I don't typically tout failing as a gift, and yet.
I guess we all break our own rules sometimes.
A wee bit of context: I'm a career changer and recent Flatiron graduate who started coding 7 months ago. I'm now job hunting.
I feel a little crazy reading that - it's all happened very quickly.
And perhaps that's a big reason why I felt so caught off guard during a recent interview.
The role was junior front end software engineer, and the interview was led by a senior software engineer.
This being my first time in such an interview, I went in expecting mostly q's about myself with a side dish of me coding.
Folks, the side dish was me.
From my April graduation, I've been focused on the job hunt: resume, LinkedIn, hosting my apps on Heroku (scream!), and building my portfolio. I snuck in a few Codewars challenges and some app updates.
So, during the interview when I was asked to explain the benefits of using React, the difference between asynchronous and synchronous functions and to explain callback hell, I fumbled.
I know these things, truly I do!, but had not anticipated being questioned about the concepts like this.
Spoiler alert! I did not sparkle and shine during the live coding either.
But I really want to return to my first sentence of this post - and tell you that amidst that fumbling and stumbling, I AM touting this experience as a gift.
For so.stinkin.long I have tried to be perfect.
I have done what it takes to ensure I don't find myself in that very, very scary and vulnerable place of falling flat on my face.
Until now. Coding tossed me back to the beginning and told me failing is the way you LEARN and perfection is a myth.
And after what happened today, I have to say, I'm on board.
Failing doesn't mean you're no good. What is means is the approach you took didn't quite work.
With that in mind, here's my plan:
1) Feel the feels. Don't brush past the disappointment, but also, celebrate the good.
2) Re-write my notes from the interview into action steps.
3) Put those action steps into my weekly plan and get cracking.
If you are curious and want to know more, comment below or send me a message. I will always be happy to respond.
Thank you for reading.
Top comments (2)
Keep your head up! I remember an interview long ago (not for programming) where it wasn't what I expected and I didn't get the job. However I did learn from it to prepare for the next one!
Thank you Aaron! As always, I love hearing about folks with similar experiences - sure does soothe the soul. You've been so kind!!
Exactly the place I want to be - walking away not only the desire to do better but the knowledge to do better. I think I have both!