I would say not prepping enough for technical interviews. I did a lot of prep (hundreds of hours) but it wasn’t enough. I needed more because I was always being compared to senior engineers with 10+ years of XP who had been through the gauntlet a lot. Very few companies were ever explicating hiring for a junior or “mid” level role when I was looking. (Less than 3 years xp)
In the end, I realized I need to be doing interview prep pretty much all the time. Maybe give it up just before you start the next job and while you’re ramping up but it should just be routine once you hit 6 months or a year. There’s no reason to not do it because in all likelihood, you’ll be switching jobs.
I’m going into my sixth job in about 8 years now. I shouldn’t expect to stay at my next place longer than 2 years and thus should be prepping well before my planned time of exit.
Yeah I don’t really get it. I’ve interviewed and got offers (but also lots of rejections) at many companies including FAANGs. Never prepped more than a couple days. I think I’d go crazy with the schedule you set out.
Same experience here. I always considered myself poor at interviews even though I've done well wherever I worked.
This time around, I put in 6 months of preparation and it paid off. It's the first job in my 10+ year career where I've felt like I got to choose the job I wanted rather than just accepting what was offered. Although the difference with me is that I feel like this is the first job where I have a strong possibility of staying for more than 4 years.
I get why you would do it. But what do they get out of only hiring the best at interview prep. Is the correlation really that good between good engineers and those who can leet code for six months?
In the end, I realized I need to be doing interview prep pretty much all the time. Maybe give it up just before you start the next job and while you’re ramping up but it should just be routine once you hit 6 months or a year. There’s no reason to not do it because in all likelihood, you’ll be switching jobs.
I’m going into my sixth job in about 8 years now. I shouldn’t expect to stay at my next place longer than 2 years and thus should be prepping well before my planned time of exit.