in time and continue with the next company;
- Maintain stable mindset: Submitting resumes is essentially a probability problem, the key is continuous output + good accumulation.
Wishing everyone success in landing their desired positions!